I have noticed that we (myself included!) use the word "believe" when we really should say "understand." Examples:
I'm not vegan because I believe that animals are our friends. I'm vegan because I understand that animals are friends, not food.
I don't believe that climate change is real. That's science. I understand it. So do you.
It has been a really hard habit to break, but once you start working on it, you'll notice that we softshoe like this often, and we tend to do it when we are talking about the most important issues.