This is based on a general psychological assessment of faith and not on any specific religious group or denomination.

The question is how do people maintain there faith?

The simple answer: Emotional Intelligence plays a large part in maintaining faith and the ability to be self aware of ones own emotional state. Based on my observation this seems to apply to only spiritual practitioner and not those that practice extrinsic religion. Those who practice extrinsic religion tend to walk away with a more negative experience. Compared to sincer practitioners who will more likely have a positive spiritual experience.

Although the thesis that I read below doesn't mention Atheist or Agnostics as part of there psycho analysis. It does provoke a question. Does that mean non-believers score lower in the EI? Is a certain level of EI or EQ a prerequisite to having faith? Is being over analytical creating a “intellectual blind spot” ?

Divine Emotions: On the Link Between Emotional Intelligence and Religious Belief -
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5653720/#Sec18title