Everyone uses faith as a compass...and for all kinds of things. The only question is, what do they have faith IN? Hang around them for a bit and you'll find out. You may have faith in the same things they do. If so, you'll agree with them about those things.

Then there's the stuff we actually KNOW by our direct experience, collected evidence, logical deduction, etc. We all have that stuff too, but we don't necessarily always agree about all of it, because we've had different experiences, been exposed to different evidence, trusted different sources, used our abilities of logical deduction toward different conclusions, etc.

Anyway, my main point is that faith is not confined merely to the field of religion. It's something everyone has, absolutely EVERYONE, and it lines up perfectly with their beliefs, opinions, and prejudices about all kinds of stuff. It is what you have when you don't really know for sure about something...but you think you know for sure about it just because you LIKE being sure about it... ;-D The more insecure people are, the more they will resist just admitting that they don't know for sure about whatever it is they normally have faith in. This is just as true of the irreligious as it is of the religious. The ones who aren't afraid to be honest with themselves will freely admit that they don't know for sure about a whole lot of stuff, and they won't be so quick to categorically deny the other possibilities that lie outside their present faith structure.