Does it require "faith" for me to "disbelieve" something I've never even heard of or never considered to be anything more than a faerie-tale?

It requires Faith to pretend that your 'life' is accidental.
You see, you actually have to work at telling yourself that we are just an accident. You have to exercise Faith. So the answer to your question is NO, but if you were to use the specific example we are talking about, then, YES, for you HAVE 'heard of' being alive.