Agreed, and the condition as written means that the alien must demostrate some reasonable basis for the belief that the alien is a citizen. A mere declaration is not such a basis.
Even Jesus Christ did not rely on His assertion, but demostrated under Mosaic, contemporaneous Roman, and even physical laws that He is the Messiah.
Ergo, we have demonstrable reason to believe Him to be One and The Same, even after so many centuries.
Interestingly, there is far more evidence to suport Christ’s existence and claims than, say, the existence of Plato, or many other ancient writers whose historicity we accept, in many cases based on no eyewitness accounts, but rather based on heresay evidence found in writings many hundreds of years later.
I completely agree with you on all statements you made re: my precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
But I fear that many of our courts, with an illegal alien charged with voting illegally, might say: “what makes you think you’re a citizen?”
Illegal alien says: “Well, my priest back home told me that as soon as I crossed the border, I’d be a citizen.”
Court: “I see. Well, since it was a priest who told you, the court finds in a reasonable belief. Next case.”