I would think it takes faith(the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen) to believe you live in a simulation. He made it clear he felt we all live in a simulation but estimates a one in a billion chance he could be wrong. To a degree he is correct by saying will live in an intelligent design by the creator, not a random bang. He believes it's some unknown alien being that has created us and our world as we know it. It seems he's totally anti-big bang. I would like to personally thank you for pointing out "he is trying to convince people to adopt his point of view on a variety of topics, whether it is anthropogenic climate change, establishing a human colony on Mars, electric transportation, etc." This is all I have been trying to say. Our only difference seems to be how we define that. In my eyes it falls into the category of religion(a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance)View attachment 179214 .
Now I know that you are mixing this up. You are misinterpreting what Elon said. He did not say we are "one in billions" actually living in a simulation but the exact opposite.
The point he was trying to make is that since we can simulate reality, to an extent now, that at some point technology will allow us to simulate reality to the point that it is indistinguishable from reality. So it is just logical to not dismiss (one in billions) the possibility that it is already happening.