Whatever pistis meant in the first century, “faith” in ordinary modern Christian usage often does mean believing without or against evidence. Pastors say “just have faith” when evidence runs out. Isn’t Dawkins describing a real phenomenon?

Yes, and that should be conceded. Dawkins’s definition is not how the Bible uses the word, but it is how many Christians use it, and that usage is the source of the caricature. The claim here is about biblical vocabulary, and the popular usage is a departure from it. Conceding that makes the claim more credible, not less: the argument is with a definition, not with Dawkins’s observation of how the word gets thrown around.