When marissa went skiing for the first time she felt confident she could handle the slow of the medium difficulty runs. when she rode the chair to the top, however, the slope appeared much steeper and she became worried. this is an example of:

visual descent illusion

Explanation:

Visual descent illusion -  

It is the process by which the people  underestimate or ignores the height or depth of any object , when observing the object form very far away , but in actual context , the object might be very above or very low , is known as visual descent illusion .

Hence , from the question,

Marissa thought slope won't be that steep , but when she actual went near it , the slop was very steep , and she got panicked .

because he was a christian?

answer; the region experienced a surplus of food;