Thank you for writing this article, rasing my awareness of my own whether I'm using hedging correctly or not. I'm just re-entering full-time studies and all the writing that comes along with it. I agree with 'squeamish about making objective moral claims' is one reason, but also it can be fear of having understood something incorrectly, or saying something that you think is true with a get-out clause that it wasn't you that said it. Nevertheless, if that was the case, it should be clear from a reference or whose belief you're referring to.