» FaithWorld: Some U.S. atheists seem to be confused, Pew survey shows

There seems to be some confusion among self-described U.S. atheists, at least according to the second part of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life's monumental "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey" that was issued today.

It found that 92 percent of Americans believe in God or a universal spirit, with 71 percent of those surveyed saying they were "absolutely certain" on this score.

Curiously, more than one fifth -- 21 percent -- of those who counted themselves as atheists said they believed in God while eight percent expressed absolute certainty about this state of affairs.

I'm not sure which side of this is most comical to me: that 8% of atheists are absolutely certain that there's a God, or that the rest are sorta on the fence about it while still describing themselves as atheists.

Granted, I don't think the bulk of the pollable public really invests a lot of time in wrestling with the deeper philosophical aspects of the terminology that the poll-ees often ask of them.