How Many Americans Are Atheists?

[JOHN BURCHFIELD]

I realize that trying to define and distinguish humanism, atheism, agnosticism etc, is just about the most unrewarding exercise ever, but I offer a challenge to the rest of you.  I could do the research myself on the Internet, but I am too tired.  Any help, or at least a link to a source that covers polling data, is welcome.

Polling results are heavily dependent on how questions are asked.  I have the impression that the Gallup people have a pro-religious bias, and ask their subjects if they believe in God "or a universal spirit" (even I couldn't answer that one), garnering results of 89% in the U. S.  Gallup Poll: 89 Percent of Americans Say They Believe in God   Demographics of atheism - Wikipedia

Gallup Poll: 89 Percent of Americans Say They Believe in God A new Gallup poll has found that 89 percent of Americans say they believe in God, and this is after the belief i...

Demographics of atheism - Wikipedia

If you ask people in the U.S. if they are atheists (not agnostic) I believe you get a low-ball figure of around 2%.  The statistic I would like to find is in a survey I once saw that claims that when you ask respondents whether they believe in a God that interacts with their daily lives, the result is only 68% for Yes.  This makes 32% of the public disbelievers in at least the Abrahamic version of God, and compatible with Plato's definition of atheos as either not believing in God or believing that God does not intervene in the world--the position now known as "deism." (Some interesting observations from a Christian perspective on Plato's definition of atheism can be found at Victoria Beeching and Plato’s Third Form of Atheism | Robert P. George .

Victoria Beeching and Plato’s Third Form of Atheism | Robert P. George Victoria Beeching is a celebrity in the world of evangelical Christian music. The singer made big news last week...

Can anyone out there help me find this survey?

At this point in my life, I believe that there is no consensus about the demarcation between atheism and agnosticism.  Bill Maher says there is no difference.  Darwin and Huxley, who popularized the term "agnostic," said there was a big difference.  Even at the time they were criticized as being hypocrites evading the stigma of atheism.  I have seen other positions including: agnosticism is a subcategory of atheism; or there are two categories of agnostic, theist and atheist.  I believe that Michael Shermer says in The Believing Brain that from one point of view he could be described as an atheist, and from another as an agnostic, but he prefers to be identified as a skeptic.  To avoid the confusion surrounding the term "humanist," I would choose to be known as an "atheist and skeptic," a position, though not a wording, that I have held since high school (Peabody H. S.).  I discovered at my fiftieth reunion in 2012 that others picked up on this, although I don't remember publicizing the fact.

John