"These are people who thought a lot about religion," he said. "They're not indifferent. They care about it."
That describes me.
Most Christians accept their faith and move on, no proof needed for them any longer.
I would discard "any longer" and just stay with "No proof needed."
But it is still needed for Christians to understand their faith and have a good working knowledge of apologetics.
I was raised in a fundamentalist protestant church and did my best to believe. In college, while searching for reenforcement for my belief, I learned that I could be in good intellectual company and not believe. So, I became an atheist. Surprisingly, I felt a great sense of relief. I was amazed but I felt as if great chains had been lifted from my back. I rejoiced!
After a short while I realized one couldn't disprove God, either, so I became an agnostic but i did not give up the quest. The emptiness in my core was still there. It doesn't go away even for pretend believers. Eventually I got there and as you said and many before me had learned, proof was no longer needed.
I think many, perhaps most, churches preach the wrong gospel. Too many, like the one I attended, come down hard on Hellfire and brimstone, about all the bad things that are going to happen if you don't believe, and too little time on the peace and joy that accompany belief. Many TV evangelists have made fortunes preaching that way and throw in the miracle healings for good measure.
Others, like the new phenom, Joel Whats-his-name, emphasize applying the scriptures to the problems of everyday life. I like that idea but I don't always like the way he applies it. A proper understanding of the scriptures, if I may be so bold as to use that term. negates many of our social problems. They just don't happen, and when real problems do arise we are able to put them in proper perspective and overcome them. Think of Job.
I’ll offer another explanation for the findings of this survey.
Atheists tend to pride themselves on a certain level of intellectual ability and they make it their business to learn things. They tend to be self-selected intellectuals. Believers however, include millions of people who are happy and devout in their faith but are not necessarily very intellectual about it. Christianity after all, is at heart about the *love* of God, not the *study* of God.
I don’t know the methodology of the study so perhaps this was addressed, but taking a self-selected sample of the population and comparing it to one from the general population is quite likely to give exactly the result they got, and probably doesn’t prove much.