A recent Pew poll in the US shows that agnostics and atheists seem to know more about religion than the rest of the population. That’s not really a big surprise as previous similar polls shows similar results.

But even if it’s not a big surprise, it can still seem strange to many. To me, the best explanation I’ve been able to come to is beautifully summarized by American Atheists’ president Dave Silverman, for the New York Times:

I have heard many times that atheists know more about religion than religious people. Atheism is an effect of that knowledge, not a lack of knowledge. I gave a Bible to my daughter. That’s how you make atheists.

CNN has a test with 10 questions from the survey. I can’t tell if those are the easiest ones or randomly picked, but I found it extremely easy. Got 10 out of 10 right.