Interpretation?

The topic of Revere's Freethinker Sunday Sermonette this week at Effect Measure has to do with contemporary American religiosity as a driver of atheistic books. It's worth a read in itself, of course, but what caught my eye was a comment by The Ridger:

I remember hearing that BBC reporter, Tara Gadomsky, saying that the Amish "don't believe in" helicopters, cell phones, or ambulances. Well, that's ridiculous, because they certainly know they exist. What they don't "believe" is that such things are useful, sanctioned, or moral.

Many theists have a hard time with "I don't believe in God." They think it must be this use of "don't believe in" - the "reject" use - rather than the "don't think it exists" use.

Now that I've realized this, I'm trying not say "I don't believe in god" any more. I'm being more explicit. I don't want people to think I refuse to worship a god I know exists for some bizarre reason of my own.

Hmmm...

Could it be that believers tend to interpret "I don't believe in God" to mean "I reject a God that I know exists"? I guess I'll have to ask some believers or try to find others' answers to this question.