That's just silly. I am an atheist, and that describes exactly my views regarding deities and other supernatural entities. The prefix a- means "without." A theist is someone who believes in the existence of one or more deities.
I am without deities, so I am an atheist. It's very simple.
I am an atheist, and that describes exactly my views regarding deities and other supernatural entities. The prefix a- means "without." A theist is someone who believes in the existence of one or more deities.I am without deities, so I am an atheist. It's very simple.
The missing distinction is in the "-ist" which denotes advocacy or commitment. In a discourse about beliefs, atheist could mean what you say. But in a general context, I think one would no more define himself as an "atheist" than as an a-child-ist - a person without children.