Can someone cite an example of a nontheist who is NOT an atheist?
Great post, BTW.
They're just shades of the same turd.
The distinction is subtle, very subtle. Apparently a nontheist thinks that some metaphysical power beyond conception may have done the start your engines thing with the universe. A "hard" atheist just says no, but a "soft" one may not be all that different. Having said that, the terms to describe those who are skeptics about traditional religions metaphysical leaps of faith are breeding like rabbits, and I don't think the resulting terminological issue is very illuminating.
But then I coined my own term for myself, a "near atheist," so a case can certainly be made that I am part of the problem!
According to Wikipedia atheists are a subset of Nontheists which also include Buddhists, etc...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nontheist
I think these two terms are drawing a distinction between a person who believes in the nonexistence of God (atheist) and a person who does not believe in the nonexistence of God but also does not believe in the existence of God (nontheist).