It takes belief to be an atheist - one has to believe that there is no God, gods, or higher being/entity). Belief, as with faith, is a fundamental tenant of a ‘religion’.
Do you believe in unicorns? No? Then you believe there are no unicorns. So that’s a belief. Hmmm. Sorry, in my world, absence of belief in unicorns does not create a belief.
That’s like saying not playing football is a sport.