Originally Posted by
Bamboozle 
The word atheism means lacking theism. Nothing more. It makes no claims about the nonexistence of a god or gods. It does not make claims that a god or god exists. A person who is an atheist is simply a person who lacks a belief in the existence of any gods.
Excellent point.
When I was an atheist, I explained it this way: an atheist is someone who does not believe in a supernatural intelligence.
One of the things that used to irritate me the most was when people said to me, 'How can you say there is no God?' -- To which I would reply, "I never said there was no god; I said that I do not
believe in a god."
Unfortunately, many theists don't have the intellectual capablity to make this distinction.
--Outvoid--