I confess I'm coming to this thread late, and yes, that I've skipped some, so I just might be repeating a point made earlier (though I doubt it).

But I will say plainly that I am an atheist. That is to say that I believe there is no god (singular or plural, capitalized or lower case). This is quite different from saying that I do not believe in a god; that would be much more ambivalent, a weaker statement than my actual position.

But I am NOT an anti-theist, which would be the logically correct name
for "Militant Atheist", I think.

I think this is a distinction which should be kept in mind throughout this thread and throughout this or any other discussion of people's
position(s) with respect to religion and its place (if any) in a civilized world.

Dave Oesterreich