Since such meanings are totally a matter of convention, such debates can go on forever.
On 5/31/05, J. Tyler <jptyler at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Just do the linguistics.
>
> Consider the proposition: God exists.
>
> Anybody who accepts the proposition as true is a theist. Anybody who
> rejects the truth value of the proposition is an atheist (including
> those who "don't know," as that is a rejection of the proposition's
> truth).
>
> Anybody who is not a theist (i.e., affirmatively accepts the truth of
> the proposition "God exists") is an atheist (hence the prefix). Within
> atheism, one can take a couple of different positions. Consider the
> proposition: God does not exist.
--
Jim Devine
"Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way
and let people talk.) -- K. Marx, paraphrasing Dante A.