In your analogy, by not fighting for the empire you are making choice, and arguably it’s to support the enemy. But you’re missing the larger point he’s making

In your analogy, by not fighting for the empire you are making choice, and arguably it’s to support the enemy. But you’re missing the larger point he’s making and the point the article is making, many ppl who claim to be atheist do have a belief system, it’s simply ill-defined. Most atheists arguing in this thread will give answers and do think they know the truth (it’s that there is no god and life is a hedonistic pursuit). And those beliefs build on others and are built on by other beliefs/ideas as well. You’re making the same argument many make when trying to build on wedge issues: take a tiny portion of a group that is in no way representative of the larger group and then make generalizations to prove your point. Aside from you (I’m taking you at your word), I’ve yet to meet an atheist who really had no beliefs.