You are reading that WP article as charitably towards your position as possible. You are ignoring your own quoted text about atheism being, "specifically the po

You are reading that WP article as charitably towards your position as possible. You are ignoring your own quoted text about atheism being, "specifically the position that there are no deities", in favor of interpreting it as a perfect contrast to theism. The WP article for "deism" -- the term you should be using -- is just one click away from the article on theism. Likewise, reading further down in the article I cited supports both your view and mine. The very first paragraph of http://atheists.org/atheism http://atheists.org/atheism is, "Atheism is the lack of belief in a deity, which implies that nothing exists but natural phenomena (matter), that thought is a property or function of matter, and that death irreversibly and totally terminates individual organic units. This definition means that there are no forces, phenomena, or entities which exist outside of or apart from physical nature, or which transcend nature, or are “super” natural, nor can there be. Humankind is on its own." Reddit's atheism subreddit -- generally regarded as the largest online forum for atheists, so not exactly without repute -- has a FAQ (http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/faq#Whatisatheism http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/faq#Whatisatheism) which clearly states, "There is no inherent relationship between atheism and a religion. A person can be both atheist and religious, provided that he or she believes in a religion that does not have any deities, such as some forms of Buddhism." I anonymously posted an excerpt of our conversation to that same subreddit, at http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/10gt4a/so_apparently_atheist_now_means_believes_in_an/ http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/10gt4a/so_apparentl.... It didn't get much attention, but the responses so far aren't really in your favor, either. You keep finding really tiny bits of language in various articles to try to draw the conclusion that atheism only means a lack of belief in the Western ideal of a singular, personal God, even though you can't bring to bear any article which comes right out and clearly states that. But, I'm finding it difficult to find anything that clearly says your position is wrong (and some articles do kind of, sort of, almost support your position, given the sort of narrow interpretation you're using); I'm inclined to attribute that more to having never in my life read or heard atheism described the way you are trying to use it. It's a little like trying to find an article that specifically states, "God does not have a beard that is blue in color." But, most importantly, you seem like a pretty nice guy, you've been around HN for even longer than I have, you seem otherwise perfectly reasonable, and as far as I can tell we've never fought before. Whether some guy on the internet believes that atheism includes beliefs in "impersonal deities" or not, or whether Einstein was an atheist or not, really doesn't matter to me, nor do I have the time or desire to continue arguing about it. I am far more interested in public education continuing to teach the foundations of basic sciences, which is the only reason I got involved in this thread to begin with. So rock on, brother.