Well, I got halfway down the page & have to reply.
If I tell you that I'm not a fan of team sports, do you automatically assume I'm a track & field fan? Or a sports fan of a different variety
perhaps? Sadly, there are many who would.
Of course, there are many other possibilities: I may detest all sport; I may have a little interest but not enough to be a fan; I may have no opinion
on anything other than team sports which I've decided I'm no fan of etc. It would therefore be preposterous to describe me as a fan.
It is the same with atheism. It is not a religion. It is merely a facet of many & varied philosophies, aphilosophical & personal outlooks. It is not a
statement of belief, but simply 1 of disbelief which implies no other beliefs, or system thereof, at all.
religion
• noun
1 the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
2 a particular system of faith and worship.
3 a pursuit or interest followed with devotion.
OED
Just as one doesn't have to be a track & field fan, or any type of fan, to dislike team sports, one doesn't have to follow any pursuit or interest
devotedly in order to not believe in divinity. To equate the 2 positions is actually a ploy of the religious which seeks to undermine the radical
difference between religion & other ideas, even non-religious theism, as it seeks to assert that, in matters regarding spirituality, there
is only
religion when this is patently false.
BTW, I'm not an atheist, I'm an a-intellectual-dishonesty-ist