Do you have the right to be an atheist?

[robvalue]

Atheism is more like a pre-emptive stance against the most popular uses of the word "God". And it isn't by default a denial of their existence, either.

"God" is a virtually meaningless word. If you want to use it in conversation to ask a question, you need to be clear what you mean. People can say the sun is God. They can say the universe is God. In those cases, I'm a theist.

Sure, there may well be life somewhere far more powerful and clever than us. If you want to call them gods, that's up to you.