Why don't some people understand lack of belief?

[robvalue]

It's a matter of definition, of course. Using different definitions doesn't prove any kind of point or win arguments, it just means one party needs to use the definitions of the other, for the purposes of the conversation.

The simplest definition is that an atheist is a person (not a fucking vegetable) who is not a theist. Never before have I heard such discomfort and outrage at the simple splitting of the people of the world into two categories. Like I said, if you want to come up with other words to further split these categories, be my guest. But that doesn't invalidate my definition, nor its application. Some atheists have a positive belief that there are no gods, some don't. (Call the latter "just agnostics" if it makes you happy to do so.)

Notice that it doesn't say anything about why someone may not be a theist. It may be because they've never heard of a "God". It may be because they've heard of it, but thought it was a joke, or just gave it no further thought. Or it may be they've thought about it and rejected the idea. It's not important to the above definition.