Is atheism a belief?

[bennyboy]

I wasn't doing that when I was five, and I was an atheist then, too.

Yeah, I consider this a pretty serious abuse of the suffix "-ist." At the very least, an ism should express some kind of position. "I do not believe in any gods" is fine, but atheist as simply lacking a belief means that my beagle and my bunions are atheist in about the same way-- I don't think that's a particularly good use of that terminology.

Unless, that is, you're saying that at five, you had an opinion about the existence of a deity-- and that you found evidence for said existence lacking-- then I'd I wouldn't say that "atheist" was a good descriptor of you.