The rundown

[robvalue]

Wolfclan: Oh sure, don't worry. It's a very common confusion, I have a section all about it on my website if you're interested. It's just a matter of definitions and conventions. Even dictionaries do not agree about it. As long as you sort it out with whoever you are talking to, it doesn't really matter. I've tried to make the parts on my website meet up as far as possible with the uses most common in the atheist community. A lot of people dislike being called atheist, but this is usually because they aren't aware of its actual common meaning.

Yes, there's a big difference between someone wanting to talk to you about atheism, and just attacking you over it. In the second case, there's not much you can do except say you don't want to talk about it. If they continue, they just make themselves look like a douche. Like many things, when people are scared of someone who is different, it manifests in a pre-emptive attack to cover their fears. I've faced it all my life for lots of different reasons. I only bother discussing something with someone actually interested in listening, not just berating me.