I have some questions for the posters here.

[pocaracas]

Oh... he's Murrican!!
That explains it.

The murrican dictionary of "englich", aka, Merriam webster https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atheist:

Code:

atheist
noun

athe·ist | \ ˈā-thē-ist
\
Definition of atheist

: a person who does not believe in the existence of a god or any gods : one who subscribes to or advocates atheism

So far, it looks like what most people here are saying...
But wait!
There's more

Code:

More Definitions for atheist

atheist noun
English Language Learners Definition of atheist

: a person who believes that God does not exist

See the full definition for atheist in the English Language Learners Dictionary

atheist noun
athe·​ist | \ ˈā-thē-ist
\
Kids Definition of atheist

: a person who believes there is no God

I'm under the impression that in parts of Murrica only these latter definitions are taught and so people become convinced that they can say "I do not believe in the existence of any god and I'm not an atheist".


But you know that Mr Webster made his dictionary on purpose to distinguish Murrican englich from the Queen's English, hence the changes
Color, instead of colour
Neighbor, instead of neighbour
Side walk, instead of pavement
Underground, instead of subway
Tiger, instead of tigre
Meter, instead of metre
Fries, instead of chips
Chips, instead of crisps (not sure this one would have been a thing in the 1800s)
Realize, instead of realise
etc... you get the gist.

Aluminum vs aluminium is a different matter. I'll leave that as an exercise to the reader.