If you were ever a theist...

[MTL]

In theory, labels aren't important except as a shorthand.

In practice, I think the "atheist" label is very important. There is a serious problem with atheists, whether they call themselves that or not, being socially ostracised or worse. Since the internet makes the world so much smaller, every "out" atheist makes it that little bit easier for the next one to come out, in my opinion. Each professed atheist acting like a normal person and not murdering people all the time (although of course, there are bad atheists too) goes towards dispelling some of the ridiculous myths about atheism. And it invites questions, as shown by this wonderful forum.

If instead atheists all used very different words to describe themselves, any kind of unity in the concept is lost. I liken it to when gays started to come out. If instead of announcing, "I am gay" each person said something very different and personal, it wouldn't have made it any easier to "come out gay".

This is my opinion, anyway. Of course, atheism is not a club. I'm not suggesting that. It's nothing, basically. But it's an important nothing, with the world how it is. So I'm proud to call myself an atheist and to show those whose minds have been poisoned that I am not the devil. And to show other atheists that it's OK to be one.

Interesting perspective and a good point.

However, the term "Agnostic" is also misunderstood and needs defending;

Too many people (including many Atheists) simply think of Agnosticism as being "Atheism Lite"
and that's not necessarily it, at all (although for some individuals, that may be their personal case).

Because I think it is so important to demonstrate the option of Deism to Theists, most of whom are oblivious to the term and the concept, I tenaciously refer to myself as Agnostic, since it is not their Faith I really take issue with, so much as their dogma or religion

Sadly people misunderstand the term "Atheism" and assume it means:

A.  Absolutely rejecting any possibility of the existence of a God
B.  Insisting that others reject that possibility as well

I know that the term "Atheism" does not necessarily mean either of those things,
and I agree with what you've said about Atheism, like the LGBT community,
being "out and proud" to normalize the term and also defuse the antagonism that unfortunately so often follows it.

Actually, it is unfortunate,
but I fear that "Atheism" has it in common with "Feminism"
that some individuals or groups have caused the term to be take on negative connotations that it should not have.