I think the issue I consistently see in discussions surrounding theism and atheism is the definition of what it means to be agnostic vs atheist. The way I see it, there are generally five “buckets” of belief most people fit into; theist, agnostic theist, agnostic, agnostic atheist, and atheist.

In the most technical sense atheist means “a lack of belief.” But some people use it to mean a disbelief in a god, or in other words a belief there is no god. Other people use it in the technical sense, but rarely does someone clarify which use they actually mean.

So for clarity and ease of communication, I think it would make sense to use the fives states of belief above as follows:

Theist: believes there is a god.

Agnostic theist: does not hold a belief in a god, but lives as though there is one.

Agnostic: does not hold a belief or disbelief in a god.

Agnostic atheist: does not hold a belief in a god, and lives as though there is not one.

Atheist/antitheist: believes that there is no god.

Obviously I don’t expect others to enter a conversation already using that framework, and it will probably never become a common framework, but when I read comments online and someone says they are an atheist, the first thing I try to do is determine if they are an agnostic or antitheist atheist.