I lack belief in God, so if pressed I will define myself as an atheist. Sometimes I volunteer the information if it seems necessary to setting up a conversation.

But lacking belief is as far as I will take things. I do not make any sort of positive claim. I don’t insist I know God does not exist, because I understand that I cannot know any such thing.

Some would say a simple lack of belief makes me an agnostic and not an atheist, and by vernacular definitions that might be true.

But the philosophical ideas that help me clarify and contextualize (to myself) my lack of belief come neatly wrapped in a package labeled atheism.

But the thing is, I probably get close to as annoyed as you do with most self-labeled atheists who argue with people of faith about the existence of God. (It is possible to have an interesting and productive conversation about the existence of God, but one seldom sees that.)

I promote a lot of my stories on Twitter and Facebook, and I frequently attract commentary from atheists who seem to miss the point of what I’m writing and presume I want to join them making fun of people of faith.

I call them the “sky daddy" crowd because of their tendency to personally ridicule people who believe in God.

It’s very difficult to push back against that crowd. When someone comments, “religion poisons everything,” to a story about specific grievances about a particular sect of Christianity, I do sometimes try to push back.

I’ll say, “Well, not all religion. For example, Episcopalians, Quakers and United Methodists don’t behave this way. Their teachings and practices more center social justice and uplifting the oppressed.”

That’s often when the “sky daddy" insults start to fly. I get some of the motivation, the injuries and pain that produce these kinds of comments.

But just as my co-editor at Prism & Pen is a church-going Christian, so are many people I like and respect. I want to work with them to make the world a better place, which starts with acknowledging that my own lack of belief is just that, my own and nobody else’s.