Have you looked into the word "atheist"? It contains "theist"; it is only a reaction. Just think, if all theisms disappear, what will happen to atheists? They will have to die. They will lose all the excitement of denying God, because nobody is proposing the exists. The theist knows not, but believes. The atheist also knows not, but believes.
Have you really searched every nook and corner of existence and found that there is no God? Forget about every nook and corner of existence -- have you searched within yourself? Your atheism is just an ideology, a negative belief.
There is a very beautiful story in Indian scriptures:
When Narda, a devotee, a great devotee, was dying God appeared to him. Such things used to happen in the past; they don't happen anymore. And God asked him what he would like, if he had any desire to be fulfilled in the next life.
He said, "Yes, I want to be born an atheist."
Even God was puzzled. Remember, such things used to happen in the past; now they no longer happen. God said,'What? You want to be an atheist? Such a great devotee, such a believer, such a religious man who has been singing and singing my name?"
Narda said, "Yes, because although I am a devotee, I continuously go on forgetting you, but I have seen atheists who never forget you. That's why I want to be an atheist next time: so that I can remember you continuously. I don't want to forget you even for a single moment. Now you are only one of the items of my mind, but for the atheist you seem to be his whole heart -- although he denies you, he remembers you. So just give me one blessing: that I should be born an atheist so that I can talk about you continuously."
This story is beautiful. It says in a very symbolic way that the atheist and the theist are not in different boats.
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