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Agnostic Theism: belief in a god without claiming to know for sure that the god exists.

An agnostic atheist won’t claim to know for sure that nothing warranting the label “god” exists or that such cannot exist, but they also don’t actively believe that such an entity does indeed exist

take some time to learn how atheists and dictionaries define atheism and agnosticism

learn something

if that definition is unfalsifiable, the ignostic takes the theological noncognitivist position that the question of the existence of God (per that definition) is meaningless

a coherent definition of God must be presented before the question of the existence of God can be meaningfully discussed

the concept of God is not considered meaningless; the term "God" is considered meaningless

For me it was liberating because finally the Universe made complete sense. There was only matter and energy that followed constant laws...anything 'supernatural' was simply dreamed up by humans. When bad things happened, it was not punishment, just chance. It meant that we could make this world into what we pleased, for good or ill. My choices were on me alone.

I'm from the Bible Belt as well. My suspicion is that you actually do know some atheists, but you just don't know it. It's very difficult for atheists to be "out" in the Bible Belt. As to your question, I would first just point out that it's less that I "decided" there was no God, and more that I just "realized" there was no God. And for me at least, it wasn't "liberating" so much as terrifying. I wasn't frightened of God's judgment or anything like that. Having grown up in a fundamentalist Christian household, I was always taught that doubt, in itself, was sinful, so by the time I got to the point of not believing, I had already crossed the line of doubting God (and thus being subject to judgment) long before that. In that sense, when I finally realized there was no God, it actually erased any fear of judgment - there's no God to judge me, thus no fear. Instead, I was terrified of the reaction that I would get from people around me when they found out that I no longer believed in God. My number one concern was my grandparents, whom I am very close with. I knew that it would devastate them, and that was really tough for me. (To this day, I have never really "come out" to them, although my parents told them - something that I honestly think I will always be resentful towards my parents for.) Beyond that, literally everyone around me, friends, family, my whole community really, were Christians, and so there was a deep, deep sense of loneliness when I realized that I had basically become "evil" in all of their minds.

It is liberating not to follow any religion because I feel that most of them (the major ones i.e. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity) are oppressive, intolerant and encourage ignorance in one way or another.

But what they want is authenticity and transparency. They want to know what kind of human being this is.

that religious values are the only metric of morality and moral character is really not something that is really productive in a country that claims to be a place of freedom of thought and freedom of religion.

Many churches and apologetics books have misinformed people about how dictionaries and atheists themselves define atheism: it's just the absence of belief in gods, not the positive denial of your god's existence.

Some atheists go on to deny some or all gods; others don't.

A significant problem which atheists have with theists is how so many make all sorts of assumptions about atheism, atheists, and anyone who isn't religious.

With the First Church of Atheism you can become ordained quickly, easily, and at no cost.