Reply #145: "Strident, assertive, stubborn, or even assholery" -- do not describe an ontological position

[HamdenRice]

I think that one of the problems with your OP, is that it doesn't recognize that people who use "fundamentalist atheist" are not just describing behavior but an ontological position (as well as the behavior that flows from it).

If the term "fundamentalist atheist" were not used, how would you describe the difference between these two positions:

1. I came to the personal decision that I don't believe there is a God, but I have nothing against religion or religious ideas and don't actively believe that religious people are "wrong."

2. I know there is no god, and therefore religious people are delusional, probably should be confined to mental institutions because of their delusions, and organized religion should be actively opposed as an evil, and religious ideas confronted as wrong, at all times.

None of the words you cite captures the ideological position of (2) -- but only the behavior that might flow from it.