How to spot an Atheist, a definition of terms: Richard Dawkins’ God and Sam Harris’ critique of Atheism

This is a combination of a few posts, which seeks unsuccessfully to grapple with my non-religious-identifier. I know many of you probably have strong opinions on the subject, so please leave your comments. What does it mean to be an Atheist? I don't know. Although I'm aware of the contemporary movement known as "New Atheism", I'm also aware that there is some discussion about what the word itself actually means. Some stick to a straight dictionary ...