Thank you for sharing your literalism for the sake of righteous indignation.

For starters — atheists come in a lot of different flavors. Like agnostic atheists. And atheistic Christians.

These words are fluid. I understood what the writer was saying—this wasn’t a theology dissertation.

Your example—“sky-daddy on a stick”—is just an example of a particularly tacky way of saying what amounts to a truth—it’s a pretty way-out myth. (I say this as a once believer—and those come in a million flavors also—and one who has focused much mind-time to the subject.)

Nontheism was a word morphed to try to be more respectful, to avoid the negative baggage of the label 'atheism’.

Non-theism can imply someone not giving much credence to the basis of the conversation of gods, rather than on who rejects them.

Summed up:

“In fact, "atheism" is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a "non-astrologer" or a "non-alchemist." We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs.”

― Sam Harris