Asking writes:
An atheist doesn't need to deny the existance of something that they know doesn't exist.
Or more precisely something they don't think has been established to exist. Even people who are unsure about the existence of gods are atheists. An atheist can be perfectly receptive to the existence of a god, even to the point of having a preconceived bias toward there being *something* out there, but reject a claim of a god's existence that is simply not backed up.