Can't Have it Both Ways

In the span of a one-hour program a well-known American atheist celebrity made two contradictory points: 1) that atheism is nothing more than a lack of belief in God and 2) that to exist in a supernatural respect is indistinguishable from not existing at all (my position). He expressed the second point rather well, especially since he typically refuses to assert that God does not exist because that would to impose on himself the burden of proof, which he strives never to do.

I say points are contradictory because the idea supernatural is intrinsic to the idea God (or gods). A thoroughly natural God would make no sense whatever. (Superman, recall, was not a supernatural being but simply a "strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men." No one in Metropolis mistook him for God. Hmm, did Superman believe in God?)

So I don't think one can coherently say that atheism is nothing more than nonbelief (i.e., negative atheism) and also say that supernatural existence is equivalent to nonexistence. Once you grasp the second point, you have taken positive, or affirmative, or logical, atheism on board.