Atheism is from the greek language and translated to "without God". It's the antithesis of Theism which is the belief in a deity.
New Age atheists are trying to soften the original meaning because it is impossible to prove their original argument. They want to have the balls to say there is no god, but they don't anyway to back it up. So instead of admitting they don't know and becoming an agnostic they still make the same argument but then put the onus on the other side to prove that the god exists. Smart move, but it also destroys the entire argument they set out to make.