Why Do I Call Myself A Rationalist?

I have been a convinced and committed Atheist since my pre-teens, for more than half a century. But I have long resisted (and resented) being defined by what I don't believe. A proliferation of terms for nonbelievers now affords me an opportunity to adopt a more simpatico self-descriptive. My problem with "Humanist" is that Humanism seems to have expropriated Atheism in pursuit of an ultraliberal political and social agenda with which I may not (necessarily, at all times) agree. Terms like "Freethinker" and "Brights," though I may accept their tacit premise, seem gratuitously condescending and confrontational. "Skeptic," yes; but too often confused by too many with Cynic. "Agnostic" is considered a cop-out--fence-straddling--by many militant Atheists. I disagree: Agnosticism is about what one knows (or professes to know); Atheism is about what one believes. When Atheists, enamored of their self-rectitude, fail to recognize or allow any distinction between their knowledge and their belief, they, like the religious fanatics they rail against, become zealots. So, I am reluctantly agnostic (an Agnostic-Atheist): I concede that I do not, can not, KNOW (for sure, to an absolute certainty), despite the vast preponderance of credible evidence that validates my worldview beyond any reasonable doubt. Aha! I call myself a Rationalist because that designation best describes what I do believe---I believe (fervently) in Reason.