Atheism makes no claims or beliefs. Atheism simply says that claims made without evidence can be dismissed without consideration.
You're thinking empiricism. Atheism is most fundamentally the belief that there is not a god. There are atheist positions that are consistent with empiricism, but not all of them are, nor do they need to be.
There are gradients to it, but atheism is fundamentally about belief. The rational for that belief is a different set of philosophy.