Torie, I wouldn't be too apologetic.
To borrow a phrase, American 'nones' aren't 'temporarily embarrassed Christians'; the fact so few identify as Atheist despite Gallup recently identifying only 64% to 81% believing in God depending on how the question is asked is a reflection of US discourse.
None is None. It's not a holding pen.
It’s also not some “pre-Atheist” stage or collection of “soft Atheists.”
Considering that atheism is a lack of belief in God and not antitheism, it kind of is. Atheism is okay, and should not be seen as lesser to any religion.
It depends on if we're defining that lack of belief in an affirmative way or not, though. A lot of "nones" (side note: why have we not come up with a better term than this?), if pressed, describe themselves as agnostic or as uninterested in the question or as going back and forth on it depending on the situation.
The only other term I've heard that's marginally better is "unchurched," so that would leave people who may not attend church regularly/ever but do in fact have strong religious beliefs.