well, gene, i do refer to everyone from james madison to benito mussolini as a 'statist,' and to myself as an 'anti-statist.' this does not of course entail that madison and mussolini agree on everything, but it does pick out the fact that they agree on one big thing. (of course for another purpose or at another moment, i use words like 'republican' or 'fascist' and distinguish the positions carefully.) one reason i think the usage is worthwhile is because the political state seems inevitable to most people at this point in human history, and the entire political spectrum is conceived as ranging from left to right as varieties of ideas about how to fund and arrange the government. one might be concerned for certain purposes with what these positions have in common, as well as about what they don't. it's important to keep suggesting that there are problems with the state in general, to try to make people see that there could be things outside or after it. 

i wonder what he thinks about lumping jews, christians, muslims, and hindus together as 'theists,' while sketching out a position that doesn't believe there is a god or any gods as 'atheism.' if that was your only taxonomy of religion, or if you just flatly denied that there were any differences between jews and hindus, that would be unfortunate. for other purposes it might be important to distinguish your own position from all of these together, or point to what they have in common.

thanks, adam!