"Hard atheism, yes. But not the kind of skeptical atheism that I adhere to. In fact, "faith" is expressly shunned when possible."

Skeptical atheism sounds a lot like agnostic to me but then words are just tools nothing is exact. The main thing I feel the issue with "faith" is personifying the unknown. However the one thing I believe I do have faith in is what I experience as an individual for in the end that is all we have to rely on.

"Well, of course they are. The difference is that one is naturalistic (no supernatural stuff) and the other is not."

Electricity to a person 2000 years ago would appear supernatural. One must be careful to not limit one's world view Solly based on what we believe now. Quantum physics is challenging right now the very perception of matter, surfaces and reality.

"But is objectivity a goal of the belief system? That is an important question."

It is what I believe on some level science is collectively striving for. An objective view of the world a "true" understanding. Not all people who claim to be scientists do this however and often believe one thing and use some experiment to prove their original belief. Which is hardly what I would call objective. Unfortunately the way our brains process the universe is actually not the same as how it actually works. Time is relative to how fast an individual is moving and when u get right down to it the very surfaces of matter not nearly as solid as we believe they are.