Does Atheism Have a Burden of Proof?
All too often, arguments between theists and atheists end up with theists demanding that atheists disprove God. At first glance, this doesn’t seem like too much to ask, since atheists constantly ask for theists to prove that there is a God. If atheists can’t prove that there isn’t a God, then how can they demand that theists prove there is? Aren’t atheists guilty of a double standard, holding the theistic position to a standard of evidence that they don’t require of themselves? The answer to these questions is no, because theistic confusion around this issue derives from a misunderstanding of the atheist position, as well as general ignorance regarding the relationship between claim-making and the burden of proof. Although this may seem a bit “101” to those in the atheist community, it is nevertheless a major point of confusion for many theists, and is therefore deserving of continued clarification.
To start off, it is crucially important to understand the difference between the following atheistic positions:
1. I do not believe in God(s).
2. I believe there is/are no God(s).
Prima facie, these positions seem equivalent. Indeed they are similar, insofar as they describe a person who has no active belief in God(s). However, they differ dramatically regarding whether or not they carry with them a burden of proof. Both are atheistic positions; however position #2 is not a requirement of being an atheist, while position #1 is. Position #2 necessarily implies one also holds position #1 (since #2 is a subset of #1), but position #1 does not imply one also holds position #2. A Venn diagram will help clarify this relationship.
For those not fully informed, there is some dialogue between some high profile atheists (Sam Harris and PZ Myers) regarding profiling Muslims at the airport. Sam Harris recently wrote an article on his blog suggesting, in no uncertain terms, that we should be profiling Muslims for screening before boarding an airplane. This post stirred up some controversy and PZ Myers weighed in on his blog, repudiating Harris for his stance. There has been some back-and-forth, and it can be easy to lose track of who said what, especially since many of the blog posts are buried under newer content. For those unaware of this ongoing discussion, or those who haven’t been keeping up, please refer to the ordered links below. I will update this page as the discourse develops.
This is a follow-up to 
Well, God has finally presented evidence for His existence to an atheist! I know, right–pretty amazing, huh? Yeah, and apparently He decided that the best way to go about presenting evidence of His existence was to make some religious woman win the lottery! Wow, what a truly novel and great way to show He cares about people! This is certainly the kind of act through which the existence of an omnipotent Creator of the universe proves most convincing. I’m sorry to keep you waiting, all right, here’s Fox News–as always–with a fair and balanced report of the facts.