The Burden of Proof for God Claims
When anyone makes a claim, he or she has to have evidence to prove it. Some claims are minor, some major, and all are subject to being proven by our senses, life experience, and scientific knowledge. Claiming there is a god is an extraordinary claim which, just like anything else, requires evidence to prove.
If we claim that there is a giant space lizard that created everything, most people would say that there isn't or ask us to prove it. If we don't have proof, they wouldn't believe it. But religions make claims like this all the time, without proof. All atheists are asking is that, if you make a claim, especially one as huge as the existence of a god, back it up with independently verifiable proof.
The burden of proof simply means that whoever makes the claim, especially huge ones about supernatural beings, needs to furnish proof. Most people can easily dismiss the space lizard, but why don't they do the same for gods? Religions have invested a lot of energy over many, many years repeating their claims and indoctrinating people until their space lizard has become familiar. Not real, just familiar.
If we claim that there is a giant space lizard that created everything, most people would say that there isn't or ask us to prove it. If we don't have proof, they wouldn't believe it. But religions make claims like this all the time, without proof. All atheists are asking is that, if you make a claim, especially one as huge as the existence of a god, back it up with independently verifiable proof.
The burden of proof simply means that whoever makes the claim, especially huge ones about supernatural beings, needs to furnish proof. Most people can easily dismiss the space lizard, but why don't they do the same for gods? Religions have invested a lot of energy over many, many years repeating their claims and indoctrinating people until their space lizard has become familiar. Not real, just familiar.
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