Answering the New Atheists Concerning the Burden of Proof

This session presents an analysis of the argument that theists have the burden of proof while atheists are rational in being atheists until and unless God's existence is proven. Building upon Bertrand Russel and Antony Flew, the New Atheist movement has developed the argument rhetorically, and it seems to play a rather important role in their intellectual defense of atheism. This session shows that the New Atheists’ reasons for shifting the whole burden of proof to the theist are unjustified, and suggests a better way of looking at how the burden of proof should be distributed.