The Presumption of Atheism
Some years ago, the late philosopher and atheist Antony Flew wrote a paper titled "The Presumption of Atheism," which argued for the proposition clearly stated in the title. His point, of course, is that in considering the God question, the burden of proof ought to be on the theist, that is, the one who maintains the proof of the proposition, just as in a criminal case the burden of proof is on the state prosecutor. This certainly makes sense. For one thing, all children start life as negative atheists: they lack a belief in God. They can't be said to believe in God until they are able to be convinced (in some way and to some extent) that God exists. At that point they may be regarded as believing that God exists on the same evidentiary basis that they believe, say, that Santa Claus exists: their parents, the most trusted source they know, told them so. For a child, whose knowledge is necessarily meager, this is not irrational. Knowledge is contextual; you can be justif