Protestantism

» HeadZenCards - Cognitive Dissonance

I was brought up to be a Protestant but the following applies to anyone who believes in God.

When the going gets rough for Christian apologists trying to defend their biblical views, they'll often say, "You can't prove God doesn't exist."

They're exactly right.

Similarly, they can't prove the Easter Bunny doesn't exist.

However, they can be reasonably certain of its nonexistence when they make a judgment based on all available data.

The proposal for the other party to disprove the positive assertion is a logical fallacy known as shifting the burden of proof.

It's never the responsibility of the person denying the claim to prove otherwise, nor is it possible to prove something doesn't exist unless we burden this hypothetical phenomenon with rules and logic of our universe (e.g. disproving squared circles).

The person who makes the positive claim is always responsible for proving it's factual. Whether or not you believe that a god who makes a magical egg-delivering rabbit is more ridiculous than a god who is pleased by the smell of burnt flesh is simply a matter of perspective.

Each demands the same amount of proof.

- Dr. Jason Long

-- posted by HeadZenCards