Are you telling them their god doesn't exist? If so, then the burden of proof is actually on you. Why? You've made a claim to the non-existance of their god, as such, you must prove that their god doesn't exist. If a cop throws you in jail for murder, then they have to prove that you did it; however, you still need to bring proof to show that their claims are wrong. A lack of evidence isn't evidence to the contrary, though it may assist in proving it. A neutral position would be one in which you aren't taking a stance either way. If you are taking a neutral stance, however, and they get up in your face and tell you that you can't disprove them, then yes, the burden of proof is on them.
I don't think so - it's impossible to prove that something does not exist from its absence. But that doesn't mean the burden of proof lies on someone denying its existence. I suppose it comes down to decision making - if someone makes a decision where the existence of God is a factor, then its on them to prove the existence of God to validate their decision, and vice versa too.
On your murder metaphor - it falls apart because you don't need to prove your innocence, simply prove the flaws in the proof of your guilt. Irrelevant of all of this, the justice system is not based on truth - its based on a reasonable bar of evidence. Many people are judged guilty of crimes they didnt commit, because the judge decided the evidence for it was high enough to clear the bar.
I think you might be just looking at this from a 'both sides can win and coexist' point of view, but that often isn't true in the real life because religion often manifests in politics and policy decision making, not to mention just everyday life decision making, so every time a relevant decision is made, god's existence should be proven by anyone for whom, it factors in their decision. The reverse can't be true - it's not possible to prove non-existence, because it can only be disproven by proving its contradiction.
Damn, I can't seem to bring this around to a clear point or an elegant conclusion. The more I think about this the more I feel like I'm going in circles. Ah well, I'll just post this for posterity. Do let me know of any holes in my logic.
The cops wouldn't throw you in jail without actual evidence existing anywhere...
Your analogy is beyond stupid, because if it were accurate, it'd be, "the cops wouldn't throw you in jail if no one was even dead or missing." ... and then it'd be done, because you wouldn't be arrested.
No dead body, no murder, then there's no murder to prove any lack of connection to!
Work on your logic skills, because they suck right now. Unless you mean to imply there IS actual verifiable evidence God exists? Then you'll need to work on your evidentiary diligence...
Yeah, every time one of these comments takes on Muslims specifically I associate it with all of that Bush-era Harris/Hitchens/Dawkins atheist crap - focus on Muslims because then you get to parade around on TV being all intellectually superior but don't face any actual risk of violent repercussions like you would if you pissed off Christians.
(to be clear, I am myself anti-Christian, I just regret that prominent public atheists treat them with kid gloves when they're the worst of all)
Curiously there were enough ill-behaved Muslims in the Aughts (including the 9/11 attackers, though the attack itself wasn't driven by Islamist extremism) that yes, countering Islamic dogma did seem more dangerous at the time.
In fact, western Christian groups and their ministries were rather prideful at the time that they'd never commit terror (id est arson or rampage killings) like those fanatical Muslim Jihadis.
And to this day, when we point to white Christian nationalist violence, they assert well they're not real Christians.
Of course, that comparison fails when you remember that this is just an online forum, the risk of violent repercussions is close to Nil, and Christians get dunked on in increasingly creative ways every day. Islam just makes it so easy, and the often overblown reactions make it more rewarding to make fun of it rather than Christianity, for online trolls.