From time to time on the Internet, a critic will make the
assertion that the Book of Mormon is not ancient in any way, shape, or form,
without providing any arguments, evidences, or sources to back-up the claim.
When challenged to provide such support, they will at times refuse, insisting
that the “burden of proof” is not theirs, but the believer’s. This is because,
allegedly, the burden of proof only falls on the one making a positive claim,
and their claim is negative. It is the responsibility of the believer, they
will say, to prove (or, at least, provide evidence for) the claim that the book
is ancient. If they cannot do that, then we should not accept the book as
ancient. I would suggest that this reflects a somewhat simplistic notion of the
burden of proof.
A Blog on Latter-day Saint Apologetics, Scholarship, and Commentary