Who Has Burden of Proof?

When it comes to the debate regarding a conscious or self-aware being at the beginning of creation, one we call God, who has burden of proof, atheists or theists?

First off, let's define God. God is a being who has thoughts and is self-aware, though perhaps not infallible, all knowing, all loving, etc. In otherwords, a being with consciousness willed the universe into existence. Also, there could be more than one, although I believe there is just one.

Some basic claim in debate is that the person with the claim that is more outrageous has to provide valid proof to back up those claims.

Which notion is more outrageous? A universe that was willed into existence by God, or a universe that just is?

First off, who created this God? This is the question where we start bumping up against our own mind's ability to fathom. And accept that there is no logical answer to the question that doesn't create even more questions.

It comes down to this: the basic notion that the world is good, and the idea that God is capable of miracles.

Which, to atheists, is reminiscent of... Well my God transcends logic! So there!

There is some reason why you would expect if souls were NOT real, that your own personal identity is not real and just an illusion based on neurons firing in your brain (basically meaning we don't have souls, immortal or immortal), then the entire universe and everything that exists would not exist. Basically, there would be nothing at all.

And then the phrase comes into my mind, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If there is no one in the universe to experience the universe, is it really there?

My theory is that the world exists because the nature of the world is inherently good. At any rate, there is some sort of basic wisdom in the world that "life is good." If you ask me, I believe Earth is a place we come for spiritual growth and the real good stuff is in heaven. But that's just me.

Basically, the notion that spirits (or consciousness) comes before inanimate objects.

So who has burden of proof? Well, the atheist view is that in the beginning, there was nothing. And then, BAM! expansion.

Or we could boil it down to the concept of creativity. Have you ever something that did not have consciousness exhibit any creativity at all? God exhibited creativity while creating the universe.

This topic might be revisited later.