When explaining the burden of proof, Armoured Skeptic, in his video "Why being A Theist doesn't make sense" briefly made the point that a person who lacks a belief in McDonald's does not have the burden of proof. The person who claims McDonald's exists has the burden of proof, and they must demonstrate its existence with substantial evidence, such as advertisements, food, or taking the doubter to the restaurant itself. As I thought about it briefly, I began to realize this very brief explanation of the burden of proof can be used to demonstrate the position of an antitheist. There are atheists who aren't antitheists (*cough* Alain de Botton *cough*), but I am personally an antitheist, just like many of the voices critical of organized religion.
Antitheism comes from the Greek prefix 'anti' meaning 'against' added to 'theism', the belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially belief in one god as creator of the universe, intervening in it and sustaining a personal relation to his creatures.
Why would one want to be an antitheist? Let us return to the McDonald's-ist and a-McDonald's-ist.
If an a-McDonald's-ist says he isn't convinced McDonald's exists, the McDonald's-ist has the burden of proof to demonstrate the existence of this restaurant franchise, but the anti-McDonald's-ist is someone who doesn't like the idea that such a fast food franchise exists, that unhealthy food is sold for a cheap price, and that it is the cheap diet of millions. If demonstrated that the a-McDonald's-ist is wrong, they will change their mind, but if they are an anti-McDonald's-ist, they wouldn't be happy about the fact, and they wouldn't want to partake in the food distributed there.
As an atheist myself, if I was presented with the existence of a deity or deities, I'd change my mind, but as an antitheist, I'd not be too happy about the fact that theistic beings exist, and I'm quite certain I most likely wouldn't worship or like him, her, it, or them, especially if it were the Abrahamic god found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
I'd be interested in other's opinions of antitheism, atheists who aren't antitheists, what would be the down side to a reality where any of the world's religions were fundamentally true and evident, who would suffer from it, and who would consider themselves an antitheist?