silverhammermba: I'm not going to quote your entire post, because it's just long, and this post will be long enough without quoting yours. But the gist of your post is that you believe the burden of proof is on the FES because they are the ones arguing with commonly accepted science. Is that a fair summary?
Well, you would be correct, if not for one (rather large) thing you're missing: the FES didn't come to you. They did not "go around attacking the other theories" of the Earth's shape. They did not send you an e-mail trying to convince you that the RE theory is nonsensical. They did not try to force their beliefs on you in any way, in fact. By default, they have no burden of proof, because they didn't come to you and try to convince you. To the contrary, you came here to try and convince them.
If an FEer walked into the principal's office in a high school and demanded that all classes taught students that the Earth was flat, that FEer would be totally and completely ignored if he didn't bring proof. Right? I mean, I could walk into school and say "Prove to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are correct about the shape of the Earth. If you cannot, you are clearly wrong about the shape of the Earth." And, by your own admission, that would be absurd. I'd be simply wrong. I wouldn't have a case.
Well, this site is a school where FE theory is taught. REers are walking into it and saying "Prove to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are correct about the shape of the Earth. If you cannot, you are clearly wrong about the shape of the Earth."
Person A goes to Person B's house and tries to convince Person B that he is wrong about something. Who has the burden of proof? Person B, who was simply sitting in his house and endulging himself on his beliefs, or Person A, who came with the goal of changing Person B's opinion? The REers are Person A. This is Person B's house.
For a real example, think about religious proponents who go door to door. If they come to my house and try to convince me to worship as they do, it is their job to convince me that I should, not my job to convince them that I shouldn't. Regardless of how popular their religion is - even if I was the ONLY person in the entire world who didn't agree with them - they still came to me. Does that mean that I'm burdened with having to come up with proof that their religion is wrong? Of course not!
Same idea here. REers came here to convince FEers, not the other way around.