Andy Bannister - The Atheist Who Didnt Exist: Or: the dreadful consequences of bad arguments

This is a remarkable and timely book: intelligent, funny, and elegant.

Michael Coren , author, broadcaster, and journalist

Andy Bannisters book is a breath, a gust, a positive whoosh of fresh air. Made me laugh, made me think, made me cry. The words bounce across the page. A sane Christian! Whatever next?

Adrian Plass , author and speaker

Every atheist vs believer debate Ive been to has made me want to gouge out my eyes with a spoon. Bannisters book, however, is exactly what this sceptical believer needed.

Drew Marshall , radio host

In a brilliant work that is as humorous as it is damaging to atheist arguments, Bannister demonstrates the consequences of implementing New Atheist arguments in real life (that is, out of the realm of stuffy office speculations). His work is a wild ride that takes the reader from stories to theory to end game. Writing with eloquence and imagination, he illustrates the supposed safe ground of New Atheist thought as truly no ground at all.

Professor Mary Jo Sharp , Houston Baptist University

Andy Bannister provides a set of powerful and accessible arguments that can be used by ordinary people in responding to the tsunami of atheist sound bites flooding public discourse in the West. His tongue-in-cheek humour gives a certain lightness which does not in any way undermine the rigour and force of the books arguments. This is not a negative study though atheism is certainly taken to the cleaners and it is also profoundly positive in presenting compelling arguments for the central claims of Christianity.

Dr Peter Riddell , Professorial Research Associate, History, SOAS, University of London

A book that tackles heady things with humour and grace and in a way that ordinary people like myself can actually understand. Highly recommended; I read it twice!

Jeff Allen, comedian

This lively, witty, and engaging book provides a powerful and thoughtful critique of the New Atheism associated with Richard Dawkins and others. This is a lovely book, which draws deeply on high-quality philosophical, historical, and scientific thinking. A readable, thoughtful, and humorous challenge to those who hold New Atheist beliefs. Highly recommended!

Professor Steve Walton , St Marys University, London

This book is for you, whether youre an atheist, a doubter, or a believer. In an age of overdone rhetoric that lacks substance, Andy Bannister has done what few writers on the topic of God have done: made it fun and fast-paced, yet fair and sincere. Andy has the rare ability to use humour to expose the faulty logic of bad arguments while at the same time being respectful to the people who might use those same arguments. Youll laugh in these pages even as your intellect is stimulated and your thinking is challenged. The Atheist Who Didnt Exist is a thoughtful book that will stimulate the humour and intelligence of the atheists who do exist. I wholeheartedly recommend it!

Abdu Murray , speaker and author of Grand Central Question: Answering the Critical Concerns of the Major Worldviews

Its the God Debate, but not as you know it. In this conversational, well-researched and accessible volume, Andy Bannister offers an intelligent, provocative, and humorous engagement with the New Atheism. Andy asks big questions and challenges some dominant assumptions. Share and enjoy.

Paul Woolley , Deputy Chief Executive, Bible Society

I would especially highlight this books accessibility. Although it is well endowed with references, its populist, racy style may well appeal to readers who would be unlikely to engage with yet another academic treatise on faith and secularism. On these grounds, I recommend it as an important addition to the debate on the most fundamental issue confronting any person, anywhere, at any time: are there good grounds for believing in a God or are believers such as Christians suffering delusional irrationality? This book may help each reader to come to a conclusion based on argumentation and evidence presented with satirical humour: a very valuable addition to the library!

Baroness Caroline Cox, founder of Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust

This is the most enjoyable critique of popular atheism I have read. It is serious fun, by which I mean it somehow offers deeply thoughtful responses to modern scepticism while regularly making you laugh often laughing at Andys true wit, sometimes at that British drollery! Oddly, for such an entertaining riposte to fashionable atheist arguments, the book is remarkably free of smugness and self-congratulation. I could and will give this book to my sceptical friends.

Dr John Dickson , Founding Director of the Centre for Public Christianity, and Honorary Fellow of the Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University