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The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist by Andy Bannister

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Book cover

The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist

The subtitle of this book is ‘On the Dreadful Consequences of Bad Arguments’ and that sums it up rather well. Andy Bannister explores what could, I suppose, be summed up as the atheist delusion, picking up several points where common arguments against the existence of God run aground. For example, what is the basis for morality if God is banned from the equation? For all the numerous points where religions in general (and Christianity in particular; this is a Christian book and the ‘New Atheists’ seem particular keen to single out this faith) have been responsible for failings to the point of atrocity, they face stiff competition from the most avowedly atheist states – consider the swathes of innocents murdered in 20th century Soviet Russia and Communist China.

Unlike many of the works of prominent atheist writers (Dawkins, Hitchens, etc), Bannister writes with a certain lack of seriousness to the point where it could, ironically, almost be called irreverent. If you like to take yourself highly seriously, then this may not be the book to win you round or bolster your stock of arguments. However, I feel that it would be a more pleasant prospect to have a chat with Andy Bannister than to meet with Richard Dawkins and others who ardently deny the possibility of God.

It remains to be seen if this will be remembered as a modern classic of Christian apologetics but it raises some challenges to atheistic assumptions and is worth consideration by anyone who enjoys a good humoured discussion of matters that affect the very ground of how we see ourselves and our relationship with and responsibilities to others.

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