Popular Atheism often feels like it's everywhere these days, whether it be online, on the air, or in print. With that in mind, well known author Dr. Andy Bannister has written a new book titled The Atheist Who Didn't Exist.

"I began to discover a lot of arguments that were being thrown at me, against my Christian faith, that were coming out of this...popular form of Atheism, known as New Atheism, often associated with Richard Dawkins and others that we've seen in the media."

Bannister feels two factors have played into New Atheism becoming trendy; the first being the nature of media, always looking for something new or iconoclastic.

"So anybody who comes in as a bit of consensus smasher, saying something a bit different, often gets air time. It's not so much that (the) arguments were good, it was simply new...and it made for good air time."

At the same time, Bannister says there's also been a tendency by the media to portray anything associated with science as cool and trendy.

"...When a company like Apple brings up the latest phone, what happens? Headlines everywhere even though it's hardly different from the previous one."

Bannister adds the problem however is that this way of thinking doesn't answer the basic question of; what is truth?

"There's only one good reason to be a Christian, and that's if it's true. There's only one good reason to be an Atheist, and that's if Atheism is true. It doesn't actually matter if Atheism is hip and trendy and Christianity wasn't...it doesn't answer the basic question (of) which of those two world views, Christianity or Atheism, best describes reality?"

As mentioned before, Bannister says he wrote the book as a way to combat and argue today's popular form of Atheism, specifically how the arguments used by many of today's atheists are quite bad. The book looks at atheism, and when one pokes at today's popular atheism, many of the arguments used to prop it up quickly unravel.

"As I looked at some of the bad arguments...not just that they're wrong, they go wrong in a spectacularly disastrous way, often very funny ways, rebounding on Atheism."

In fact, the title The Atheist Who Didn't Exist comes from a chapter in the book that looks at the Atheist belief that science can explain everything. While Bannister says it's all well and good if someone genuinely believes that the only way to explain anything is using physics, chemistry and biology until, he notes, you get to the human mind.

Bannister says social media has also made it easy for people to develop a sense of "lazy scepticism", simply quoting a headline they read instead of reading the full article and reflecting on it.

"The very nature of Twitter is a Tweet can only be a hundred and forty...characters, so by the very nature of that limit it forces you to begin reducing often complex ideas to very very simple ones, and the problem is  you miss you new ones."

Bannister adds the goal of the book isn't to bang Atheists over the head and tell them they have to become Christians, however it does plea with them to at least abandon bad arguments and commit to being well-reasoned.

"I think it is possible to be thought-through Atheist, a more reflective Atheist, and in a sense I think Atheism of the previous generation was far more of that variety."

He explains it's only in the last ten years or so were there's been a rise in a very angry, very polemical and very irrational form of Atheism that's taken over the air waves. In fact, Bannister says he's got many Atheist friends that agree.

"I was debating a well-known American Atheist on the radio the other day and he said to me, 'Andy, I really like your book...I agree with eighty-per cent of it because I don't like the new Atheism either, I think it's done a lot of damage.'"

"As Christians we need to be willing to sit down and invest the time, build relationships with our Atheist friends and neighbours and colleagues...answer their questions, take them seriously and at the same time invite our Atheist friends to take the discussion seriously too."

When asked why he feels some Christians are afraid to have these frank conversations, Bannister replied that he believes they haven't taken seriously the words of Jesus.

"Jesus said... 'Love the Lord your God with your heart and your mind and your soul.'"

Bannister says if we recapture the thought that Christianity operates at the level of the heart, soul and mind we don't need to be afraid of people asking challenging questions. He adds Christianity has always operated at that level, and says in fact that's how it began.

"You look at how the first Christians took the Gospel out in to the marketplace of ideas."

And finally, Bannister hopes the Christians who read his book become encouraged to not be afraid of what they hear in the media, adding when you first encounter this noisy, New Atheism it can be quite intimidating.

"Don't let the fear of Atheism put you off befriending Atheists in your neighbourhood or at work or at school or university."

He also hopes Christian readers will pass on the book to a sceptical friend after they're finished with it.

Ultimately, Bannister says his goal is that The Atheist Who Didn't Exist ends up in the hands of Atheists and Agnostics.

"You may not agree with everything I say, but you will enjoy it."