|PIC1|A new book by a leading Christian evangelist on how believers can prove God's existence to an atheist ironically became Amazon's bestselling book in the Atheist category on the first day of its release last week.

You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence but You Can't Make Him Think soared to the top of Amazon.com's sales charts last Thursday, nabbing top spots in the Atheist category and Apologetics category.

Authored by evangelist Ray Comfort, the book knocked Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion to the No 2 spot in the Atheist category. Overall, Comfort's book ranked in the top 50 bestsellers on Amazon.

The book, subtitled "Answers to Questions from Angry Skeptics", is a response to a movement known to many evangelical leaders as 'militant atheism', a new breed of atheists who aim to eliminate Christianity.

Compared to the past, when atheists stated their positions in civilised debates, the new breed of militant atheists now go on the offense, attacking Christianity as an evil and danger to society.

Comfort, who teaches street evangelism methods along with actor Kirk Cameron on the award-winning reality TV programme "The Way of the Master", seeks to equip Christians in witnessing to atheists in his new book and help "pull the plug on the rising tide of atheism".

He believes the key in witnessing to atheists is to appeal to their conscience, rather than their intellect.

Every person has been given a conscience or "inner light" by God that "leaves us without excuse for our sin", according to the book.

"We don't have to prove that God exists to the professing atheist," Comfort writes. "This is because he intuitively knows that He exists. Every person has a God-given conscience. The Bible tells us that this is the 'work of the law written on their hearts'. Just as every sane human being knows that it's wrong to lie, steal, kill and commit adultery, he knows that God should be first in his life."

In the book, he compares being an atheist to playing Russian roulette with all barrels loaded.

"An atheist can’t win. Of course, he feels and acts like a big player, until the trigger is pulled," asserts Comfort, who runs a blog called "Atheist Central".

"The issue isn’t the existence of God. If the atheist is wrong and there is a Creator, then he was wrong. He gambled and he lost. No big deal. The real gamble is that there’s no hell. That’s what makes the player sweat just a little. 'What if?' is the deep and nagging doubt."

The book, written in a Q & A format, highlights actual questions atheists sent to Comfort and his answers.

The package that features the book also includes copies of The Atheist Bible and the Charles Darwin Bible, designed to help Christians refute atheism and evolution.

You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence but You Can't Make Him Think was released to coincide with "Darwin Day", the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin.

"It was Darwin who devised, for the first time in history, a way to explain Creation without the need for a Creator," stated the Living Waters Web site, a ministry founded by Comfort.

Someone cannot believe in both biblical God and evolution, the evangelist contended.

"They are diametrically opposed. There is no way you can reconcile Darwinian evolution with the Bible," Comfort said during an interview Thursday with Christian Broadcasting Network.

Ray Comfort has authored 60 books, including several responding to atheism. He was a platform speaker at the 2001 27th convention of "American Atheists", and has appeared on ABC’s "Nightline" with actor Cameron debating "The Existence of God".