A group of well-known atheists have collaborated to write a book about celebrating Christmas without believing in God.
Ariane Sherine edited the book which includes contributions from over 40 atheists including Richard Dawkins, Derren Brown, and Charlie Brooker.
The comedian was also behind the bus advertisements that said: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas is described as featuring “everything from an atheist Christmas miracle to a guide to the best Christmas pop hits”.
Ariane Sherine said: “Virtually all the comedians I know are atheists and Richard Dawkins was very involved with the bus campaign”.
She also said: “I wanted to make it clear that it’s a friendly, quite a happy book. I’ve sent it to some of my religious friends. The book is not just about being atheist – there’s a chapter on how to get on with relatives and ideas for party games.”
In January Ariane Sherine launched an atheist ad campaign backed by the British Humanist Association.
The atheist posters were displayed on 600 buses in cities across England, Scotland and Wales.
During the ad campaign one Christian bus driver in Southampton objected to driving a bus which had the prominent poster on it.
Ron Heather said: “I was just about to board and there it was staring me in the face, my first reaction was shock horror.
“I felt that I could not drive that bus, I told my managers and they said they haven’t got another one and I thought I better go home, so I did.
“I think it was the starkness of this advert which implied there was no God”.
His bus company, First Bus, was sympathetic to his request and said at the time they would do “what we can to accommodate his request not to drive the buses concerned”.
In February an ad affirming the existence of God was placed on 100 London buses by the Trinitarian Bible Society (TBS) with an offer of a free Bible.
It quoted part of Psalm 53 which says: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”
In June TBS said they had received 400 requests for Bibles.