Rupert Murdoch (left), CEO of News Corp. joins Zhao Qizheng (right) and Luis Palau, authors of A Friendly Dialogue Between an Atheist and a Christian, at the ceremony celebrating the book’s first issuance in the United States

Atheist and former Minister of China's State Council Information Office, Zhao Qizheng and renowned American evangelist and preacher Luis Palau held an exciting talk in New York on February 20, at the ceremony celebrating the first issuance of the U.S. version of a book they co-authored: A Friendly Dialogue Between an Atheist and a Christian.

The book is an exchange between Zhao and Palau which presents a composite of recorded dialogues held during Palau's visits to China. It covers the topics of the Bible and God, creation, religion and spirit, religious beliefs in China, Chinese and Western cultures and philosophy, religion and science and social harmony.

"The dialogue is friendly, friendly from the beginning. Because although he [Zhao] said ‘I'm an atheist,' he is an open, honest, transparent, interesting atheist--intelligent but respectful," Palau said at the ceremony, adding, "that's why I think the book is valuable."

Palau's first formal dialogue with Zhao was back in May 2005, when he was visiting China. During that 8-hour dialogue, they discussed issues related to the Bible. Another two talks between them followed in November the same year. They then decided to publish a book based on their dialogues.

A Friendly Dialogue Between an Atheist and a Christian, a book presenting a composite of recorded dialogues between former Minister of China’s State Council Information Office Zhao Qizheng and renowned American evangelist Luis Palau, debut in New York

According to Zhao, A Friendly Dialogue Between an Atheist and a Christian is a breakthrough not only in China, but also in the world. He said that atheists and Christians do not understand each other well and sometimes even have prejudices over one another. He hoped that the dialogues would serve as a good example for the communications between China and the United States, between East and West, which will help promote peace and harmony in the human family.

Since the book was first published in China in late August 2006, both the Chinese and English versions have been reprinted three times, said Zhang Haiou, Associate Editor-in-Chief of the New World Press, publisher of A Friendly Dialogue Between an Atheist and a Christian in China. Over 15,000 volumes of the book's Chinese version have been sold, Zhang said.

This book is published in the United States by Zondervan, an evangelical publisher of Christian books which is a division of HarperCollins Publishers. According to Leslie Speyers, a Zondervan's public relations staff worker, the Spanish version of this book will come out soon, probably in a month.

The book was enormously popular with participants of the ceremony. Rob Gluskin, Operating Partner of Behrman Capital, said that he believed that this book would certainly be popular among certain groups in the United States, as it is about "good harmony and good interaction with a lot of interesting ideas."

Tom Mahairas, President and Founder of CitiVision who attended the talk, was excited about this book. He would like to find out what the discussion points are, what an atheist and a Christian say and why. "There is no antagonism here, just two people who are searching in this world and share the things they discover. I think it's wonderful that they can talk like this," Mahairas told Beijing Review.

(Reporting from New York)