'Tis the season...

... to be philosophical. The new LibDem leader - whose name escapes me - was asked whether he believed in God and said "No". He is being praised for his honesty, but to me anybody who gives a straight "Yes" or "No" answer to that question is being at best superficial and at worst arrogant. Because the immediate response should be "Tell me what you mean by God". The word can signify very different things to different people - from a sort of Santa Claus figure with a snowy white beard who sits up there (wherever that is!) watching us running around like ants and occasionally intervening in some manner or other, to an intensely personal inner part of ourselves to which we turn to a greater or lesser extent for help in time of need. Faith is belief without proof, and as there can by definition be no objective independent proof that God exists or does not exist, to take either position is an act of faith, so at the end of the day the question "Do you believe in God" becomes the purely meaningless and circuituitous one of "Do you believe in what you believe in?"