In the spirit of perfect timing the Liberal Democrats have elected a new leader who in a brisk q&a declared himself an atheist.

Nick Clegg does not believe in God. I am uncertain whether this is newsworthy – unless his personal beliefs are somehow inconsistent with his politics. But as AC1 has pointed out he is one of the first politicians within this country to have ‘outed’ himself in this way. I guess it was deemed newsworthy as a parallel to Tony Blair who it is revealed was afraid to express his religious beliefs for fear of being labelled a nutter. Bravo then to Clegg for having the courage of his convictions.

Perhaps though the real newsworthy bit, and the part that couldnt have come at a better time in the context of my last post is that despite personally not believing, his wife is a Catholic and he is “committed” to bringing up his children as Catholics. Fortunately for them I suspect they will be brought up in a household and family where they are free to follow their personal convictions and to decide on their beliefs without fear of condemnation.

But perhaps the most interesting and relevant part of the whole news item is that he would seem to be an exemplar of the balanced postmodern ideal that I would wish for in the realm of religion and secularism that isnt afraid of the “other” and certainly isn’t interested to mock, scorn or debase the “other”.

“However, I myself am not an active believer, but the last thing I would do when talking or thinking about religion is approach it with a closed heart or a closed mind.” Nick Clegg.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams shares my view.

“It matters less to me than to know they are honest and reliable and that what beliefs they have they hold sincerely. This isn’t a country where Christianity is imposed by law. It’s a country with a nominally Christian majority. And that’s good. And whoever becomes prime minister has to understand that and work with it rather than against the grain of it.”

Bravo Nick Clegg! With an attitude such as yours I wish you all the best!