My son told me the other day that there is a party in Israel which calls itself, ''Jews Who Don't Believe In God'' and asked me what I thought of them. I answered as follows.

The First of the Ten Commandments begins by saying, " I am your God ... " and does not say ''Believe in me'' Because the existence of God does not depend on whether we believe in Him or not, His is not an elective office and whether He exists or not does not depend on our vote.

The Second Commandment makes the position clear. "You must not have other Gods before me, for I am a terribly jealous God".

In other words, if you don't believe in God you are not committing a sin in His eyes, but if you believe in other Gods you would be committing a sin in His eyes.

Some years ago there was a television debate on the motion that ''God does not exist!". In the end the voting was exactly equal, and according to the rules of the debate, a motion fails if it does not win a majority. There is no draw.

The next day I met Lord Hailsham at a Jewish function. He was opposing the motion on the TV debate. He was amused when I told him how the Daily Mirror announced the result on its front page that morning, ''God is given the benefit of the doubt!'' In legal parlance when the evidence is not conclusive, the defendant is usually given the benefit.