Comments on: WOC Update: Riky Gervais Gets Serious

By: Dunc

Dunc — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 08:44:24 +0000

[B]elief in Santa is not as important as belief in God

Which is exactly why indoctrinating kids into religion is worse!

By: Salad Is Slaughter

Salad Is Slaughter — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 02:19:18 +0000

I spent the first 9 years of my education in Catholic school. One of my shining moments in about 7th grade was asking a nun when they were going to rewrite the Bible, because the creation story didn’t match what we were taught in science class.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 22:53:33 +0000

I was raised in a serious Catholic household, serving time in parochial schools and even doing a stint as an alter boy. Then girls my age started growing breasts and my whole world changed!If all you are exposed to is religion, it qualifies as indoctrination. If you are curious and are allowed to explore the world beyond the narrow confines of your indoctrination, you begin to question how much of what you were taught is valid. I suspect most fundamentalists understand this and I also think it explains their desire to keep their children and communities from being exposed to outside ideas.

By: Peter McGrath

Peter McGrath — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:23:11 +0000

I listened to the interviews live, it was splendid radio.I really, really recommend BBC Radio 5 Live:http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/especially the Simon Mayo show (weekdays 1-4pm gmt listen again and podcast available:http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/mayo/It is finest kind English language speech radio.

By: Ex-drone

Ex-drone — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:37:39 +0000

Dr Williams states:

Belief in Santa doesn’t generate a moral code, it doesn’t generate art, it doesn’t generate imagination, belief in God is bigger than that.

Belief in god doesn’t generate a moral code either. People determine their own morality, sometimes adopting a code from their inculcated religion and sometimes using the concept of god to justify and enforce it.Belief in the spirit of christmas giving, joy and celebration as symbolized by Santa Claus does inspire populist art. Belief in god used to inspire great art, but this is not so evident today.Belief in Santa Claus does not generate imagination? That statement could not have been made by a parent.

By: crf

crf — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:49:09 +0000

I agree with Gervais, except for his comment about religious schools. I was exposed, in a small way, to creationism in school, where my grade 1 teacher read the bible for a few minutes every day. It hardly felt unatural or uninteresting. But I never developed any belief in god, even at a very early age I saw no reason to doubt my belief in its non-existance 🙂 .My parents are also not religious, however. Some of my relatives are, to various degrees, and some of my relatives are not.Development of religious belief likely requires some degree of saturation in religion, beyond incidental contact with its ideas. Parents, more than schools, even the religious schools, or church services, probably play the key role in its development.

By: Virgil Samms

Virgil Samms — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:30:17 +0000

WOC footsoldiers sieze blank ammo

By: Virgil Samms

Virgil Samms — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:28:28 +0000

Coca-Cola joins WOC
Anger at 'satanic' Coca-Cola ad