Does atheism inspire people?

[NoMoreFaith]

Nobody said that. We said it was an irrelevant question.

Reverse the question.

Would great art exist without religion?

1. Great art exists that is not inspired by religion
2. Religion inspires great pieces of art
3. If there were no religion, great art would still exist.
4. Therefore religion is non-essential to great art.

/end.

I didn't use the word "essential" I said religion inspires people to create great works of art. Its the visible expression of connecting with the transcendent and luminous. Atheism creates a mindset that closes peoples minds to that aspect of existence and stifles creativity. Is it merely coincidence that the majority of great works of art, poetry, music etc are created from a mind that believes in some from of transcendent reality? While not "essential" it definitely is conducive to great works of art.

Aah, now you're trying to extrapolate a faulty argument.

You state that atheism inspires no art, and we agree with you on the basis it is an irrelevant question as much as lack of belief in aliens/faeries etc inspires art.

Now you are saying atheism restricts art, and that's a different matter. We can provide plenty of great pieces of art created by atheists, not because they are atheist, because its irrelevant to inspiration.

Bear in mind, much of classical art and literature was created in a time where to declare yourself atheist against religious belief was a death sentence, so its impossible to really state in many cases what their private internal feelings on the matter were.

Da Vinci for instance, valued reason over faith and learning about the natural world. If he wasn't a great artist, he would probably have been a great scientist. Who's to say that in more enlightened times he would have had the freedom to declare a different point of view.

Now, if you look at more modern history where atheism is not a capital offence, you can see clearly that artists are creating great art regardless of their belief.

So again, your religion is irrelevant to art, as the only difference would have been, great artists would have created art garnered from a wider range of inspirations.

What is your reasoning that religion is conducive to great work of art? It's an unfalsifiable argument, since they have already created these works of art.. now.. what amazing vistas of nature have we lost because they were busy being paid to paint yet another Mary and Jesus picture?

Frankly, Art has suffered from religion in my opinion, the finances of the classical art world dominated by religion has created derivative pieces inspired by the needs of the religious, rather than true inspiration.