(May 31, 2012 at 11:51 am)Tobie Wrote:(May 31, 2012 at 11:41 am)StatCrux Wrote: My point is that belief in the existence of God has been a source of inspiration for many great works of art, poetry, music etc. If you take away that belief you a losing a source of inspiration, would a prevalently atheist culture produce as much great works of art? Whenever I listen to atheists arguments, they always strike me as being a harsh, gloomy and empty way of seeing reality, Christopher Hitchens even admitted as much in one debate. This view of existence doesn't appear to be a good basis for inspiring great art.
More people believe in God, so it stands to reason that lots of art will be inspired by what one finds in religion, however, it is not religion itself that the inspiration is drawn from. It is the imagery or themes found in religion that is the inspiration. Many works of fiction can inspire great art.
Just because you do not believe in something, it does not mean you will not use it as inspiration for art. For example, there are many works of art based on the stories of H.P Lovecraft, it does not necessarily mean the artist believes Cthulhu is real.
I'm not talking about subject matter, I'm talking about the kind of awareness that comes from a religious understanding of reality, it is this that inspires the imagination. That's how great art has a powerful effect on people, because we all recognize the transcendent and luminous, paintings based on HP Lovecraft may be good, but they would not have the same effect as great works of art that reach out and have a powerful effect on us. Go and see the Crucifixion by Matthias Grünewald with an open mind.
