Another Question for Atheists

Originally posted by bbarr
I never claimed to find beauty in religious inspiration. I think that religious motivation is mostly childish wish fulfillment.

May all your dreams come true. The true ones, that is.

Originally posted by FreakyKBH
[b]...seems to conflict somewhat with your earlier statement about "disloyalty to the truth" as being in all cases "repulsive... ugly".
The conflict is illusory, as the beauty is found in this example with an agreement with truth (in this case, geometric harmony). Homage to a non-existent pagan god may have been the builders' inspiration for erecting ]necessary[/i] connection between the two, what exactly makes any expression valuable?[/b]

as the beauty is found in this example with an agreement with truth (in this case, geometric harmony)

Putting aside whether geometric harmony is "truth", the atheist can find similarly aesthetic qualities (as harmony) in religious art, music, etc.

One the issue of truth, I'd say simply that merely because the inspiration for, and content of, a particular piece of art is fictional doesn't mean there can't be important truths in that piece of art. (Othello, for example, teaches us much about the human heart.) And this can be the case with religious art.

Never venturing into the depths

I'd say this is a gross (although widespread) simplification of Wilde, but I guess this isn't the place for that discussion.

Is entertainment a better one?

No. Whoever said it was?

what exactly makes any expression valuable?

That is, indeed, a question for another time.