God according to New Scientist

[Svartalf]

T/A, I think that religion siphons off the energies that could go to more constructive activities, and that ending religion would allow those activities to step up and replace it. With this thought I would suggest that we already have replacements for religion, but that religion is stifling them.

Well, there is this much to be said for religion, that it has inspired great art, which I can't say for science.

Then again, science is often practical, or even utilitarian, which can't be the case with religion.

[Animavore]

T/A, I think that religion siphons off the energies that could go to more constructive activities, and that ending religion would allow those activities to step up and replace it. With this thought I would suggest that we already have replacements for religion, but that religion is stifling them.

Well, there is this much to be said for religion, that it has inspired great art, which I can't say for science.

Then again, science is often practical, or even utilitarian, which can't be the case with religion.

All stories are capable of inspiring art. There are many great works inspired by fairy tales and legends. That's because stories conjour images in our head. We've all read books and had an idea in our head of how scenes and characters should look and been disappointed when they made a film about it.

And although science itself doesn't inspire art the story it tells can.


A detail from Joseph Wright of Derby's A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Svarty, saying religion is good because it is responsible for great things would seem to require proof that the great things wouldn't have happened without religion.

[MrJonno]

Religion is simple answers for simple people, science is hard it requires more effort than most people can be bothered with

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Religion is simple answers for simple people, science is hard it requires more effort than most people can be bothered with

I don't know how to make cellphone. But I get messages from the sky just the same.

[Animavore]

Same artist.


An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump

Science can and does inspire great art so let's hear no more nonsense.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Ani! There's no difference between that and a religious motif other than the subject matter. This kills the "religion brought us great art" idea.

And if you stand in front of some great cathedral and imagine that this much effort went into a hospital instead, or in a few dozen (or hundred!) homes for people living in ramshackle building that let babies die of exposure while the adults were out working in the fields, then the religion account runs empty pretty damn quick.

[Animavore]

I love this artist. I only discovered him recently when I got this book from the library.



About British science it the Romantic era.

One of my favs.

[Svartalf]

Svarty, saying religion is good because it is responsible for great things would seem to require proof that the great things wouldn't have happened without religion.

Would Michelangelo have sculpted his Piéta, Bernini Teresa of Avila, or Leonardo painted the Last Meal or the Virgin at the Rocks without chretinity?

Would any of those have been an artist without religious commissions?

[Animavore]

Svarty, saying religion is good because it is responsible for great things would seem to require proof that the great things wouldn't have happened without religion.

Would Michelangelo have sculpted his Piéta, Bernini Teresa of Avila, or Leonardo painted the Last Meal or the Virgin at the Rocks without chretinity?

Would any of those have been an artist without religious commissions?

We have no way of knowing. Religious organisations weren't the only ones paying for art in the renaissance. Many high-class people also paid for the works of great artists.

[shiner]

Would Michelangelo have sculpted his Piéta, Bernini Teresa of Avila, or Leonardo painted the Last Meal or the Virgin at the Rocks without chretinity?

Would any of those have been an artist without religious commissions?

Who knows what brilliance they would have come up with, had they the ability to "think" for themselves.

[Rum]

Svarty, saying religion is good because it is responsible for great things would seem to require proof that the great things wouldn't have happened without religion.

Would Michelangelo have sculpted his Piéta, Bernini Teresa of Avila, or Leonardo painted the Last Meal or the Virgin at the Rocks without chretinity?

Would any of those have been an artist without religious commissions?

No they wouldn't and we can't imagine the development of art and culture and society without religion. It has been woven into everything for thousands of years and until recently artistic endeavor was almost unthinkable without the rich churches commissioning the work. It isn't possible to image the Renaissance and Enlightenment, clearly the foundation of our modern culture, without them.

Having said that Michelangelo, for example, was inspired by a Greek non- religious sensibility to create 'David' as a commission from the Church. He, and many others greats transcended the limits of religion in my view.

[Blind groper]

On the evolution thing, the New Scientist article suggests major natural selection pressures on new religions.
Average lifespan of religious communities is 25 years. In 80 years, 9 out of 10 were disbanded. However, secular communities did even worse.

There is another section in this magazine discussing scientific studies of religion, under the title "The God Hypothesis." I will see if I can start a thread on that, since I think that is of real interest.

[HomerJay]

I was reasonably interested to see this, even went specially to the shop to see it. But I'm not a subscriber abd it looked very disappointing. I wouldn't pay £3.50 to read a couple of pages of shit from Alain de Bottom-Burp and that article was all over the webz a couple of weeks ago anyway.

The rest of it (only about 10 pages) similarly is mostly condensed version of shit these guys have said elsewhere.

Greco-romano culture didn't rely on monotheistic morality and predated the Joos and produced art and was larger and more sophisticated etc.

Societies are stronger if they have a universal narrative? No Shit Sherlock.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Did the article specify which god or gods it was referring to?