Atheists, how many of you like (or appreciate) religious art? Music?

Question

Dude, what will it take to elevate kitsch to an art form? =0)

Just to be clear, I do not think of Christian rock as an art form...I was thinking more of classical music...=0)

Answer 1

Religion sucks, same as atheists.

Answer 2

Appreciating or liking art or even music doesn't have much to do with the type. I appreciate art and music if it is moving and inspirational. If I can gaze at some form of art and be moved that is good enough for me. As far as music goes a lot of religious music is beautiful especially the older, hymn like songs. All in all it just has to move me.

Answer 3

Seeing as how nearly all Renaissance Italian art, for instance, is based on religious themes, one would have to be an uncultured buffoon not to appreciate religious art. Even the atheist Communist Soviet regime didn't throw out such works it had in the Hermitage, for example.

If that kind of high art is what you're referring to -- or, for instance, the Aya Sofya -- or in musicworld, Handel's "Messiah -- I appreciate. Or at least stand in awe.

If you're talking about some contemporary "Christian music" band, probably not. It might be good, but I get the sense the music takes a definite back seat to the rah-rah Christianity sentiments.

I like the way Johnny Cash does gospel songs and I like the way the Staple Singers do them even more.

Now, Christian, do you appreciate blasphemous art, like Robert Mapplethorpe, or Andres Sorrano's "Piss Christ"? Because that art -- and such it is, whether you'd prefer to acknowledge it or not -- reflects the suffering its creators took at the hands of "Christians"..

Answer 4

I do, I have a collection of religious music (traditional - can't stand Christian Rock)

Just because I don't like the message doesn't mean I have to dislike the medium in which it is presented. The church has been responsible for some of the most beautiful art and music ever created

Answer 5

i think it is much harder to say what is religious art, and what merely art which has a religious subject, than people are usually comfortable to discuss.

the catholic church had a lot of money during the middle ages (often for highly questionable reasons). it sponsored a great deal of art. is such art necessarily christian? is it necessarily catholic?

michaelangelo's 'last judgement' is a spectacular work, but as originally painted it was so heterodox that he later had to alter it.

caravaggio's 'death of the virgin' is one of the great western european paintings by any standard, but the nuns who commissioned it refused to take delivery, considering it blasphemous.

a fine example of art which is religious in the proper sense of that word would be the story of christ dvd you can order from mormon worldwide ministries. if that is religious art, i don't appreciate it.

certainly where you have two artists who have a great deal in common, but one of them is overtly religious and one is not (shakespeare / dante; bach / handel; herbert / vaughan) i find i always prefer the secular one.

i don't think that there is an easy answer to this question. i suspect that art opens onto a higher truth than religion will ever reach.

Answer 6

Me! I appreciate all forms of art and music. It's hard not to marvel at some of the incredible religious works in the Louvre, or at some of the amazing music inspired by religion, such as Handel's Messiah.

Answer 7

There's plenty of art and music I like that coincidentally has religious themes: Renaissance art, Hindu deity statues, Jewish klezmer music, Buddhist monk chanting, and Alice Cooper's "Brutal Planet" album all come to mind. I don't have a problem appreciating good work, regardless of the motivation.

I do however reject the majority of "religious" music though for secular reasons. Most of it is just...tacky. Self-righteousness is also a big turn off.

Answer 8

Yeah, Art is something you define weather you like by the eye, not through beliefs, Im an Atheist and Ive seen alot of Christian/Catholic paintings and thought they were amazing. As for Music, bands like POD that are christian based are pretty cool, oh..and Methodist music, all the black women singing waving their hands in the air, thats pretty god damned funky!

Answer 9

I like some religious music . Perry Como singing Ave Maria is real easy to listen to . Or Tennessee Earnie Ford singing gospel - - - beautiful .
Religious art is something else . I can't appreciate people dangling in the air , angels , and fancy hub-caps behind heads.

Answer 10

When my first son was a baby, and I was a single dad, that kid would cry. and cry, and cry and make me crazy. I would rock him, take him for stroller rides, car rides, everything I could think of to get him to stop crying. One day, on one of the stroller rides, I got tired. We were in front of a Catholic church. What the heck, I took him in there. There were beautiful stained glass windows and statues and paintings all over the place, and my kid just started looking at everything, and WOW, stopped crying. In fact, he didn't cry very often after I took him there. But we went there a couple of times a week thereafter. He is an atheist as well as I, yet I think we both can appreciate the power of colours and artwork of the Catholic Church.

Answer 11

Sort of...I like classical art and music inspired by religion. And, as for modern art, music, literature...I can only tolerate it if the influence of religion is subtle or at least not sugary-sweet or preachy...there is way too much in the way of heavy-handed "I love Jesus" Christian music and literature that is just nauseauting to me. As for visual art...it is harder to cross that threshold into cheesy overzealousness, but it is possible...