Without religion, so much beauty would be lost | DeseretNews

[_Patriarchal gripe]

I also wanted to draw attention to the picture accompanying Brother Peterson's article. Reflect for a moment. Not on the beauty of the art and architecture, but on the amount of treasure it took to create such monuments to make believe. Treasure bled from the nameless masses that worked their entire lives as virtual slaves under systems of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny.

Thank goodness churches today don't bleed poor people of the world to build fairy land castles that dot the landscape while their believers struggle to feed, clothe and educate their children.

[_Dr. Shades]

I was through just two beers and some chips, while listening to Bagley and Bigler on Kuer, and came across this post.

"Bagley and Bigler on Kuer?" Is that the title of a porn video?

[_MrStakhanovite]

"Bagley and Bigler on Kuer?" Is that the title of a porn video?

No! Bad Shades!

[_Morley]

The nearly seven decades since the end of World War II have been the most secular in human history. Have they produced exceptional literary, artistic and musical masterpieces?

The jury is still out on that.

What secular event could be more inspiring than the moon landing? What could be more powerfully tragic than the attacks of 9/11? Have they produced great drama, poetry, music or art?

I bothered that Daniel seems to suggest that 9/11 was wholly a 'secular' event.

[_MrStakhanovite]

I bothered that Daniel seems to suggest that 9/11 was wholly a 'secular' event.

I think his point is that events like the Moon Landing or 9-11 haven't inspired some kind of secular masterpiece. Not that the events themselves were secular or religious in nature.

[_Morley]

Thank goodness churches today don't bleed poor people of the world to build fairy land castles that dot the landscape while their believers struggle to feed, clothe and educate their children.

Image is public domain.

[_Buffalo]

I also wanted to draw attention to the picture accompanying Brother Peterson's article. Reflect for a moment. Not on the beauty of the art and architecture, but on the amount of treasure it took to create such monuments to make believe. Treasure bled from the nameless masses that worked their entire lives as virtual slaves under systems of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny.

Thank goodness churches today don't bleed poor people of the world to build fairy land castles that dot the landscape while their believers struggle to feed, clothe and educate their children.

I think it was Daymon Smith who noted that many members in the third world actually have to search through garbage dumps to find food. And instead of helping them or going through some sort of effort to create a system in those places that would help them, the church takes their tithes and offerings and builds more of those fairy land castles.

[_Morley]

I bothered that Daniel seems to suggest that 9/11 was wholly a 'secular' event.

I think his point is that events like the Moon Landing or 9-11 haven't inspired some kind of secular masterpiece. Not that the events themselves were secular or religious in nature.

Interesting. You're probably correct.

One might argue that the Moon Landing was, in itself, a secular masterpiece of art, science, and imagination. Then, I'm sure that my interpretation of art is a bit different than Daniel's.

[_gramps]

I was through just two beers and some chips, while listening to Bagley and Bigler on Kuer, and came across this post.

"Bagley and Bigler on Kuer?" Is that the title of a porn video?

Now I am on three beers and I am still laughing.

Thanks guys! I really needed the laughs today.

Oh, the interview is great and I highly recommend it. I just ordered the book, like I haven't already ordered 30 in the last month and need another one. Oh well. Sigh. Amazon is my worst addiction, by far. ;(

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kuer/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1794598

[_The Dude]

There are two categories of things on the table and Dan treats them kind of the same. One is the product of creativity (see below) and the other is more practical. All of the practical stuff would have happened anyway: civil rights, nursing, hospitals, and the end of slavery would have happened because there are dozens of practical reasons for that stuff to happen eventually. It is the direction of the evolution of humanity and I think religion has nothing to do with it except maybe being a hindrance: case in point, homosexuality is on the cusp of being liberalized and undoubtedly religion on of the last things standing in the way.

Incidentally, increasing secular liberalism is also the direction of humanity... and Dan's concern about it is deeply ironic to me.

The products of creativity that Dan mentions would certainly NOT exist without the religious aspects that shaped them, but in that case something else would have been created that might be equally good - just different. For example, Christo Redentor on the mountain above Rio de Janeiro could be replaced by something equally dramatic and beautiful but reflective of indigenous cultures that, in our world, were brutally extinguished by religious invaders. Dan can speculate that the world would be worse without these works of art, but I can speculate that it would be just as good or better. Living in that world, we wouldn't know the difference. It all comes out in the wash.