Religion Equals Art?

"I have come to believe, in my own journey of faith, that God lives in the questions."

What does that even mean?

"I believe that faith is the frontier beyond the limits of knowledge."

Huh?

The above quotes sound like the abstract mental masturbation of an artist on mushrooms but they're not. They're the words of someone named Susan Andrews who was writing about god and evolution in the Clergy Letter project.

Religion, science and philosophy are generally considered three basic schools of thought through which people search for truth.

Notice I say "search for truth." That truth is the carrot on the stick is a concept from which science does not shy away. In fact, science generally acknowledges that it is constantly searching for truth and that what it learns along the way can change as new knowledge is gained.

I'm not sure where philosophy stands in all of this, and frankly I question its legitimacy and purpose. Are people paid to be philosophers? If I started a company would I ever have a position open for a philosopher? They think, therefore they are unemployable. I tend to consider people who philosophize as not much more than glorified editorial writers.

Religion pretty much swings and misses each and every time when it comes to explaining how the universe works. Its more content with chasing the visions of age-old myth makers and trying to convince followers that fictional stories actually happened and if we don't believe them we're going to hell than it is with making new discoveries.

So what about art? James Cameron is an artist. So is George Lucas, George Eliot, Stephen King, Carole King, Edgar Allan Poe, Isaac Asimov, and so on. Homer's Odyssey (not the one about the cat) is a work of art. Myths, legends, fantastic stories, well developed characters, drama, sex, action, adventure, magic, wizardry. Great stories that we consider to be works of art contain some or all of these features and more. By these standards the writers of the Bible were artists and their stories were works of art. People who talk about or write about religion make reference to these stories, apply them to their own lives, reinterpret them, reinvent them and even create their own versions of them. So what?

So, artists communicate superlatively, fantastically, symbolically and metaphorically. If they have a message, it generally takes on the form of a fable or parable, where fictional characters act out the ideas which are then relayed to the audience as a lesson to be learned. Sound familiar?

What is the usefulness of art? Are there things art does that cannot be done in another, more practical way? Are there things holy books teach that cannot be learned in another, more practical way? Art adds color to our lives. It hangs above our sofas and ties a room together. It fills otherwise boring friday nights or rainy afternoons. Art cannot open cans, make electricity, rescue people from burning buildings or study the universe. It keeps our minds occupied, and people wouldn't necessarily miss it if it went away.

Andy Warhol is not god incarnate. William Shakespeare didn't give us anything that we could really use, such as irrigation or solar energy or weapons to fight the Nazis. Moses has had his likeness made into an action figure and the original author's family gets no royalties. Confucius was an artist. Buddha was a fictional character. Jesus and Luke Skywalker have much more in common than you think.

Much, much more.