Note that it is in general very hard to tell if the artistic and cultural contributions associated with religion are actually due to religion. In highly religious cultures that’s often the only form of expression that one is able to get funding for. Dan Barker wrote an essay about this showing how a lot of classical composers were agnostics, atheists or deists who wrote music with religious overtones mainly because that was their only option.
Funny, I upvoted this because of the artistic and cultural contributions of religion. For most of history, until the Industrial Revolution or a little before, human economies were Malthusian. You could not increase incomes without decreasing average lifespans. The implication is that the money spent on cathedrals and gargoyles and all the rest came directly at the expense of people’s lives. (A recent Steven Landsburg debate with Dinesh D’Souza explored this line of thinking more; I wouldn’t recommend watching much more than the opening statements, though.)
I think the positive externalities of having more of those people’s descendants alive today would be of higher value than the current benefits of past art—especially since most of that past art has been destroyed.
I downvoted this, and consider the artistic and cultural contributions of religion to society to alone warrant this assertion.
Note that it is in general very hard to tell if the artistic and cultural contributions associated with religion are actually due to religion. In highly religious cultures that’s often the only form of expression that one is able to get funding for. Dan Barker wrote an essay about this showing how a lot of classical composers were agnostics, atheists or deists who wrote music with religious overtones mainly because that was their only option.
Funny, I upvoted this because of the artistic and cultural contributions of religion. For most of history, until the Industrial Revolution or a little before, human economies were Malthusian. You could not increase incomes without decreasing average lifespans. The implication is that the money spent on cathedrals and gargoyles and all the rest came directly at the expense of people’s lives. (A recent Steven Landsburg debate with Dinesh D’Souza explored this line of thinking more; I wouldn’t recommend watching much more than the opening statements, though.)
I think the positive externalities of having more of those people’s descendants alive today would be of higher value than the current benefits of past art—especially since most of that past art has been destroyed.
You sound more confident than Eugine, in which case you should upvote. Or does 70% roughly match your belief?