Question inspired partially by fiction, this - just watching season 1 of the L Word, in which a bunch of people protest an art gallery showing art involving religious or mythological (depending on your take on it) figures in compromising positions. We've had actual cases of this in the UK where Christians have succeeded in getting statues removed, and of course there have been cases were art, literature or even cartoons judged to be offensive to Islam have been the cause of severe and even fatal sanctions by followers.
My question is this - if there really IS a god, and it's really annoyed by human artistic impression, isn't that something for discussion between the artist and the god in the eventual afterlife? Where do religious people get the authority to try and stop other people viewing art or movies, or reading particular books etc?
My question is this - if there really IS a god, and it's really annoyed by human artistic impression, isn't that something for discussion between the artist and the god in the eventual afterlife? Where do religious people get the authority to try and stop other people viewing art or movies, or reading particular books etc?