“Professed atheist and pro-choice libertarian Democrat,” Camille Paglia, says “the route to a renaissance of the American fine arts lies through religion” (pg. 2).
In her 2007 article “Religion and the Arts in America,” Paglia draws attention to a serious problem:
The state of the humanities in the US can be measured by present achievement: would anyone seriously argue that the fine arts or even popular culture is enjoying a period of high originality and creativity? American genius currently resides in technology and design. The younger generation, with its mastery of video games and its facility for ever-evolving gad- getry like video cell phones and iPods, has massively shifted to the Web for information and entertainment. (pg. 2)
She comments on the culture war between Liberals and Conservative Christian fundamentalists, surveys the history between religion and art– mainly Christianity from the Reformation onward, evaluates the current cultural situation, and concludes: “For the fine arts to revive, they must recover their spiritual center.” Conservatives must address their “narrow view of culture” and progressives must address their “spiritual poverty”. (pgs. 19-20)
Paglia is a Professor at The University of the Arts in Philidelphia.
The entire article can be found here.
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