Can you find beauty in cathedrals and churches or does the sight of them irritate you?

I look at them as a large piece of history and enjoy taking pictures of them when traveling outside the U.S. Notre Dame in Paris has been my favorite. I can understand those who respect them but are still bothered by what they represent.

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Permalink Reply by Craigart14 on August 13, 2011 at 10:06am
They were intended to be overbearing to impress the superstitious peasants, many of whom lived in hovels.  Where I live, there are a lot of antebellum houses.  I can appreciate their elegance and still regret that they were built with the stolen labor of slaves.  Cathedrals took generations to build; entire towns were kept employed.  In many cases, the money came chiefly from selling indulgences. Same with the Egyptian tombs, which were built not by slaves, but by paid laborers.
Permalink Reply by Grace Fitzpatrick on August 13, 2011 at 11:13am
I get where you're coming from.  Not too long ago, I watched the Ken Burns documentary on the Shakers which I felt was not an objective look at them and their lifestyle at all.  On the one had, the furniture and architecture was beautiful to look at, but the people themselves were so irritating.
Permalink Reply by Atheist Andrea on August 13, 2011 at 9:27pm
Your 2 cents are always welcome, Sentient biped. This is what I love about discussions. :)
Permalink Reply by Pat on August 13, 2011 at 9:57am
A couple of years ago, I was at the Mayan ruins of Altun, in Belize. I was thoroughly aware that the temples were use to perform human sacrifice to the gods. Nevertheless, I did marvel at and appreciate their construction, especially given the level of technology available to that society at that time. While standing at the top of one pyramid, I could see the whole layout of the site. Incredibly impressive. But, I had no desire to decapitate or rip the heart out of anyone to insure a better corn crop. (Well, OK, maybe one or two jerks I deal with at work).
Permalink Reply by Pete Knight on August 13, 2011 at 11:40am

I admire the magnificent architecture, art work and the amazing display of skills brought together under one roof, but I can't help feeling sad that huge amounts of money was spent glorifying a non-existent being when people struggled to survive, if only that much effort and expense was put into schools, hospitals, etc.

Here in the Untied Kingdom we have some magnificent churches and cathedrals, I visit some of them if I happen to be in town, not for the spiritual uplift, only to marvel at skill of the people who designed and built them in the days when heavy machinery wasn't available.

Permalink Reply by Atheist Andrea on August 13, 2011 at 9:31pm
It surely is incredible, Pete. It's too bad that with the power tools and years of experience in house building, most new American homes are built so poorly.
Permalink Reply by William J Gonzalez on August 13, 2011 at 11:43am
Yes, of course I can appreciate religiously inspired works of music, art, and architecture. I was a music major, and the history of western music is intimately tied to the history of Christianity and Catholicism. I am also a "hard" atheist. I think any atheist that cannot appreciate the beauty in, Handel's Messiah, for example, is as dogmatically blind as any extreme fundamentalist.
Permalink Reply by Atheist Andrea on August 13, 2011 at 9:32pm
Well, I guess I should look up Handel's Messiah, then. :)
Permalink Reply by FreeThinker on September 7, 2011 at 10:32pm

I'd be able to appreciate Handel's "Messiah" more if it wasn't constantly used in commercials and lame TV shows and movies, but I get your point.

Permalink Reply by annet on August 14, 2011 at 7:11pm

I can picture a future where these beautiful artful buildings (minus the bloody corpse statues) will be used for secular humanist gatherings and celebrations and the religious part will be historical. It is annoying that they siphoned off all the resources but I am moved by the art of them. Some of the artists were surely atheists (like Leonardo da Vinci) working for a paycheck. 

Permalink Reply by Astroslav on September 3, 2011 at 7:32pm
Yep, that's another important point for me, I love old stuff too and usually it's the Churches that survived the longest.
Permalink Reply by NeuroTox on September 5, 2011 at 5:06pm
I do not believe in god, but I find religious art, history, architecture, etc... interesting.  I usually just take a neutral stance when I see religious sites.  If I were to consistently think negatively about them, it would make traveling the world difficult as many places are plagued with their own dark histories, regardless of whether it was under a religious umbrella or not.  I mean, why then visit the Pyramids of Giza? or the ruins of Petra?

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