This may be the only cutural intersection Formby and me share.
I love choral music, and I love churches/religious buildings and ecclesiastic architecture in general.
Which is strange given that I'm atheist. Maybe a hangover from my Catholic youth...
My college had a wonderful choir which given the topic at hand is a nice coincidence.
I don't think religious belief or lack thereof necessarily needs to get in the way of one's appreciation of a particular form of art. If you like it, you like it. I really like a lot of old Southern Gospel music because of the great singing and playing. And even though the message is blatantly religious, you can either overlook it or try to interpret the lyrics as some metaphor or allegorical message that's applicable to your own life.
I feel the same way, and I'm not religious whatsoever. Religion has been the inspiration for some of the most beautiful art, architecture, and music the world has known.
I think the spirituality that music, art etc can build up in you is probably closer to hitting the nail on the head than a book of rules or teachings. Im not religious but like Formby I enjoy these things.
I feel as though the spirit is basically our energy as matter being influenced by the greater power of the universe around us.
Time for another tramadol
Probably a fair point in many instances, but the art the artists were commissioned to create was still religiously themed. So still, without the religion, the art wouldn't have been created.