I Don't Need God; I've got "The Arts"

Warning: Gross generalization ahead:

I really enjoy the music that I hear on our local NPR affiliate. Please note that I said music, not news!

The one problem I have with listening to NPR is the live studio sessions (Saint Paul Sunday, Performance Today, etc.). The music is great, and listening to Ted Libby or Bill McGlaughlin is generally an enlightening experience.

Even as I listen, though, I sense (and here is the generalization) that for most of these artists, the music is their god. As I listen to them talk about their education, their lives, etc. it seems to me that there is no room for the author of their talents.

Now here is where many people will have to disagree with me. There are a couple of different arguments: 1) When I use my talents I glorify God, but I don't feel the need for formalized religion (tacit admission that there is a God, but that He is satisfied with a hat-tip from time to time), 2) God doesn't care about me or my abilities. He is busy worrying about global issues; I developed my inate abilities through sheer hard work (again, tacit admission that there is a God, but hey -- why should he care about us -- He has bigger things to worry about, and so do I), 3) there is no God, and, your pious protestations to the contrary, my talents are a lucky mix of genetics, environment and hard work.

Fine. That's the beauty of mortality. Agency (and its associated consequences) is one of the gifts God granted to us. In the end, we will find out who is correct. If the non-believers are right, it won't make any difference to me. If the faithful and believing are correct, it will make a great deal of difference to the non-believer. I'd rather be on the side where heads or tails I win.

In the meantime, I listen for a sense of soul in the music. Especially during the baroque and early classical period it is there, it's just hard to detect when you have to filter it through the image the players try and project. Sorry if I'm wrong.