Right, Michael. All one need mention is one name: Johann Sebastian Bach. And then, of course, there are such works as Handel's Messiah. And God knows how many masses, motets, and requiems written by legions of top-drawer composers throughout history. The idea that religion suppresses music just doesn't wash.

This cut of the last part of Mozart's Exultate Jubilate, sung exuberantly by Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, is an expression of sheer joy—inspired by a religious theme.

There are, of course, the fundy freak-shows orbiting around various religion beliefs, but dangerous as they can be, they are an aberration, and do not represent the main stream belief systems.

Don Firth