Religion and art have been two closely-linked aspects of society for centuries. In face, the earliest works of art in the world were those that were housed in the churches, and thus were borne of religious symbolism. We see echoes of this in the work of Michaelangelo and DaVinci, but the tradition of religious art goes back much further than that.
There was a time when art did not inherently have the name of an individual artist attached to it; this was because the beautiful sculptures and designs in the church were to be seen as the work of God himself. The art was meant as an incarnation of God's work on earth. To attach an artist's name to this work would have been an act of arrogance, as no individual is able to create without the help of a god. The earliest examples of this may be the art and architecture of Ancient Greece. The sculptures and buildings circa 500 BC were not associated with any designing artists, but the gods themselves which the works represented.
In the past, religious art could be seen as a way of unifying the populous, through symbolism of the divine. However, this same art can often work to drive a wedge through members of separate faiths who, in their righteousness could be offended by such contrary manifestations of the divine. Art itself can often evoke such emotion to drive a wedge between cultures; as we look toward a more global and tolerant view of society, it is important that we look toward more global and tolerant symbols of faith.
That said, praying hands at the entrance to an interfaith center that houses the faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, is a brilliant manifest of not merely faith, but the unity between faiths, and the ties that bind, rather than the fetters that separate. Because prayer is one expression of faith that many religions seem to share, it reminds us that through our faith and service, all people are much more alike than the superficial differences of
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