«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

Near the top of the talk, Paglia says, “I come here as an atheist who wishes to defend religion.” With constant references in the ROM lecture and in her work to her Italian Catholic background, Paglia is obviously obsessed with and “fascinated” by religion (now, she says, she worships nature instead of “God”), and stresses the point that divorcing religion (and world history, for that matter) from education and cultural literacy — in the way that’s been happening since the rebellious '60s — is dangerous. “We separate young artists from the traditions of the west.” They won't, and can’t, recognize motifs and stories from the past, including the bible

Eye Weekly
June 17 2009