No no I wasn’t trying to say just because Dostoevsky wrote something it carries more weight. Those pages where the Grand Inquisitor lays out the charges against Jesus is one of the most profound pieces of writing I’ve ever come across.
Actually the worse the state of affairs is, personally or region wise, the higher the quality of art usually is. Suffering is an essential aspect of it. When did fat rich societies create great art? Look at the sorry state of American literature these days. So I disagree entirely with you on that
I don't feel equipped to engage in a debate about literature, to be honest, so I'm not going to. Mainly because you'd win.
I mean, I've read lots of it (including all of Fyodor's major works - Crime & Punishment made more sense to me, being more psychological and less theological), but I don't think I actually understood any of it. It just ruffled my hair lightly as it passed by overhead.
I remember struggling to keep my eyes open and on the page during that exact section. And I don't see how it relates to any poltiical issue today.
("Without God everything is permitted" - was that from that bit? I remember there was some Islamist outrage or other in the news around the time I read that, together with a case of a child being beaten to death in an attempted "exorcism", and it struck me that it's exactly the same _with_ God - with or without God you can find permission for almost anything if you try hard enough).