perspective and religion

In reading Perspective as Symbolic form I was struck by the progression, and I use the term loosely, of art in perspective. Panofsky offers the step-by-step movement of art as the form of perspective changes from an antique idea that “straight lines are seen as curved and curved lines as straight” to creating a homogenized unit form of field where straight and curved, object and space, are subject to the same fabric in a framed painting or even sculpture. I would like to comment on the religious ramifications that may or may not have been brought on as a result of this modern view of perspective. Panofsky writes that the idea of infinity had, until the time of modern perspective been reserved in the figurement of God, or in the Aristotlian view that infinity was only the shape of “divine omnipotence.” With the coming of modern perspective -to more closely animate reality - and the vanishing point, where ALL lines tend toward it, suggests a “detheoligized” view of the universe. Thus, infinity has been found in the absence of a God in the Christian sense. While this may elevate art to a science, does it not demote religion to ‘superstition’? The movement through antiquity, where the fabric of space can be distorted to suit the character of the subject (such as the Virgin Mary, or Jesus Christ in relation to the angels) to illustrate hierarchy and importance, to modern perspective in which all objects are subject to the same quality of space should cause a issues in how iconic religious figures can be represented in this new field where reality is depicted with ever greater perceptual accuracy.