Art and Morality

On his blog Griffin asked: "Can art truly be 'evil'? even to a nonreligious person? And is there a difference between 'sinful' art and 'evil' art?"

Personally, I do not believe that art itself can be evil. Despite phrases such as "literature lives" and "live theater", art is an inanimate object. It's not capable of doing anything by its own will.  The same idea applies to sinful; art itself cannot commit a sin. Yet, I believe it's possible for an artist or viewer to commit a sin or to foster sinful tendencies by creating or viewing art, though the frequency of such an event depends on your definitions of both sin and art.

Yet, sin is a term mainly used in religious settings, so what effect does it have on the nonreligious.  While we don't general use the term sin, every part of the world, regardless of religion or lack there of, has a moral code.  The breaking of that code, whatever it may be, would be the equivalent of a sin.

Of course, this entire line of thought might be a moot point depending on your response to the following question: If art influences us to break our moral code, should it still be considered art?