The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it answers the question of why Plato is the only philosopher in antiquity that urges that the entire community must hold the same, right beliefs about the divine. Such a position, as I argue in the present work, stands between skepticism and secularism. Second, the present work shows that there is no justification for attributing skeptical doubts on artistic value in poetry to Plato. Indeed, as I emphasize by means of a detailed textual analysis, Plato's attitude toward religious beliefs concurs with Plato's arguments against poetry in Republic II and III.