Do athiest think love is real?

[Sonic247]

How many married couples would get married again if they had the option?? Probably not too many, as most of them get divorced, and a lot of the ones who don't get divorced stay together for some financial reason or because they have children together.

That may be true, but I think there must be at least some people who are happy with each other the rest of their lives.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

It kind of does actually... I think if I believed in God, I'd still be a vegaterian... I just don't care about that anymore... Chickens are going to die anyway, so why not make them into delicious McNuggets??

"Maybe I'm a murderer, but I'm hungry and they're better off dead." - Reel Big Fish

How many married couples would get married again if they had the option?? Probably not too many, as most of them get divorced, and a lot of the ones who don't get divorced stay together for some financial reason or because they have children together.

I've only been married for three years, but I would. We've re-affirmed our vows once already (not because we felt a pressing need; when the priest who married us retired, they invited all the couples he married to a special service).

I like to tell my wife, "some day, I want to marry you!" and "let's get married!" I think the repetition is only mildly annoying to her.

 

[Alex_G]

It seems to me in a good marriage there is something more than can be explained in biology. Regardless of whether a person can explain what it is do atheist believe love is a real thing, you know.. "true love."

The experience one labels love involves a complex system of proccesses in the brain, involving many different areas, from the primary cortices of the senses, the autonomic centres governing subconcious actions and reactions like heart rate and pupil diameter, the emotional learning and memory areas of the lymbic system, and the frontal cortex of decision making. This is to but name a few, all of it is interconnected with association pathways, and has been tweeked, and changed over time in response to your life experiences as a result of the process known as neuro-placticity.

Of course theres no inherent measurment for love, when does it change between 'really like' and 'love' is a very subjective thing, and i guess it has to be. I guess its the upper limit of emotion experienced by the individual in question, Which would explain teenage crushes, which at the time feel like love.

Its existance is unquestionable though, even if you ignore the fact pretty much everyone experiences it (whether or not they decide to label it love), it demonstrates massive evolutionary and survival benefits, suggesting its evolutionary roots and obvious natural progression from instinctual behaviour to the more complex nature of it today fitting in with the equally complex nature of the human mind.

As a non-theist i completely recognise the existance of love as a feeling for an individual. God though i dont recognise as clearly existing outside the minds of individuals. Im not sure why atheist are assumed to be present is society to reject everything

Biological explanation should not be-little or change what love is. Remember you are that biology being explained, so of course it feels damn real to you.

So love is believed to be real by most atheist, but also a part of nature. Would love be described in psycholgical terms in the same category as lust or is it something completely diffrent. A Frued said alot about lust, did he say anything about love.

The difference between love and lust is that love is a larger umbrella term for emotional activity in the brain. Love not only being a massive mix of activity as stated above, is also almost sequntial in nature from the moment you lay eyes on the person, through the various avenues of interactions from language to touch, to the rewiring of the brain neurons in response to knowing and being with the person. (neuroplacticity again). Explains the pain when you loose someone, and the latent feeling of them still being around. (because technically as far as aspects of your brain are concerned they are, untill it can rewire yet again). Very phantom-limb in nature.

 

[Darkness]

That may be true, but I think there must be at least some people who are happy with each other the rest of their lives.

It is interesting to note that Atheists have a lower divorce rate than Christians.

 

[Jistyr]

Atheism specifically means that you do not believe in God.
It does not mean you do not believe in love or anything else that is not God.
Atheism only defines that one lack of belief. Don't confuse it with anything else.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

It is interesting to note that Atheists have a lower divorce rate than Christians.

Though if atheists also have less pressure to marry than Christians, that doesn't necessarily imply a higher level of commitment.

 

[Sunstone]

...I believe that "love" is no more than obsession.

Like most words, the word "love" has more than one meaning. Certainly, some people use the word to refer to obsessions. However, many people -- perhaps most people -- do not use the word to refer to obsessions.

 

[Sonic247]

It is interesting to note that Atheists have a lower divorce rate than Christians.

Is that worldwide or just in America, it is easy to be a Christian here and now, or to say that you are. In Romania when the communist took over 4000 bishops, pastors ect. were called together and they all with one consent started praising Stalin an enemy and murderer of Christians, except for Richard Wurmbrand and his wife. So those numbers might sound good on paper but if you talk to people around town you'll see it's a big world, a big religious world, and someone saying they are a Christian could mean a lot of diffrent things.

 

[Sonic247]

Atheism specifically means that you do not believe in God.
It does not mean you do not believe in love or anything else that is not God.
Atheism only defines that one lack of belief. Don't confuse it with anything else.

I asked a question, but if you want to know what I was implying the reason I asked it was because Atheists have material explanations for our existance so they will give a diffrent answer to what love is, or how it evolved or if it is just an illusion. Also I wanted to see if anyone thought that it was some kind of force as opposed to part of our brains.

 

[Magic Man]

I asked a question, but if you want to know what I was implying the reason I asked it was because Atheists have material explanations for our existance so they will give a diffrent answer to what love is, or how it evolved or if it is just an illusion. Also I wanted to see if anyone thought that it was some kind of force as opposed to part of our brains.

All he's saying is that atheism has nothing to do with emotions or other beliefs. It means one thing and one thing only, a lack of belief in God. That's like me asking Christians "Do you believe in computers?". The fact that they're Christians is irrelevant to the topic of computers, just as the fact that someone is an atheist is irrelevant to the subject of love.

 

[Darkness]

Is that worldwide or just in America, it is easy to be a Christian here and now, or to say that you are. In Romania when the communist took over 4000 bishops, pastors ect. were called together and they all with one consent started praising Stalin an enemy and murderer of Christians, except for Richard Wurmbrand and his wife. So those numbers might sound good on paper but if you talk to people around town you'll see it's a big world, a big religious world, and someone saying they are a Christian could mean a lot of diffrent things.

I knew you would try to redefine the term Christian to mean, your perfect model of a Christian.

 

[Autodidact]

Is that worldwide or just in America, it is easy to be a Christian here and now, or to say that you are. In Romania when the communist took over 4000 bishops, pastors ect. were called together and they all with one consent started praising Stalin an enemy and murderer of Christians, except for Richard Wurmbrand and his wife. So those numbers might sound good on paper but if you talk to people around town you'll see it's a big world, a big religious world, and someone saying they are a Christian could mean a lot of diffrent things.

Are you familiar with the "No True Scotsman" fallacy? How do you suggest we tell who is really a Christian? Maybe you're not, I don't know.

In the U.S., the highest divorce rate is among Evangelicals, although Jesus Himself explictly forbids it. At the same time, the same group opposed gay rights, something that Jesus never mentions. Interesting.

 

[Jistyr]

I asked a question, but if you want to know what I was implying the reason I asked it was because Atheists have material explanations for our existance so they will give a diffrent answer to what love is, or how it evolved or if it is just an illusion. Also I wanted to see if anyone thought that it was some kind of force as opposed to part of our brains.

Fair enough, I can see why. Just remember that not all atheists use science and material reasoning to justify their atheism. Some can just disagree with the philosophy surrounding, and the concept of, God. And there are many other reasons, too.

 

[Autodidact]

I asked a question, but if you want to know what I was implying the reason I asked it was because Atheists have material explanations for our existance so they will give a diffrent answer to what love is, or how it evolved or if it is just an illusion. Also I wanted to see if anyone thought that it was some kind of force as opposed to part of our brains.

In that case why didn't you just ask that, instead of whether we "believe in" it, which is entirely different?

 

[Sonic247]

In that case why didn't you just ask that, instead of whether we "believe in" it, which is entirely different?

Yeah I guess.

 

[Sonic247]

Fair enough, I can see why. Just remember that not all atheists use science and material reasoning to justify their atheism. Some can just disagree with the philosophy surrounding, and the concept of, God. And there are many other reasons, too.

That's true, technically it's only disbelief in God but there is a strong correlation between the two. I should have said alot of Atheists.

 

[Willamena]

Also I wanted to see if anyone thought that it was some kind of force as opposed to part of our brains.

It is an idea that is a force and, in part, of our brains.

 

[Sonic247]

Are you familiar with the "No True Scotsman" fallacy? How do you suggest we tell who is really a Christian? Maybe you're not, I don't know.

In the U.S., the highest divorce rate is among Evangelicals, although Jesus Himself explictly forbids it. At the same time, the same group opposed gay rights, something that Jesus never mentions. Interesting.

It's confusing but still true. Church has become so much of an orginization that God could leave it and no one would notice, of course that's from a Christian perspective and you would say God is not real therefore never goes to church. And even the leadership of most churches can be sought after for personal advantage by men with no heart to know the Lord. By personal advantage I mean ego, money, power and other vile lusts (which you know without me mentioning specifically.) Of course to me Jesus is still holy and seperate from sinners ("what manner of man is this?") I believe this confusion is one thing that keeps people from God.

 

[Autodidact]

It's confusing but still true. Church has become so much of an orginization that God could leave it and no one would notice, of course that's from a Christian perspective and you would say God is not real therefore never goes to church. And even the leadership of most churches can be sought after for personal advantage by men with no heart to know the Lord. By personal advantage I mean ego, money, power and other vile lusts (which you know without me mentioning specifically.) Of course to me Jesus is still holy and seperate from sinners ("what manner of man is this?") I believe this confusion is one thing that keeps people from God.

So, as I was saying, how can I tell who is a True Christian? How do I know that you're one?

 

[Melissa G]

It seems to me in a good marriage there is something more than can be explained in biology. Regardless of whether a person can explain what it is do atheist believe love is a real thing, you know.. "true love."

I didn't realise love was confined to Christians. Love , what is love ? part lust, part desire, part bonding, part dependence on another. Anybody can love, and anybody can just as equally hate, all are emotions arising from the brain.

Melissa G