(Discussing a Youtube video about Prop.8 and what might happen next.)
"Are you going to tell me and my wife that our marriage and love isnt real because we are both atheists?"
I would say no it isn't love because from an atheist would view, love is just the chemicals testosterone, estrogen, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin, and vasopressin working within the brain. Is that what you think "love" is? if not, tell me what love is according to your dirty pathetic illogical atheist world view?
51 comments
"from an atheist would view, love is just the chemicals testosterone, estrogen, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin, and vasopressin working within the brain"
Actually that's just observable reality
"I would say no it isn't love because from an atheist would view, love is just the chemicals testosterone, estrogen, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin, and vasopressin working within the brain."
Er, yeah that's kinda how it works biologically. So what you fucking douche?
"if not, tell me what love is according to your dirty pathetic illogical atheist world view?"
Sounds like you have a stick (or Crucifix) up your ass.
So...because we don't think love is from moonbeams and unicorn farts, then we feel it's not still real? If any atheists, agnostics, or, well, anyone not of the Christian persuasion voted for Prop 8 are reading this, just remember...we will not be the last that they gun for.
[Is that what you think "love" is? if not, tell me what love is according to your dirty pathetic illogical atheist world view?]
You've obviously already made up your mind about what this person thinks. Why do you even bother to ask?
I'm surprised he can spell all those biochemical names, especially on YouTube. Firstly, neuroscience has nothing to do with atheism. Secondly, why on Earth should understanding the mechanism for why you feel attracted to a person somehow lessen or invalidate this attraction?
Often, that's all there is to it, and it lasts a few years at best. If you're very lucky, or you "shop around" until you find a good match (something fundies inexplicably fear and oppose, which is crazy considering it makes for stronger marriages and less divorce which they're supposedly all in favour of), there's also an intellectually appreciative component to the experience, sometimes mutual, that can potentially last indefinitely.
A few years ago, when the atheist I married and I were still in an LDR, Discover magazine ran an article about the biology of love with a chart showing effects on a human female body.
My eventual wife razored it out and mailed it to me with a heart-shaped Post-it note on it saying, "See what you do to me!"
I hung it up in my bedroom and still treasure it. I thought it was quite romantic. I wonder if vrod00 has ever felt that rush of hormones or induced that rush of hormones into someone else. I'm guessing the answer is no.
To quote from The Matrix Revolutions :
"Love is a word. What matters is the connection that word describes."
To answer vrod00 within the spirit of the original question: no, love does not, never has, and never will have belief in any god or goddess as a prerequisite for being real.
(@ GreenEyedLilo)
*awws softly as he reads her story*
Damn, girl. That is so sweet.
*hears a knock at his front door*
Why, sure, diabetes! Come right on in! Lilo and I were expecting you.
What's testosterone, estrogen, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin, and vasopressin got to do, got to do with it?
[/Tina Turner]
I liked how he called atheism "dirty, pathetic" and "illogical".
Makes me wanna believe in Jesus! Praise tha lawd!
@ Lilo
:3 that is SO romantic.
I would say no it isn't love because from an atheist would view, love is just the chemicals testosterone, estrogen, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin, and vasopressin working within the brain.
Yeah. So, uh, what's your point?
Personally I give this a 4, and here's why:
If we extract all the bullsh*t about god and the sneers against atheism (which is par for the course given the OP is your run-of-the-mill Youtube moron), he's got a halfway-valid point:
At this point, the English language (and those who speak it) attaches the term love to encompass the reactions caused when our brains are flooded with these chemicals.
I personally don't believe in real love (I see Cupid as dead and buried next to Jehovah)--I don't think it exists, and what we know in society is, among other things, largely lust. And if what's out there is largely lust, I say why not call the spade what it is and acknowledge it?
Of course, that's just my .02...
That is exactly what love is.
If I had the chance to fiddle with your brain for while, you wouldn't feel a damn.
"[...] from an atheist would view, love is just the chemicals testosterone, estrogen, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin, and vasopressin working within the brain. Is that what you think "love" is? [...]"
I wonder what vrod00 believes sentences to be. Just made out of words? No. God did it!
@Brain_In_A_Jar:
"Often, that's all there is to it, and it lasts a few years at best. If you're very lucky, or you "shop around" until you find a good match (something fundies inexplicably fear and oppose, which is crazy considering it makes for stronger marriages and less divorce which they're supposedly all in favour of), there's also an intellectually appreciative component to the experience, sometimes mutual, that can potentially last indefinitely."
I wonder if this is a factor in why there's a positive correlation between the proportion of fundies in a state and the divorce rate.
Here, I'll explain love to you. Love is caring for someone else more than yourself. Love is wanting to take care of that person through anything and everything, no matter how bad. Love is knowing that the other person feels the same way about you. Love is not expecting the other person to submit to your whims just because you were born with a penis, but being an equal with that other person, meaning you each put equal effort into raising your children, keeping your house, supporting your family, emotionally and financially. Most importantly, Love is being with someone because you want to be, and because they want to be with you, not because some book tells you that you can't leave.
While such things may trigger such chemicals or vice versa, it doesn't sound like the fundie who replied to Rev Jeremiah has a clue as to what love is or what it is to be human. Love is caring, compassion, etc regardless of the chemicals involved and is very human. Even atheists, who are human, experience these things. These emotions are what makes everyone human and one would not be human if they didn't experience such emotions. Atheists are very much human.
As for Prop 8, gays are human too and for them, it is natural for them to fall in love with the same sex. All that did was deny them their human rights and human dignity.
This Fundie appearently doesn't know what it means to be human. They've spent too much time in their delusional world, degrading people and denying them dignity.
Oxycotin does not make you feel love, It stops pain, and if taken in certain ways, can produce a quick high. The fat man on the radio that you probably listen to takes it.
No, those are just the chemicals the brain produces when a person falls in love, not love itself. It's like saying adrenaline is excitement, or insulin is eating and processing sugar.
well, an atheists would likely not credit Cupid although Cupid is not really a God (big g) but more a god (little g)
" I dont believe in God(s)" < atheist manifesto , complte and unabridged
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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