Atheists: do you believe in *anything* you can't see, hear, smell, touch, or feel?

Question

I saw someone ask if atheists believe in love, and wasn't surprised to see all the hateful attacks directed at the asker. It really seemed like the asker hit a little "too close to home", as they say.

Another answer asserted that love can be observed in the laboratory in the form of hormones and neurotransmitters. Personally, I think love goes far beyond the effects of chemicals such as oxytocin, etc.

It's very interesting that in the absence of the chemicals secreted when one feels what some people call "love", love still remains.

I eagerly await your answers, and anticipate a large number of personal attacks. Please limit your insults to one of the following: "idiot, moron, dolt, retard, twit, dumba$$, or stupid". Any other insult might induce an unpleasant excretion of chemicals from my brain which will make me feel bad :(

Thanks

Answer 1

Sounds like you guys are offended... I think the point isnt are Atheists devoid of any emotion... its more like. "Do you believe in love beyond how its been scientificaly proven" not the chemical of love, but the feeling of love.

Answer 2

Once again, another theist "got me!"

The human body is VERY complex. The human MIND is so complex we haven't even begun to scratch the surface as to how it works. I'm an agnostic, rather than an atheist, because I guess I have some sort of sick half hearted hope that there's some sort of purpose to the universe--I just doubt my hope will end up being correct. Having said that, I think that love is most likely a result of evolution. We feel this bond so that we will act in ways that are beneficial to our society and to our offspring--it increases the likelihood that our genes will survive. Is there something more to it? I don't know. Maybe. I doubt I'll ever find out. Your silly little rant here hardly proves anything except to show everyone that you operate purely out of your irrational need to believe rather than any sincere desire to look at something objectively. It sort of makes you worthless as a scientist, so I assume you're not one. Good luck on proving atheists wrong by the way. As I said, I almost wish you were right...

Answer 3

It would depend on what I couldn't hear, smell, touch or feel

BTW if you ask insulting questions expect a hostile response. Implying that atheists can't feel love is insulting. If you can't see that then there is a serious problem with your social skills

Answer 4

The reason that other question was insulting is because it seems to imply that atheists are less human then Christians simply because we don't believe in God.
We have emotions just the same as everyone else, we love, we feel sad when someone dies, we feel empathy for other people's misfortune. None of that requires the belief in a deity and to imply that we don't feel these emotions just because we're not religious is very rude and presumptuous

Answer 5

Is it any wonder why so many people become Atheists when they are insulted like this?

I'm sure many believe in Honour - not that you seem to know anything about that..

YOu attack people then ***** cause you're expecting to be attacked in return. What grade are you in? Preschool?

This is exactly why ALL Xians have a bad reputation.
.

Answer 6

"Personally, I think love goes far beyond the effects of chemicals such as oxytocin, etc."

That may be what you think, but the reality is, that's really all there is to it. These chemicals are released to provide an attraction, and thus reproduction. Societal and cultural mores run interference on nature.

"It's very interesting that in the absence of the chemicals secreted when one feels what some people call "love", love still remains."

Except for one tiny detail: these chemicals are still there, albeit in diminished capacity. It's similar to the way that endorphines are released into the bloodstream when a person shoots heroin the first time. Eventually, the endorphine rush diminishes, yet it is still present. The body creates a psychological/physical dependency on these chemicals over time. It's called addiction.

Yeah...I just called love a form of addiction.

Answer 7

I believe only in things for which there is evidence. The evidence may be directly sensible, or sensible only by instruments, but some sort of evidence is essential. There is, of course, adequate evidence for the existence of love, and furthermore, it is explainable by evolution: it helps keep the family unit together so as to increase the likelihood that the next generation will survive to reproduce. We don't know all the electrochemical details of love, or much else in the way the brain works; we don't know much about quarks either. But we are learning about both.

Answer 8

Of course I "believe" in love. I also "believe" in atoms, and other galaxies.

To be honest, I can't prove that any more than you can prove a god or goddess. However, I use the "theory" of atoms in my science class to explain phenomena. I can clearly see the impact of love on my daily life and the life of my peers.

But I have never seen a reason for God.

Nor have I felt him in my heart.

Nor have I seen anything resembling coherence and morality in the actions of religious fundamentalists.

So I'm an atheist.

Answer 9

X-rays, radio waves, neutrinos, and so on.

Similarly I know that there are things that can be described that do not exist. Planetary orbits are a description of tendency of gravity and kinetic energy. They are abstractions. There is nothing there.

Emotional states are complex. They are neurochemical. The chemical aspect is challenging to measure. The neuroanatomy of the amygdala, which applies emotional tags to memory is somewhat characterized. To what extent love is a physiochemical response that can be quantified, and to what extent it is a tendency -- an abstraction -- is not clear.

Answer 10

I am an atheist. I believe in things that I can sense and measure. Love is an emotion, that I can certainly measure.

Little Red Riding Hood, the invisible pink unicorn, the FSM and gods are not measureable or available to be sensed. Hence I do not believe in those things. Do you?

Answer 11

yes even though i am an atheist.
i dont not believe in the existance of god because the characteristics describerd to god are much much more than that of say love. love didnt create the universe. if some religion stated that the phenomea love created the universe and life , i wouldnt believe it. it would be a different love that i know of.

greetings.