An Atheist that believes in evolution can not regard love as anything that trancends the simple chemistry of our brains, it can have no real meaning or purpose as evolution theory points out that evolution is not a progressive or goal oriented process it is just a process that would be happening naturally and without reason. In-fact most atheists will not understand that according to evolution their can be no higher and lower forms of life at all because life not having any intent means also it can have no lesser or greater values which means that your own life would not be anymore signifigant than a gnats life, right?
In regards to atheism being a philosophical 0 it must be said that if the brain is evolving in no particular way and Consciousness occured as a mere byproduct of an evolving brain that would mean that all conscious thoughts would have equal weight and intelligence is merely an illusion. In this regard no atheist should be willing to engage in what is essentially 0 sum games which in this case is in the form of debating what can be known, as according to the atheist mindset anyone thinking anything is merely the result of meaningless pondering, to give arbitrary meaning to a life that has oddly taken on the conscious realization of its own impending anihilation
This is The Atheistic 0 that needs to be realized and once realized should be avoided.
God Bless!
Buddhists believe that a person's life is just as important to that of a gnat. If you believe in God, God gave that gnat life, yes? So, then why do you disregard the life of a gnat as being less important than yours, unless you worship man rather than God?
Some Buddhists believe in being vegetarian as to not take the life of a sentient being. When I first became Buddhist, I thought of the idea of having to take a spider out of my house and put it in the garden ridiculous. It is, as I had been taught in a Christian mindset, just an insect, and animal just an animal with no emotion, no soul that only acts on instinct.
What I found, suddenly, was that when I treated the least of creatures with some compassion and care, I taught other human beings in kind. I found myself fascinated by all of the life force that surrounded me.
In the movie The God's Must Be Crazy, they show a tribe in Australia who hunts for food. The man shot the animal with a dart that made him paralyzed. He then told the animal that he had to kill him so that his tribe could eat, and thanked the deer for giving his life. He then slit his throat, which makes the animal bleed out and die quickly.
Contrast this with the inhumane way that we debeak chicken, pump animals full of growth hormones, hang pigs up on hooks while still alive while they scream (part of the point being made in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.) When was the last time that you thanked an animal for giving its life so that you could live?
In the same way, people will often then only care about themselves. Religion is religion, but business is business. I had a boss that would wear her ash cross on her head all day, only to think only of herself during the business day, often at the expense of others. She was often withholding of information, and of layoffs, but all that really mattered was her job, if she could be sued for what was said, etc.
Even the idea of Jesus being your person Lord and Savior (TM) is more like your Personal Lord and Servant. Gimme this. Get me that job. Get me a wife. Help us win the game. Rarely do I hear people asking what God wants from them. They simply call on God when they want something, like a genie.
When looking at life and evolution, each life being believes that its life is important. A bear will knock your head off if she feels that you are threatening her child. She doesn't think of you being any better. In the same way, a mother is usually very protective of her child as well. It's really not that different.
When I was in high school, I remember watching a story about a primate who the researchers had trained to speak sign language. She had a baby, but the baby died. The researcher signed, "what's wrong?" She signed, "Sad." The researcher asked, "Were you crying?" The primate said nothing, but when asked why, the primate signed the word for baby, rocking her empty arms. In order to help her with her grief, they got her a kitten, which the primate then cared for, a sort of substitute during this time of loss.
I'm not sure how anyone can be so arrogant to think that man is the center of the universe, and that God bows before us like we are the most fascinating things on Earth, except that we feel threatened, as people did, when Gallileo showed that the Earth revolves around the sun, along with other planets, and not the other way around.
I don't think that there has to be a God for life to have meaning anymore than I think that there has to be a Santa Claus to enjoy Christmas.
Evolution is something that simply is. What does it mean if you are blond, you spouse is brunette, and your children are all dark? That brunette is the dominant gene - part of (dare I say it) evolution. It's more of a process. It's no differennt than photosynthesis, or evaporation. It rains or doesn't rain whether you believe in God or not. There doesn't have to be a reason.
But I would argue that in my experience, people who have such a hard core God belief and Creation belief have little, and often no, respect for the environment or other living beings. They somehow believe animals don't have emotion (which is clearly false), don't feel pain (which is clearly false), and in turn, often think that the only thing that is then important is themselves. They pollute the environment, and think that nothing will come of it. The pollute the air, cut down the trees, inject growth hormones into their chickens and beef, and think that injesting that will not harm them. They seem to think that man and nature are completely different, and therefore, since it isn't really "your place", you can trash it like a Spring Break hotel.
However, it does have a backlash.
Fortunately, people are realizing that you should stay away from pesticides, and we have seen native birds and butterflies returning to Toronto. More people are choosing organic fruit that is ugly on the outside, but sweet on the outside, in place of perfectly round oranges that taste like styrofoam.
Unless one can accept that they are part of nature, with a humility, and then try and live in harmony with it, they will continue a very destructive cycle.
As I said, I have found that though Buddhism, in caring for the least, I care far more for other people. I see them as myself - people that have families, that also want to be happy, that may be angry because of something that is going on with them or because they are having a bad day. And I often offer a smile to a stranger, and find that even small amounts of kindness can turn around someone's day.
