They're real in the sense that they exist, but within the materialist/physicalist/naturalistic framework, they not different in kind from the positive emotions you get from, say, heroin. They exist, but have no significance beyond their existence and the enjoyment of them.
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Different in kind? My joy at first seeing my baby is no different in kind than a drug-induced euphoria because my brain would show the same processes happening? Religious people's brains do exactly the same thing.
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I work in theater. Not only do I know how things work, I'm often one of the people making them happen. Doesn't make the performance less beautiful; sometimes that knowledge makes it more so because I know how hard it is. Theater builds magic using the tools of the real world.
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Also, in theater, the audience & the performer both know that that magic is a fiction. In religion, the audience & performer are one & the same, and mistake their fiction for magic.
End of conversation
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lol. The article assumes materialism and atheism are mutually inclusive. Even if they were....you're example would still be a valid counter
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I think he needs a bit of medication to calm his fevered imagination. I find more beauty now that I am an Atheist than I ever did as a Christian. Fear of a monstrously cruel god is not a thing of beauty.
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Rainbows aren’t beautiful, because we know they’re the result of refracting light.
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I know the love I feel for my children is caused by biological drives and oxytocin, but that does not reduce the profundity of the experience one bit.
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