Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.

[Jackalope]

Well as I explained, we can believe Socrates is a honorable person worthy of high veneration, whether we know he actually existed or not.

You can, if you're the sort of person who doesn't make much of a distinction between what you believe and what you know.

Some of us are a bit more particular in that regard.

That doesn't have to do with anything.

Like hell it doesn't.

Suppose I didn't believe Socrates exists. I don't believe he didn't exist either. I don't believe either way. Yet when it comes to his description, I honor "Socrates" - not knowing or believing he exists or doesn't exist.

In fact, even if I believed he was a fictional character, and turns out he exists, and the descriptions were accurate, then I would be honoring that person, if I found his description to be honorable and worthy of veneration.

In the former hypothetical case (should Socrates turn out to exist), you are honoring Socrates the person.

In the latter hypothetical case, Socrates isn't a person at all, he's a fictional character. You can honor what Socrates the character represents, but not the person - because that person does not exist.

However, for the life of me, I cannot imagine why someone would WORSHIP what he believed was a fictional character. Seems a bit creepy to me.

But hey, if it works for you, knock yourself out.

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Even if we believed he didn't exist, if we believed he was worthy of honor..then we have honored the real person.

This statement makes absolutely no logical sense.