I think there is a difference though. For most people love of God assumes the existence of God. Its far more important than any feelings about a fictional character can be.
I understand your point, of course, I just want to clarify that there are important differences too.
Love of books themselves gives people help and peace too - it is a sort of healthy escape. You can immerse yourself in a book. I suppose books are like religious comfort in that sense.
I agree. But I commented because there is a significant overlap between the two.
For Indian mythology, many, many people believe that their Gods are historical characters, too.
And I have seen plenty of non-zealous, non-fundamentalist, hatredless, kind people who believe in this way, and the peace they derive from it to see it as fully bad.
I know the other side of the coin, too. But you should know that such people exist.
I read some basic "Bible for Kids" kinda stuff before it, but the first time I felt something for Jesus Christ was through the novel Ben Hur.
When fiction and living religion is mixed in a good way, with zero ill-intent, the differences fade to a significant degree.
> For most people love of God assumes the existence of God. Its far more important than any feelings about a fictional character can be.
And that's actually a problem. For them, that love for a fictional character that for them is real is, in many cases, more important that the love for real people. For whatever reason.
I understand your point, of course, I just want to clarify that there are important differences too.
Love of books themselves gives people help and peace too - it is a sort of healthy escape. You can immerse yourself in a book. I suppose books are like religious comfort in that sense.