It's a general principle my guy.

Non-religious people don't have conversations like

'Wait, we should FEAR and love god?'

'Nono, you don't have to be AFRAID of god, you just have to be respectful of the fact that he could end all that you know in fire and torment instantly and for no reason. Not AFRAID but RESPECTFUL.'

As another example. Non-religious people don't have to have the same slippery relationship with words that religious people do. The bible says 'Fear and love god' and people worm their way around the word 'fear' to make it mean 'respect' even though the literal word is 'fear.'

At the churches that I am familiar with, this type of discussion and thought process features heavily.

This is not 'all religious people are dumb.'

This is 'Religious people in aggregate exhibit a behavior that non-religious people do not.' and that behavior is the non-literal interpretation of the written word. English majors dissect The Great Gatsby for meaning, disagree about symbolism and intent. They don't do it with the regularity and familiarity of a theologian whose whole job, as far as I can tell, is to play religious texts and history like an instrument.