buddhism is more of a practice than religion. unconditional love and reverence to all beings, it does not matter how you identify yourself. buddhist mantras use vibrational energy to heal and transmute unhealthy emotions and patterns. buddhism is about raising the vibration of yourself and those around you
you dont need to identify as a buddhist to practice buddhism, it is the essence of the loving natural man, which we all are within
All these is theory, in practice, you can't truly love someone unless you believe in the God who created the universe - not several gods.
There is only one God and He is the only one that makes us love because we human beings are born selfish.