Should You Bring Your Autistic Child to Church?
funeralxempire
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I went to a Catholic school.
I'm not baptized and have never attended Mass (or other church services) outside of school.
Personally, my main issue is with brainwashing kids, nothing specific to autistic kids. I don't see any benefits for indoctrinating one's child into a cult, even a popular cult.
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Faschismus ist die Gewalt der Schwachen.
Indoctrination is of major concern. I'm not saying there is no variance in Catholic schools, but the general Catholic church is unaccepting of people being LGBT (quote the current Pope all you like, the vast majority of what he has done has been empty. I call him the PR pope). This leads to teachers being fired for being in homosexual relationships/marriages and no doubt that comes down to children.
LGBT children need to grow up in environments that don't hide LGBT subjects from them or even worse openly shame people being LGBT (which understand, I do think that the former effectively does that, just not as openly). Otherwise, they can be confused and they can feel shame and learn to hate themselves instead of love themselves. This is the experience I had (I went to public school, so this is more general, but Christian schools are particularly dangerous). I wouldn't wish it upon anyone.
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Diagnosed with ADHD, Strongly Suspecting I'm also Autistic
I thought the arguments over that had pretty much ended due to the degree of squinting and "education" it took to come to those conclusions and they here degree to which such arguments depend on a vocabulary that wasn't yet invented at the time the books were being written.
I went to a Catholic school.
I'm not baptized and have never attended Mass (or other church services) outside of school.
Personally, my main issue is with brainwashing kids, nothing specific to autistic kids. I don't see any benefits for indoctrinating one's child into a cult, even a popular cult.
Unless said child is like me; who perceives said methods of indoctrination as meaningless noise and annoyance of daily living.
And the rituals and 'manners' and 'hierarchical' stuff feels like a stage play than something that mattered that would gain my loyalty.
Oh, and being asexual and yet doesn't give a damn about purity culture.
And ended up being mistaken for an aspiring nun for being a 'voluntary celibate'.
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They do and I definitely don't dispute there being people that honestly believe all the BS. Even though I'm completely unqualified to have a position as I've long since left the Church, I don't consider those folks to be "real" Christians. Somehow Hanson's Disease sufferers and prostitutes are OK for Jesus, but being trans, gender nonbinary or gay is a bridge too far?
It's certainly an important factor to consider as there is a massively disproportionate number of lgbtqia+ folks that are autistic.
Kraichgauer
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I liked the routine of it. I was raised roman catholic. But yea, it started to scare me as I got older. Everything freaked me out because I didn't know what was a sin and what wasn't. And it scared me that the rules weren't so clear and that I wouldn't know my "results" as a sinner and believer until I literally died.
It was stressful when I was religious as a child. But the routine and community was helpful for me and my family up until a certain age.
I don't really think there's anything wrong with taking a child to church, or bringing up a child in a religious upbringing. That is, as long as the child is treated with compassion. Which I have been.
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I've never learned anything in church, because I was unable to focus. (I probably have ADHD)
Afterwards, my mom and I might discuss the philosophy of it, but actual church did nothing for me.
I went to a Christian elementary school briefly where barely anyone was Christian, but they always made us have chapel on Wednesdays and wear uncomfortable clothes we were way too young for. (When I got out and went to middle school, I had no idea how to dress normally. All we wore were the expensive school uniforms; ties, belts, khaki pants and plaid skirts yk)
These services, however, I enjoyed much more, since they allowed us to ask questions and sing fun songs.
Feels like a good alternative, tho (some kind of children's service) instead of regular church that didn't make me want to claw my own eyes out in boredom.
I plan on taking all my future children to church until they no longer live with me or close to me as I am a pastor and reverend. I think some of the issues regarding sensory overload are not as big of a deal for my fellowship since traditionally there are no instruments in worship. My theory is that acapella worship is more tolerable for some people with Asperger's.I plan on being at church literally 24/7 with my wife and kids because I plan on living with the brothers and sisters from church.Baptism might be a sensory overload for some of my kids.It wasnt for me though.
Kraichgauer
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Location: Spokane area, Washington state.
I was a baby when I was baptized, as was my daughter, so no problem.
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I was a baby when I was baptized, as was my daughter, so no problem.
Oh okay.I see.
I was a baby when I was baptized, as was my daughter, so no problem.
Oh okay.The church of Christ practices believer's baptism by immersion so I can see how it could cause people sensory issues when it was outside or during the winter.Many baptisms took place in cold water and I hate cold water so I would not have liked that.I dont remember the water temp being a problem when I was baptized all those years ago.Also I think the church of Christ could be well-suited to being on the spectrum because church of Christ people dont like a long sermon or a long lesson so services are typically not too long compared to a Catholic church I would say.
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