Autism and faith

Post Reply New Topic

Does having autism/AS affect your religious life at all?

I think most people don't like being lied to, which is why the fundamentalist branches of Christianity really offend me. The level of ignorance they demonstrate about demonstrable reality, the distortions they spread, and the most blatantly dishonest practice of "quote mining" found in many or most creationist sources really irks me, especially since they are pushing so hard to dumb down everybody else's children besides their own.

I am a very honest person who has been a seeker of truth my whole life. My autism probably has something to do with this as I have always been autistic, not to say that there aren't honest NTs. But I would say that my love of honesty plus the fact that I might know more about many subjects than many people do combine to turn me off some flavors of Christianity.

I can appreciate the lessons of eastern philosophies though (Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism) that are not in denial of demonstrable reality and that also seem to show some deep insights into the nature of reality, consciousness and existence. What's more, I can see those same teachings in western religions too, but usually not in the fundamentalist denominations.

It seems to be the fundies of whatever religion they are in (fundamentalist Hindus, Moslems, Christians or whatever) who cause the most problems in the world because that style of interpretation misses many levels of meaning that are not meant to be taken literally (and in truth, CAN'T be expressed but only hinted at...ineffable teachings). And it seems people at that level of interpretation are more likely than others to commit violence against anyone who doesn't believe a particular religion exactly the same way they do.

I am a bit puzzled that autistic people are supposed to be more likely to see things only in black and white. I most definitely have had Aspergers all my life, but I clearly see the flaws in black and white thinking. This is especially easy when there is so much evidence contradicting what fundies claim and when it is so easy to catch the blatant lies of their quote mining just by comparing their mined quotation to the original source to see what they left out.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7e9vnwTjJA[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZUB0kLLBUA[/youtube]

Here is one of my favourite Chaser stunts

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAHH8GmgPrk[/youtube]

Not forgetting the incredible APEC stunt

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvH3YQGQwLM&list=RDNvH3YQGQwLM[/youtube]

And yes they did actually get the motorcade into the APEC Red Zone at the 2007 Sydney APEC Summit when all the regional leaders were there including GW Bush.

Yes, it certainly does, and in various ways. Being someone who almost never "feels things" in ways other people seem to feel them, I seek assurance and comfort more from actually knowing and understanding things beyond what most people will even consider. For example: I once got up and walked out during a sermon filled with little more than opinionated extrapolation, then that minister later just turned and walked away from me after he had said he hoped me had not offended me and I had told him I simply prefer actual teaching and instruction from Scripture over opinionated extrapolation. At the expense of certain sufferers in actual need, he had been misrepresenting and misusing Scripture to do some traditional moralizing in order to accomplish nothing beyond making himself and others feel good about themselves.

Many people seek truth, but only the humble remain to love it after it appears.

No. It has no effect on my religious life or lack thereof.

No, because I make sure my religious life and having AS stay separate.

In my own life it just pushes me into confrontation with the big issues more and by extension has me chewing them over a fair amount more perhaps than I might have had life gone a lot more smoothly.

God isn't real, he is make believe, a man made concept used to explain what science and logic couldn't explain until now and filling those still remaining small gaps what science and logic still cannot explain!..*whispers* god is make believe!

Nicely said...and then the next challenge, at least for me, is in the drawing of conclusions without always defaulting to mere intellect or emotion for comfort.

As I can't envision my life any differently than with Asperger's, I really can't say if my beliefs have been influenced by it, or if those beliefs are any different from that of an NT.

Conclusions seem to kind of happen on their own, probably the more active roll I've found is cutting away the things that I research and have reason to believe aren't it. That seems to have lead in a good direction so far, just that I'm sure as I keep going that the more I learn the more I'll realize just how little I know.

Exactly.


We begin to know when we begin to know we do not know, and every answer after that also brings along more questions.