Religion (or lack thereof) and Autism/Asperger's?

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The interesting thing about assumptions like that, is how the same logical error recurs in all "only-systems". Take "scripture only" Protestantism - theology is only to come from Scripture, but at best, this is an extra-scriptural assumption, and hence contradicts itself. If someone tries to shoehorn some Bible verse to prove the assumption, you get circular argumentation. Theology should come from Scripture only, since Scripture says so.

The same goes for hard empiricism and mostly every "hard" ideology. At best, hard empiricism is assumed from philosophy, making Occam's razor a quasi-religious dogma. At worst, people point to empiric science itself, or rather its results, ignoring that philosophy (which gradually allowed for empiric observation as grounds for knowledge, from Aristotle through medieval Christianity to modern science - however much atheists dislike that fact) laid the grounds for modern science, and hence indirectly caused those results. Knowledge comes from many sources, and most knowledge can't really be viewed as absolute. Even the scientific theories we count as "proved" may be shown to be false at some point, no matter how improbable that seems at the moment. The existence of an afterlife can only be proved (or disproved) on an individual basis when you die (unless empiric science actually finds proof that it happens, which seems very unlikely). If it doesn't exist, you'll never know, and if it does exist, you'll know pretty fast whether your assumptions about it were true. Scientific method may be changed through philosophical progress - as mentioned philosophy gradually came to the conclusion that empiricism was our best source of knowledge about the nature, and later showed us how fragile that knowledge really is. Few people are positivists today, except some few hardcore atheists. They make the same error as the hardcore religious - neither are aware of the uncertainty of their knowledge. And yes, I'm making some gross generalizations now - I'm aware that most people are somewhere in between



I agree to this. Some people may criticize positions like this for being "epistemologically relativistic" (or something), but truth is, if one is aware that knowledge is never absolute (perhaps unless you count mathematics as absolute), the natural response should at least be "epistemological humility". I'm not saying it's a bad thing to be certain of one's own experience/position/ideology, but one should at least be aware of the problems of counting knowledge as absolute. I wouldn't believe what I believe if I wasn't convinced that it's true. At the same time, I'm aware that I may be wrong, no matter how convinced I am. Knowledge is to some extent a matter of perspective (Earth can be viewed as the center of the universe, it just makes astronomy a pain in the butt), and to some extent a huge, huge gamble, based on more or less educated conjecture.

It did confirm what i said clearly you misread it.

Ah but see ... I've dispensed with belief. It, too, is unnecessary to what I'm doing. I don't believe any of it. It's not a position on reality; science describes the world around us more accurately, so this is an obsolete function of religion. This preserves only those functions that are not obsolete; everything superfluous has been removed. The only remaining functions are along the lines of a method to relate, psychologically, to the world and existance in it; and terror management. That's pretty much it.

When I say I stripped this down and it's lean and mean, I do mean stripped-down. It's not even a belief system anymore. It might count as a philosophy I suppose, but really it's more along the lines of a method. That's why I say it's far too flexible and far too minimalistic for most people who feel a need for religion.

I was brought up in the Catholic Church, surrounded by protestant schoolmates. There were too many rational contradictions for me to develop a personal philosophy in the human constructs of religion Instead I found it in the patterns in nature from a fetus, to the Nautilus Shell, to the Nautilus Machines I worked out with, to a Hurricane, and finally to Galaxies, four out of five still provided, in part, by culture.

I escaped the trap of cultural complexity (or what some might call the system) as a young adult, but became trapped back in the labryinth deeper as I grew older; hard to escape if one is going to survive, in the long run.

I see that labyrinth growing larger and larger. I don't think I would have ever experienced the bliss of escaping it, if I had been born today. I perceive it as the connection to what is. There is no way I could rationally describe that connection, only that it is a connection that has no measure. I personally suspect that other animals likely experience the connection more than most human beings, because they are not trapped in a cultural labyrinth as many human beings are.

I went back to the Catholic Church for 10 years in adulthood and focused on the connection with others, completely disregarding the labyrinth of the structure of the Church. On occasion I felt like an imposter, but it was the human connections that I cherished, that were similiar to the connection I felt to the hurricanes and the galaxies.

It's a path that worked for my nature, but I could never discount another person's path, even if it is in the deepest of labyrinths.

Ah, ok. We're doing something different then. There are a few similarities, but, mine's not rational, and it's not an apprehension of God through reason or anything like that. It is simply a way of relating to the world and the things in it, nothing more. I attribute a mind and a mood and an intent to things. You could say it's a deliberate reification, but in full knowledge of what I'm doing (like a fantasy, sort of).

I suspect it may be similar to the original form of religion.



Society has become more mentally omnipresent it seems to me as well. Although I think the process has been underway all my life.

I voted as "atheist." I'm actually an agnostic atheist, meaning that I am willing to admit I could be wrong about there being no deities, even though I strongly doubt that there are. I certainly have no religious beliefs, there being no compelling, empirical evidence to support such extraordinary claims as are made by religions of the world. I'm also agnostic regarding the Tooth Fairy, for I have no evidence in the non-existence of the Tooth Fairy, either.

If I am confronted, at some point, with compelling evidence of the existence of God, as depicted in the Bible, then I still would be unable to worship such a genocidal, hateful, megalomaniacal monster, based on what I have read in that book. Are my views shaped my the fact that I have suffered horribly at the hands of religious fanatics, and seen the same happen to friends of mine? Yes. Definitely. I know this because I have no such "allergy" to Islam, for a very simply reason: no Muslim has ever attempted to harm me. I have an unusual number of Muslim friends, for an atheist, or even for an American. I am fully aware than this is an emotional response based on trauma, not one I claim is purely rational. I won't be converting to Islam, though, but I fight islamophobia whenever I encounter it. I am very defensive of my friends.

I only recently realized that I almost certainly have Asperger's. Several people told me they thought I had it, in an accusatory manner, as if it is a bad thing. I researched the subject, recognized myself in the descriptions of "Aspies," and have generally responded to these people with, "Yes, probably. What of it? I like who I am."

I certainly do not want to be like them, and am glad I am not.

I've been talking to several people who have already been formally diagnosed -- friends of mine -- and they have further reinforced my suspicion that I am fortunate enough to have Asperger's, and they happen to be atheists, also. This made me curious about something: are we less likely to be religious than "neurotypicals," or the people I have called "normals" for decades, when I thought I was pretty much the only person like this? This led me to google "Asperger's religiosity," which led me to this site. The name "WrongPlanet" immediately struck a chord with me. Judging from the statistics above, plus other material I have found, atheism is much more common among those with Asperger's than those without it, as I suspected.

This is my first post on this site. I like it here already.

I am spiritual.
It can be even seen as my special interest.
I am very deeply in it and it is so much part of me,
that I can not imagine another world; world of just matter.

However, beauty is everywhere!

I say atheist, but I have my own religion in a way, or at least a form of meditation I practice and a set of symbols and myths that have personal meaning to me. Religion, though, the way most people practice it, is a social thing, and it involves swallowing a whole set of beliefs that don't go together or have anything to back them up (and often that one personally disagrees with!) to be part of a particular crowd, and so it's really not something I would be attracted to!

I would say 'agnostic' but in reality the question is meaningless. Who or what is 'God' exactly? I respect my brothers opinion on this and thats almost unheard of for me to agree with him. He's a well respected Engineer and told me there is no way he can possibly say there's no God now. Without going on a major explanation, the more he learns the more it simply doesn't make sense without a Creator. He's not a believer in any religion but told me there are millions of 'co-incidences' in the higher sciences that defy the logic of and simply should not have happened based on scientific principles. Im not an expert like him but he certainly is so I tend to accept his findings at least at this point in my life.

I don't have any beliefs that you might call "religious beliefs". However, my current theory that belonging to a religious community might help me a lot. I remember that when I used to belong to my primary school's Anglican community, I was in a much better place in my life than I am now. Last time I was thinking about this, I went to a UU church since they aren't big on dogma. But I found the experience pretty hollow. It just felt like a political meeting of left-wingers, with no mystery or sanctity. This time, I'm going to try a Quaker church. They're not big on dogma, but (I hope) they have that transcendent atmosphere I've been missing.

That's only one of the views of God in the Bible. Not the only view of God in the Bible. And many, many believers don't believe in the God you describe.

Faith is illogical and religion makes no sense.

I didn't know what option to choose, since I am neither religious, nor confused, nor an atheist/agnostic. I am a deist. I believe in a god and spirituality rather than religion. I believe that a god set the world in motion and lets it function as it so chooses - no intervention there. My ignorant family still chooses to believe that deism is just another Christian denomination. No, I am not Christian, either.

Perhaps there should be an option in this poll for "other"?

I went to a very conservative nondenominational Christian school, so naturally I'm an ardent atheist. I got horrible grades in my Bible classes (mandatory every year) because I would argue with the teacher about something being illogical. My parents and friends told me to just "play the game" and say what the teachers wanted to hear so I could get a good grade, and I was just like, they're incorrect. I must make them correct. I don't understand why it is considered better to say something you don't mean. They could tell you in math class that 1+1=3, but you wouldn't write it over and over even though you knew it was wrong.

Senior year, I tried to talk the counselor into letting me take a third science class instead of Bible that year.

I was denied. The irony.

Welcome Rob. Hope you enjoy your time here

Yup, faith is illogical. Oh, some people try to make is logical. But ultimately, it's not a thing of logic.

It does, for many of us, make sense to participate in religion. We get something valuable out of it.