Liberation Theology of the Spectrum

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oh sweet Jesus

Forgive them Lord for they know not what they do

At church.


Sunday-School teachers who have told me that my questions are disruptive, and one elder who has tried to spread the rumor that I am mentally ill. It seems that none of them can tolerate any suggestion that their interpretation of the Bible may not be the only one. They become openly hostile when I point out the contradictions and inaccuracies of the Bible itself.


A group of religious fanatics kidnapping Autistics and taking them to remote locations where they repeatedly undergo exorcism to liberate them from the alleged demons that the "liberators" believe to be causing their Autism.


Not at all. Autism is not caused by demon possession; nor is it a sin or the result of sin; nor is it evidence of retribution by a Wrathful and Vengeance-Seeking God for the sins of the Autistics' parents.


Absofreakinglutely!! ! There is no need whatsoever to treat what appears to be a congenital neural condition as a spiritual defect.


I believe in a divine being that created life, the universe, and everything. I also believe that religion is the political expression of faith, as well as a means of controlling the minds of those who can not or will not think for themselves so that the religious leaders may enjoy the wealth and the power that comes from submission of the masses to the religious leaders' teachings that we are all nothing more than sinners at the mercy of a wrathful God, who will condemn us all to Hell for even the slightest infraction of anywhere from 2 to 10 to 613 Holy Commandments.


Which theological views? Most were developed to enforce and maintain a status quo of "enlightened" religious leaders holding all power and authority over ignorant and superstitious people in order to extort wealth and sexual gratification from them. Such views do not apply to me, as I am neither superstitious nor ignorant when it comes to religion - I have been to Seminary, and have served as an elder as well..


Religious leaders have told me that Autistic Spectrum disorders are either (a) sin; (b) evidence of sin; (c) retribution for the sins of the parents; (d) caused by demonic influence or possession; or (e) any combination thereof.

My GP told me that I could not possibly have AS because I do not wet the bed, play with fire, or torture helpless animals. These are symptoms of psychopathy, and not any Autistic Spectrum Disorder.


I am on the spectrum, so this question does not apply to me.


Permission granted. Please use the moniker of "Fnord" (rhymes with "snored") when quoting from this post.


You're welcome.

Having the crap beaten out of me to conform by my own parents.



I picture a Che Guevara poster with the slogan 'ASPIES OF THE WORLD, UNITE!' (But Che is holding his hands over his ears)



I live in a country filled with magnificent cathedrals made of stone and glass, while the ordinary folk (including autistics) who built them lived nasty, brutish and short lives in houses made of s**t.

I think of priests fiddling with kiddies.

I think of systemic cover ups of priests abusing children.

I think of refusing to condone birth control when the population is running out of control and AIDS is ravaging the third world.

I think of the Spanish Inquisition.

I think of Galileo.

I think of a bunch of sexist, homophobic dinosaurs.

But most unforgivable of all, you took in Tony Blair?!



I think the PPR board on this forum is evidence enough that some autistics are not logical vulcan-like beings but just as prone to fantastical thinking as everyone else.



ret*d, stupid, slow, disobedient, unruly, untrustworthy, difficult, lazy, useless, rainman, down's syndrome.

Thats gotta hurt, ouch. Has to be said though

Take it easy on the young girl Fnord, next you'll have her questioning her faith

That means lots of gnashing of teeth for turning away a pious soul from the light.....

The pope is the living sign, believe in him and you will be saved

On the contrary, Surfman, I am grateful for Fnord's answer. Though wildly different from my own experience, the purpose of this assignment is not to say what the Church is doing correctly, but to point out where it (and society) is failing towards the autistic community specifically. From my own experience, I would be inclined to rail at society and leave out the injustices of the Church. Without these insights, I would most likely have missed over a significant part of this research. Indeed, these answers have encouraged me to research more about the differing ways that the Church has historically responded to neurological difference and I would agree that the Church as an institution has been less than fair (to put it lightly) in their treatment of autistics.
Any assumption that I find no merit in their answers or that their input has not helped me deepen my understanding of the issue is wildly false. Does it make me doubt my faith? Of course not. Does it make me more aware that the Church as a whole needs a radical reform of its understanding of neurodiversity (among other things)? Of course it does. A faith that cannot be questioned or challenged is a dogma not a faith- and I subscribe to a faith. And I do plan to question and challenge my faith, especially on this certain topic, because assuming that no change or understanding can be found is doing the same harm as those who instigated the misunderstanding and stagnation in the first place.

Thank you, Fnord and DC, for your honest answers and willingness to share openly on what some see as a sensitive topic. You have been a great help with this ongoing project.

I think the problem is that Billy Graham made a bargain with the Devil which required him to denounce Communism and in exchange the Capitalist newspaperman William Randolf Hearst gave him free publicity to start his ministry. This in effect destroyed the social gospel and made it into a gospel of personal responsibility.

Takes responsibility away from the state

How convenient

Its your fault your life sucks, not the government

Welcome to liberation of the state!

How convenient!!

A lot of Churches taught that it was okay to nuke the Commies.

Not sure what you mean by "where." The "who" is hard for me to answer in any other way than kind of ambiguously because to me, "the oppressor" implies a person or persons. I just don't view things that way.

Honestly, I've never thought about it as oppression. What I experience are difficulties resulting from ignorance. And I use the term in its literal sense, not disparagingly. The worst problems arise as a result of professional educators supposedly trained to work with Autism. Many of them seem to know understand much less than I about it. That shouldn't surprise me though, and it doesn't really, because I've lived with it for fifty one years, and have three teenagers on the spectrum.

The only time their differences give me trepidation is when they either claim they know what's best for my kids, or don't listen to the most important advice I offer them when they are the ones who asked for it.

I've never really felt "oppressed" because of my Autism.



I envision large question marks. Since I don't feel oppressed, I don't understand the need to be "liberated." Liberated from what? If there is anything I need to be liberated from, it's the limitations I have from Autism. Since there is no cure for it, the only freedom from these limitations available to me is learning strategies to overcome them.



The first part of the question I will not get into on the forums for personal reasons. I don't have any problem saying I'm a Christian, but what that means to me is in many ways very different from what others envision when they hear the word Christian. I have however, associated with many others with the same views. Many of them NT's. There were, and is, no difference between their views and my own, with certain very subtle differences. The basics are all the same. NT or Autistic doesn't make any difference.

I don't believe Autism precludes thinking any differently from NT's about things like this. Whether one is NT or Autistic isn't in any way related. (Though I already know there are a plethora of users here who would totally disagree with me on this point. There is a hard core group here who seem to think if one believes in a creator, one cannot possibly have Autism, because it's supposedly illogical. Dosen't bother me a bit. It's perfectly logical to me, and that's all that matters.)



The single most frequent stereotypes are a number of them, but all the same in that too many people seem to think if we don't display certain stereotypes, we must not have Autism. This aggravates me to no end, mainly because those I have heard it the most from are psychological professionals who SHOULD know better.

Some of these include:

1. Your eye contact is too good.
2. You don't have a "special interest" (not true by the way, I have many of them)
3. You use fairly appropriate body language
4. You are very articulate

These are comments I've heard about not only myself, but about my sons as well. Some apply to me, some apply to them, some apply to both. I've only ever heard one for each of the boys. I've heard a few about me. It's infuriating.





That's fine. If you want to know any more, PM me. I'm not very likely to revisit this thread due to where I have a feeling it may turn. I could be wrong, but these topics have a nasty habit of turning ugly pretty fast.

That said, I'm out.

I've moved from atheist to anti-theist over the years, mainly as a reaction to the fundamental evangelical lunacy and not some deep seated hatred of people with a religious belief or the catholic church in particular. I am as equally critical of the Church of England that is happy to suppress reports on the plight of the poor because the chauffeur driven bishops fear it might upset the global mega banks that have offices next to St Paul's.

Or the nasty trend in Africa for protestants to label children as child witches and kill them.

It might be the aspie in me but you can always count on me to be as subtle as a brick.


PS You should pop over to Europe sometime and visit St Peter's when it isn't the school holidays it is very pretty even I have to admit.

To paraphrase Socrates: The unexamined faith is not worth believing.

As for the rest, I suggest you look into the history how people were treated by the church when they were mentally deficient or deranged. Look into the Magdalene Asylums for Fallen Women, and learn how the church enslaved and abused women for merely "acting out".

Get a copy of The Story of Medicine by Kenneth Walker...



Learn how the Christian Churches regularly abused the insane, and their Bible-based rationale for doing so, then look around your own congregation and see how many mentally deficient or deranged people are included in regular Christian services and missions, versus how many are marginalized or even ignored by more "normal" members. Then ask yourself if the church has really changed all that much since the dark ages.