is christianity a religion for neurotypicals?

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tomato
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22 Oct 2014, 12:55 pm

Do you feel that Christianity is a religion that suits aspies? Or is it a religion for neurotypicals? My own feeling is that Christianity is basically a religion adapted to neurotypicals, but I'm open to my views changing in the future.



andrethemoogle
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22 Oct 2014, 1:01 pm

I'm Catholic, so I don't think it is. It makes sense to my mind, whereas Atheism and Agnosticism do not. I have no bad things to say about nice people who happen to be the former either.



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22 Oct 2014, 1:07 pm

all institutionalised religions are the opiate of the oppressed masses.


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Protogenoi
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22 Oct 2014, 1:18 pm

From experience, I think the protestant church is heavily geared for NT's. Especially Pentacostals and other more "charismatic" denominations are even moreso geared for NT's, and the more charismatic churches are also more likely to have negative views of autistic people. Then again, I may be somewhat biased because I think 95% of protestants are as ignorant as they are arrogant.
"Of the world, but not in the world."

The Catholic and Orthodox Churches seem to be best suited in my mind, because they seem to be more accepting in general. But, yet again, I complain that most of them are ignorant, but to a lesser degree. No where near as arrogant though/



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22 Oct 2014, 2:34 pm

As a member of a Catholic church who no longer adheres to the dogmatic aspects of it, I find no problem at all, in belonging there, particularly as my priest is likely more autistic than I am, and actually a tennis buddy from high school, that was part of a club for nerds/folks with higher functioning extremely high IQ Asperger's or broader autism phenotype characteristics, as such, not diagnosed then, of course back in the 70's.

He just found his niche in a very structured environment, where change is often not an option, to his liking I'm sure; however, with that in his own life experience he understands what it is like to ostracized for being different, so he incorporates that to my actual delight from the pulpit as he keeps the mass about hope instead of hate, per stuff like homosexuality is evil, single mothers cannot appropriately raise children, etc. that deacons have attempted to propagate at the church in their own way, that he has nipped in the bud, every time I bring it to his attention.

Interestingly too, he does not take the bible literally and is a scholar of biblical history, and incorporates that in the mass as a research scientist of the real true GOD of mother nature, available to all of creation, and yes, that is another part of the Catholic church I absolutely love is the influence of Francis of Assisi, the new namesake of the current pope, who asserted that all animals are equal under the eyes of mother nature true, aka GOD too. :)

On the other hand, I attended a Gospel Southern Baptist singing, with my wife and one of her friends that is of that persuasion where the singing is relegated almost entirely to a dream of heaven after life, instead of the real kingdom of heaven now, in mother nature, as reported by the REAL man Yeshua aka Jesus, AS REPORTED in the Gospel of Thomas, likely censored out of the bible, by psychopathic leaning Roman Emperor Constantine, who changed the Christian religion, with the help of early Roman Catholic Cohorts, of old oral mystical tradition of unconditional love and egalitarianism, to a tribal religion supporting his need to erect a giant statue of himself as Sun GOD.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/thomas.htm

And at the same time he made Jesus into a mythical warrior GOD with again the help of his Roman Catholic Cohorts, to support the goals of his 'Holy' Roman Empire, with do as we believe per John 3:16 or the penalty can be death ranging up to burning at the stake for those who do not comply.

That's the likely original source of all the hate that continues to go on in even the protestant religions as we speak.

At the end of the Gospel Singing I went to, the preacher of the moment expressed delight that he would be going to heaven and will not give an F in so many other words, his friends who don't make it will be in hell.

In the mythical recent Movie "Dracula: the Story Untold', the anti-hero of the movie, Dracula, makes a deal with the devil for magical powers to protect those he loves, and he is willing to live in an eternity of relative hell, as the trade off for his expression of unconditional sacred love for his loved ones, to save their lives.

That's a real Christian, one who would make the mythical deal with the devil for unconditional sacred love, an oxymoron if one wills, too.

However, not, these so-called Christians who would scoff at their friends in a mythical eternal damnation as such, as in reality in metaphor those folks are Anti-Christ, and if I didn't place as much importance on loving my so called enemies and staying out of jail, I might want to slap some sense into the dude, and say get real dude, but I just rolled my eyes in the back of my head like a werewolf or beast if one wills, and smiled.

And no I am not saying I am a werewolf at all for those who MIGHT take my statement here literally, and assert I'm schizophrenic or such nonsense as that, as I have experienced on this site before, over misunderstandings over figurative speak, as such, here, now, that I make and clarify as such, to ATTEMPT to prevent such misunderstandings as this now and in the future, as I enjoy participating here from time to time. :)

As per the empathy gene studied in the Bonobo primate sharing a similar empathy gene and associated empathy related brain structures that other primates with more aggressive patriarchal ways do not share, humans innately without the complexity of current verily large cultures in much smaller groups evolved as they are evolved for just 12 thousand years ago, per hunter and gatherer societies like the ones current Bonobos subsist in, are innately altruistic and unconditionally loving and sharing IN social cooperation for survival.

It is the illusions of culture that take us away from our innate social cognition strengths and puts us more into a mind of mechanical cognition for solving problems over empathy, in other words that systemizing vs. empathizing thingy theory of Simon Baron Cohen, and he is spot on, per the latest science that shows their are two pathways in the brain, one for social cognition per empathy and cognitive empathy strengths and one for mechanical cognition to solve mechanical equations of life that are NOT social cognition laden. Use one pathway and the other is repressed. Continue to use one pathway at the expense of the other, and the one that is not used, per the science of epigenetic and neuroplasticity withers away in negative effect and AFFECT OF THESE COGNITIVE WORKINGS OF THE HUMAN BRAIN.

Jesus, Buddha, and many other philosophers of old and new, have brought this to the attention of the herd of human beings, and even science now shows that the repression of human emotion is at the core of stress and human illness and disorder.

So in other words science has finally caught up to Jesus and Buddha. But this stuff is instinctual in our genetic memory, as per science now too, shows, as humans have been doing TAI CHI and primitive 'Praise' dance to release emotions that are exercised in the body and expressed as such, in feeling and movement through the vagal nerve that moves from brain to belly, also known in Hindu religions as the Kundalini Serpent.

All these metaphors of ancient truth of the philosophers of old are finally being evidenced in science.

Mother Nature true, yes aka GOD, most definitely exists, it's just all ancient metaphors, and different languages for GOD that are different from the essence of truth that lives in our genetics, and can be brought out through positive epigenetics and neuroplasticity, as the vagal nerve, aka Kundalini Serpent reawakens the emotions through the body, by Yoga or meditation, etc. on the body to escape mechanical cognition of abstract language in the head,

Additionally, per TAI CHI, or Rave dance, with energy producing electronic music, to simply let the most powerful human emoting force, complex pro-social emotion, free again, fully flowing in all of the body of human being, rising up again, as yes, simply a free social human cooperative animal, that shares and loves unconditionally to subsist and survive, the way it was for tens of thousands of years, before Agriculture and a collective rather than sharing way of illusory life is propagated as such in religion and culture, to change humans from what they innately are.

Yes, again, as I stated before, through negative epigenetic and neuroplasticity, as those in power subjugate others through fear, and repress and oppress basic human nature per human pro-social emotions, often at core, per human reproductive freedoms, with women and those of minority sexual orientations getting the brunt of the hate related divisive separatist behavior, from that.


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khaoz
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22 Oct 2014, 3:20 pm

I don"'t think Christianity is a religion that suits intelligent people. Or rational people, be they NT or not.



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22 Oct 2014, 3:33 pm

tomato wrote:
Do you feel that Christianity is a religion that suits aspies? Or is it a religion for neurotypicals? My own feeling is that Christianity is basically a religion adapted to neurotypicals, but I'm open to my views changing in the future.


Suits me :)


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andrethemoogle
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22 Oct 2014, 6:35 pm

khaoz wrote:
I don"'t think Christianity is a religion that suits intelligent people. Or rational people, be they NT or not.


Thanks for being judgmental. That was sarcasm.

That's like me saying I think all atheists are "idiots", when I don't think that. Try not marginalizing people next time.



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22 Oct 2014, 6:51 pm

I'm Christian, and I think Christianity too diverse for the question to have one answer. Certainly there's bad apples like these https://www.facebook.com/AutismHealing?ref=br_tf



raisedbyignorance
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22 Oct 2014, 8:02 pm

Evangelical christianity requires alot of socializing so I wouldn't recommend it.

In fact, you're not worth much to these people unless you can convert people like a traveling salesperson.

At least that's how it felt from my experience with it.



yellowtamarin
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22 Oct 2014, 8:19 pm

andrethemoogle wrote:
khaoz wrote:
I don"'t think Christianity is a religion that suits intelligent people. Or rational people, be they NT or not.


Thanks for being judgmental. That was sarcasm.

That's like me saying I think all atheists are "idiots", when I don't think that. Try not marginalizing people next time.

No, that's like you saying you think all atheists are "idiots" if you DO think that. And you would be welcome to that opinion, if you had it.

(But to be clear, khaoz did not say he thinks all Christians are idiots, so the two opinions are not comparable in that way. I'm just saying that the two opinions given are opinions and people are free to have them.)



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22 Oct 2014, 8:53 pm

khaoz wrote:
I don"'t think Christianity is a religion that suits intelligent people. Or rational people, be they NT or not.

Nope! I'm an agnostic atheist but I don't think all (only most) Christians are stupid, only uninformed.


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23 Oct 2014, 12:54 am

I honestly can't think of any religions that would fit me. Virtually all of them involve some belief in the supernatural, which just doesn't sit well with my way of thinking. I'm fine with being an atheist, though I don't think religion is necessarily a bad thing. Religious extremism, however, is something I highly disapprove of.



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23 Oct 2014, 3:19 am

Christianity as a whole is neither worse nor better than any other religion for autistics.

But within Christianity some sects probably are worse for austistics than others.

The Pentacostals, and the Charismatics, expect you to get caught up in the crowd frenzy - which is traumatic to many aspies.

Fundamentalists are in some ways the opposite of Pentacostals- dont go in for unstrructured public behavior, and are obsessed with the written word. Might appeal to some fact-obsessed aspies, but would doubtless turn off more fact-obsessed aspies who are also obsessed with fossils and are open to the notion that the world could be more than 6 thousand years old.

Evangelicals are just that- expect you to spread the word and be a salesmen for the faith. Thats hard for autism spectrumites. Thats also a disadvantage for AS folks in Mormonism.



khaoz
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23 Oct 2014, 3:47 am

andrethemoogle wrote:
khaoz wrote:
I don"'t think Christianity is a religion that suits intelligent people. Or rational people, be they NT or not.


Thanks for being judgmental. That was sarcasm.

That's like me saying I think all atheists are "idiots", when I don't think that. Try not marginalizing people next time.


Sorry, I take things literally. I live smack in the middle of Christian kingdom, and seriously, the majority of these believers that I associate with are virtually clueless about anything in life other than these few chapters or portions o the bible tha make them feel serenity.

My daily interaction with these people;

A. what going on with ISIS? Should I be worried about Isis.

B: What about Ebola? Should aI be worried about or afraid of ISIS

C; What is 1.7% of $700?

D; Could you fix my broked down,

E; God bless what I like about my day

F; Goddamn thing happened that had that are unpleasant.

every one of my sisters and cousins and my mother are Christian. Every resident in all three joining apartment complex are german. i have to help almost everyone with their financial papers, their medical issues, computer issues.... Everything. These people literally have the combined IQ of an 8 penny nail. Not exaggerating a bit

They depend on "god" for everything, in prayer, and when God fails, which they never acknowledge, they turn to me, or someone like me.



andrethemoogle
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23 Oct 2014, 7:47 am

I put equal faith in God and science, which probably makes me a hypocrite to most Catholics. My own belief isn't 100% exactly aligned with the church, it's pretty complicated to explain how it works for me.

I didn't mean to go off on you khaoz, but don't say all people who are Catholics or some other Christian denomination aren't all smart, it just sounds really judgmental.