Aspergers and atheism

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This is likely very touchy. But I find this so interesting.
I joined here a few weeks ago after discovering my husband is very likely aspergers (self diagnosed, fits all descriptions and has stuggled through life because of this quirks, we just never had a name for them). I have been reading the boards and noticed a TON of people in their siggys have quotes about God not being real. I told my husband I think there is a link between being asperger or autism spectrum and being atheist.

So my question is, have you noticed this? Do you think there is a correlation? My husband has a high IQ (rational response says people with high IQs tend to be atheists in an attempt to make people believe it is because they are smarter). Do you think it is because aspergers/autism spectrum are literal?

I haven't seen any studies done among Autistics as far as religious opinion-
I'd love to see a study that recognizes we're capable of forming opinions about such high-falutin' subjects, but I digress.

There is a well-established inverse relationship between intelligence and likelihood to believe in a deity, as well as fundamentalism among those who believe in one, but that gets into how to accurately measure IQ among non-NT's, so I see tons of potential methodology landmines as far as supposing even a correlative relationship.

This might be silly to mention, but thank you for knowing how to spell "atheism".

I've personally never believed- wasn't indoctrinated by my parents, and have never seen analytical or empirical evidence of a deity.

I can't accurately answer your main question, but there is one thing I'd like to point out. You seem like a Christian judging from your post. If this is so, then whatever you do, don't try to "fix" or "change" him. There is nothing wrong with being an atheist/agnostic.

Is it against the rules to cross-post, if not I would suggest general autism discussion.

I'm atheist and there is a very high probability of me having AS. I became atheist when I was 15, after I realized mankind has been creating gods since the dawn of time and there was no logical reason for me to believe my god (the christian god) was any different.

Before that, I was fairly religious. Sure, I believed in science even when it conflicted with my religious views, but I wanted to be baptized, I read the Bible and I tried to follow its guidelines the best I could (possibly an autistic trait?). But the Bible had some questionable passages that made me question its infalibility and I eventually lost interest.

In other words, it was all a matter of logical thinking. As soon as religion became illogical for me, I stopped believing. So yeah, it could be related with the rational thinking typical for people on the spectrum.

There are autistic people who are religious. At first (many years ago), I thought there might be a correlation with atheism, but over time it has come to look to me like there there is none. I have even heard of autistic clergy. I don't know what the percentages are about religious beliefs vs. atheism, though.

Although this is about your husband, I think at first there's a tendency for people to assume that all of their (his) personality traits, and even values and beliefs, are due to autism -- and that's not likely true. I.e. autistic, atheist, liberitarian computer programmers who like philosophy will tend to assume that all other autistics are the same, and that's not the case.

I'm not saying it doesn't belong here, but I think a wider audience would work better,

Well, ok, part of the WP issue is that not only is atheism more prevalent on the internet, but atheist culture has generally gotten a lot of strength on WP, in part due to activities that built up anti-theistic argumentation.

Here are the possible explanations I see for the general trend though, as I think one is likely:
1) Contrarianism. Intelligence and divergence from the socially accepted will push one towards more contrarian thoughts. After all, if the current presentation of truth is insufficient, then one will look another direction.
2) The actual superiority of the atheist intellectual position. Note: I am an atheist. I like to think of myself as a relatively researched and smart one. However, I do think it is a fact that atheism is a better intellectual position. I recognize you don't want too much debating on the matter, so I won't elaborate too much.
3) Cultural identification. People with AS do not identify with the mainstream due to their differences, while theism tends to. This leads them to form an identity in opposition to that mainstream. People with AS tend to identify a lot with science, making them have something in common with the atheists. Smart people are in general more likely to be atheists, with some academic disciplines dominated by atheism. Also, it is possible people with AS have a stronger connection to the internet, which tends to have a strong atheistic tendency in it.
4) AS producing rationalist/reductionist proclivities that tend to be disfavorable to religious claims and their justification.
5) Intelligence producing greater variance in beliefs, thus producing more atheists as a percentage of the population, as intelligent people are unlikely/unwilling to accept things as granted.

Now, I am going to say that I favor 2 and 3 more heavily, and even recognize the two as somewhat feeding into each other.

I certainly think there is a disproportionate amount of Aspie atheists compared to the general population. While the fact that atheists seem to be more common on the Interwebs may explain part of the heavy atheistic concentration on WP, I think other factors are at work.

Much of the most enduringly religious tend to believe they have a very personal relationship with God. This is in large part because they're mirror neuron system is functioning in hyper-drive - attributing intentionality to a being that doesn't exist. Since Aspies have trouble ascribing intentionality to other people due to a less developed mirror neuron system, it's quite rationale to assume that they'd have problems ascribing intentionality to very abstract, intangible entities like deities.