Religion and Routine

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Apologies if this was asked somewhere else. I did a search, and only came up with a couple of items somewhat related...

I am planning to write an article for Sage Woman Magazine's future issue on Women and Men. For those of you that don't know the magazine, here is their online link: Sage Woman Magazine I've written other articles in the past, but not for this magazine. They only allow submissions from women, and the magazine is geared toward women's spirituality/goddess content. If this upsets you, please don't go off on a tangent about me being female-biased/anti male, a non Christian or other mainstream religion, etc. I'm an Hellenic Gnostic (Collyridian/Hellenic to be more exact), which makes me a Christo Pagan, and have been for twenty years. I'm also sort of gender fluid, and here is where the questions come in...

1. As someone with a form of autism, how do you feel this has effected your religious viewpoints, if at all?

2. If you have Asperger's, do you desire routine?

3. If so, does this tie into your religion? i.e. If you are Wiccan, does your autism link to you knowing the Full Moon will mean an Esbat? If you are Jewish (esp interested in Shekinah or mysticism), do you pray the requisite number of times a day and/or wear a taillit when you pray, partially because of the routine of it? If you are Christian, do you attend church every Sunday (possibly Wed nights and Sun nights too), in part due to the comfort of routine? If you are Muslim, does the requirement of a day of fasting cause problems for you, because it isn't a routine?

4. How do you feel your gender has influenced your path, if it has? If it hasn't, is there a definitive reason you can point toward? If not, I would like to know that too.

If anyone has anything other to add, feel free to do so. These were just jumping off points. Just know that I have a limited time frame to work in. I have to submit the article by October 1st. Had I known earlier, I would have posted this before to give us more time. If you'd like to see an example of something I've written for a previous site, let me know. I'm not here to self promote, so I didn't place it in this post.

Thank you in advance!

I doubt that Autism actually influenced my choice of a religion to convert to (the Baháʾí Faith). However, until I dealt with my lack-of-empathy issues, my understandings of the religion were mostly on the intellectual level.

1. As someone with a form of autism, how do you feel this has effected your religious viewpoints, if at all?

I feel like maybe I was slightly more opposed to my mom attempting to raise me as a Christian when I was a little kid because of it, since I didn't have the social inclination to agree with others, but otherwise, no.

2. If you have Asperger's, do you desire routine?

Absolutely.

3. If so, does this tie into your religion? i.e. If you are Wiccan, does your autism link to you knowing the Full Moon will mean an Esbat? If you are Jewish (esp interested in Shekinah or mysticism), do you pray the requisite number of times a day and/or wear a taillit when you pray, partially because of the routine of it? If you are Christian, do you attend church every Sunday (possibly Wed nights and Sun nights too), in part due to the comfort of routine? If you are Muslim, does the requirement of a day of fasting cause problems for you, because it isn't a routine?

Dunno how to answer here. It certainly doesn't affect my motivation, but I can't say it doesn't make things easier. Can you clarify this?

4. How do you feel your gender has influenced your path, if it has? If it hasn't, is there a definitive reason you can point toward? If not, I would like to know that too.

I have no particular reason to think it has. I have no particular reason to think it hasn't, either.

Sure. A good example is that there are many forms of paganism, but some people feel pulled toward certain ones due to the regularity of their rituals or celebrations. I've had/have many friends that are Wiccan, but I can't imagine engaging in a celebration of the harvest when the closest I come to the process of getting breads and grains is visiting the grocery store. Some would argue I could give thanks for the farmers responsible for the grain production, but that doesn't connect me to deity in a way that speaks directly to me. Another would be that between different forms of Judaism, some forms feel praying six to eight times a day is too much, while others are drawn to the way it allows them "flow" throughout the day, keeping connected to God. Among Christian denominations, communion is taken every week by some, while other forms only perform it on special occasions.

1. As someone with a form of autism, how do you feel this has effected your religious viewpoints, if at all?

I don't think it has, because I have been too good at being critical to make it a factor. I think so, at least. But one effect could be that I don't like and tend to avoid the social rules and patterns, or the social "wave" of something extraordinary, I am better at differencing me from that and doing something that is relentless and individualistic. (Meaning that it is more true. I think that is so, at least.)

2. If you have Asperger's, do you desire routine?

Ya

3. If so, does this tie into your religion? i.e. If you are Wiccan, does your autism link to you knowing the Full Moon will mean an Esbat? If you are Jewish (esp interested in Shekinah or mysticism), do you pray the requisite number of times a day and/or wear a taillit when you pray, partially because of the routine of it? If you are Christian, do you attend church every Sunday (possibly Wed nights and Sun nights too), in part due to the comfort of routine? If you are Muslim, does the requirement of a day of fasting cause problems for you, because it isn't a routine?

All of this is social. I don't care about the social.

4. How do you feel your gender has influenced your path, if it has? If it hasn't, is there a definitive reason you can point toward? If not, I would like to know that too.

It has. My way of thinking was something I took very seriously, and I have discovered that this is typically male and found it hard to find any woman at all sharing my type of thinking. This has decided everything in my life.