Rate of Atheism in the Autistic community

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Do you think that due to the more literal, detail oriented and logic based thinking that is exhibited in most of us on the spectrum, there would be a higher rate of atheism in our community?

Maybe. Maybe not.

But what about those of us who are more emotional, "big-picture" oriented, or intuition-based thinkers?

Remember, when you've seen one Aspie, you've seen one Aspie. We are not all alike.

For me it was the upbringing. In my home we never discussed religion and I was oblivious to it until my middle teens (in a mostly catholic country). When religion was introduced as a mandatory study subject into schools by law, I tried to participate but was ridiculed for asking what I thought were legitimate questions. I just thought of it as utterly ridiculous concept and totally illogical so I quit this class. Later in life, just out of curiosity I have read bible and koran and found the concept of religion totally unappealing, I also never felt any need for any creepy "higher beeing" governing my life.

Your stereotypical logic and detail oriented aspie could be drawn to either of the opposite extremes: atheism, or Fundamentalism ( adhering to scripture) I suppose.

I also used to think that was a general characteristic of aspies, but since I joined this site, I no longer do.

I think that’s probably the #1 factor.

"Well I don't have any facts, therefore , I make an unsupported conclusion that GOD doesn't exist", isn't sound reasoning.

Say, that is a pretty pile of straw you got there...


With a positive claim about the existence of an entity such as God having failed to be supported by evidence (positive, extraordinary or otherwhise) the claim reverts to the position of being unsupported and presumed incorrect until contraindicated.

There's a fairly large subgroup with a mystical bent.

Also, I guess a lot of the ones who grew up with religion and felt supported in that community have a positive view of religion and believe in it.

I didn't grow up in a religious family, so when I was introduced to it, I found it absurd and scary. Also, through personal experiences, I developed the idea that religious people were cold and unreliable. If I'd met more responsible religious adults as a child, that perception might have been different. But probably not, as I'm female. Religion tends to be a bad deal for girls.

yes

I'm very much so a christian, and I didn't even have a great initial experience with Christians. It's just a matter of knowing god as an individual and moving past the tradition part that I feel gets in the way for many autistic people. If you can love a person, or even just care about them a bit, and not take others actions and blame someone else just because they use his name, then you are just as capable of forming a relationship with god as anyone else.

So...LoveNotHate is correct? How is that straw man? You just proved LNH’s point.

No, it's a linguistic sleight-of-hand shifting the burden of proof. It's the difference between "I don't believe in God" and "I believe that there is no God". Atheists generally hold to the former view on the basis of an absence of evidence, but proponents of deities like to strawman atheists as holding the latter view and demanding they present their "evidence that God does not exist".

This. Many Aspies are atheists, myself included. I think religion is absurd and obviously made up by people. But some Aspies are religious, and those who are are usually the worst kind of Fundies.

I think religion is much less appealing to people like us then it is your average NT because its purpose is mostly social. And because the mind of an NT is much less constrained by such concerns as reality and fact as ours are.

"I don't believe in GOD" and "I believe there is no GOD" is the same conclusion of "I don't believe in a 'creator' ".

I'm merely pointing out that such a conclusion is based on "conjecture", not "logic based thinking", as suggested by the OP.

I read about this a few years ago.

A believe in GOD requires imaginative, abstract thinking.

A doctor suggested that ASD "concrete thinking" is possibly the cause of beliefs in atheism, since it may limit such imaginative, abstract thinking in favor of concrete thinking.

(Search google "Autism concrete thinking")