Religion and Aspergers?

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As my screen name implies, I'm an atheist -

I'd go a little further than to say 'there is no proof, hence I don't believe', though.

Besides the lack of proof for the supernatural, there is an abundance of proof for a natural, explainable world. There's very little room left in the gaps for god, or magic. Although there are obviously many things that we don't fully understand, or can't explain perfectly - I don't think it makes sense to jump to the conclusion that they are 'inexplicable' or 'divine'. History has shown us the contrary is true; things our ancestors would have been tempted (and in some cases did) say were magical are understood today.

Even if there are things we will never know, we can be almost certain that they are natural phenomena.

I know that has nothing to do with religion and aspergers - but it explains why I don't think god sent a message to your friend about your diagnosis.

The Higgs-Boson particle is a theory, and yet we believe in it. Most things related to physics started as a theory long before we could ever observe them. Quantum theory itself states that we cannot know something without directly observing it, and even that knowledge is fleeting.

Physical theories involve scientists measuring observable effects that can be reproduced, determining possible explanations on the basis of those effects and then testing their hypotheses. I'm not sure that's a fair comparison to the kind of faith religion entails.

A number of these took years to prove experimentally. Others are a matter of so much time that it will be difficult or impossible to prove them. Long-term theories like evolution and most things related to astronomy are quite difficult to prove or produce experiments of (evolution is in fact rather simple to prove compared to the various theories regarding the life of stars, let alone the end of the universe). Yet most of us believe in those theories as well (I know I do).

The main problem is: you cannot disprove God. There is no experiment which will be able to test if there is a God. Conversely, we cannot prove that there is a God either. I think it is highly unlikely that there is a God. However, that doesn't mean that I believe there is no God. That final step, from acknowledging its unlikeliness to outright saying there is none, is a step of faith and belief, as much as it would be to take a step in the other direction.

Children do not always forever hang on to their parents' philosophies or beliefs or practices or whatever, but I do think that is where many of us certainly do get our starts. In my own case, and having been raised in a religious family where my maternal grandparents had even been evangelical missionaries, I have never been anything other than a "believer" of whatever type.


That easily could have been just a "gut reaction" of some kind, but then there are some people in this world who believe "the gut" is where spiritual communications actually take place ...

... and because of some of my own observations and even some personal experience over many years, I happen to have no problem believing spiritual communications actually *do* take place.


It sounds to me like you friend was listening well that day!

My extended family is mostly religious, but my parents and sister are quite strongly atheistic. I followed my own beliefs. I would actually expect that to be a trend among Aspies.

I agree ... and in my own case, that has resulted in my complete rejection of sectarianism while still hanging on to what I happen to personally believe to be true about "God" ... and I strongly believe my AS/HFA has helped make both of those things possible (such as through "obsessive investigation" or whatever). Rather than believing something "just because", I now truly have good reason (at least sufficient for myself) concerning *all* my personal beliefs and actual practices.

LDS requires copies of peoples tax returns to prove that they're keeping up.

No other Christian "denomination" makes tithing "mandatory".....but other cults do (Scientology, for instance gets all their $$ by charging for all those classes & materials).

I also think that Jehova's Witness' might be very strict, but as I've not asked 'em, I don't know for certain.

If a god has no interest in empirically proving its own existence in a format that everyone on Earth can inherently understand (why should it not be able to do this), then I have no interest in believing it exists. This seems like a very fair playing field.

I don't understand why 'existence of god' almost always seems to be on this invisible list of "Things we will never understand"; do people not realize that science has been crossing items out of that list for all of human history? The logical conclusion is that we will, some day, determine the fundamental nature of the universe, just as we have already made near countless discoveries that people of the past couldn't have conceived we would find out.

If one thinks about the common phrase "History repeats itself", 'science correcting religion' is perhaps the most reliable pattern to fit those words aside from the rise and fall of the sun, politicians lying, and death.

"'Do you know, I always thought Unicorns were fabulous monsters, too? I never saw one alive before!' 'Well, now that we have seen each other,' said the Unicorn, 'if you believe in me, I'll believe in you.'"

It should be able to prove its own existence, but why would it?

Allow me to put it this way: I don't think we'll ever be able to be completely sure about this. If we do finally find some kind of evidence which explains the fundamental nature of the universe once and for all, I'd be more than happy to accept it.

In my own case, that was because I had long been looking in the wrong location and/or through unreliable means for some personal evidence that finally made sense to me.

I just realized that I do not read words with inflection. The aspie forum looks just like my fishy forum because I read them all with no inflection.

I believe in God, although I'm not a member of any religion. I used to be atheist (but I always used to pray asking for some proof ) which caused me lots of existentialist angst, and belief has given my life meaning...

I was quite the agnostic/atheist in my youth, but as I got into my 20s I began to search for deeper meaning in life. As a way of "figuring out" an oftentimes puzzling world, I think this is not atypical of Aspies. In my early 30s I started learning about Judaism and a few years down the road, converted to Orthodox Judaism. On hindsight, I recognize that the strictures of Jewish life appealed to my need for clearly defined expectations and rituals. Orthodox Judaism is as highly-systematized a religion as you can find. Not only that, but being a member of the Orthodox community was the first time in my life when I felt like I actually belonged somewhere. For various reasons, it didn't last.

After being spiritually adrift for a few years I've started reconnecting with Catholicism, the religion I was baptized in. There are some rituals, but not nearly as many as in Judaism.

I do sometimes envy religious communities, but not to the point where I'm going to profess a belief I don't hold just to fit in (and I'm not saying anyone here is being dishonest, only speaking for myself.)

Fortunately for me, I also find it hard to imagine anything worse than hours on end sitting on wooden bench seating with a large group of people who sometimes start singing. So atheism works well for me too.

Aspies are logical, and most organized religions are based on fundamentally illogical ideas like faith. I also think atheism is illogical as well as it implies a level of certainty that no one can prove, IMO both things are 2 sides of the same coin.