Do Aspies tend to be less religious than the average person?

Post Reply New Topic

I am in the Bible Belt as well and it is miserable. It makes it even harder for me to socialize or make friends. I moved to Alabama 7 years ago and I've only ever been invited to go to church with people. When I first got here, I tagged along a few times to not seem rude but I was totally miserable and I couldn't understand why nobody was calling out all of the crap that was being spewed. Now I'm more up-front about not being religious and so I don't get invited to go anywhere.

I think I would hate the South. Not just the religion, but I also hate heat and humidity. I'll bet you saw a lot of Trump stickers there too.

They're still everywhere. People here watch too much Fox News to realize they should be embarrassed at this point.

Yep I noticed that too. And would love to live in a state where there's less religious people. Either the west coast or New England areas of the country where there are less religious people. But not right now since I don't have any money to move and college starts in less than a month.

Hey if they want their independence, I'm for that. The tragedy of the Civil War was that after all that blood and treasure there was no real social changes made to the South. Interracial marriage was illegal in Mississippi as late as 1987 FSS.

I'm in Chicago. Its a liberal island of sanity and reason in a state that is otherwise just another Great American Corn Growing Bumpkkkin Fest.

I was in northern Virginia before I moved here and it's been amazing to see the degree that segregation still exists in parts of the country. The public high schools are at least 90% African American and all of the white parents who can afford it send their kids to religious private schools. My partner is African American and he remembers all of the black boys being sat down in middle school about 10 years ago and told that they weren't allowed to date any of the white girls. Nobody here will admit to being racist but the racism is very real. With Trump as president, it's only gotten worse. People are much more free with the things that they'll say in public.

Ten years ago was 2007. Its outrageous they were told that. However it does not surprise me at all the degree of segregation that still exists in the South. Of course, in Michigan you had someone spray paint a big swasticka on the back of a dougout along with the words "Making America White Again" to celebrate Trumps victory.

I noticed around here they're aren't alot of black people. Some but not alot. Most of them live in the area of a old black school that's now a museum for African American culture.

Also, another thing: The Hillbilly Hankee, AKA the Confederate Flag. In it, I see all the worst aspects of the South. Entrenched poverty. Poor race relations. Rebelling against everything while at the same time wanting a Nazi like state.

The term "Bible Belt" does not equal "the South".

The "Bible Belt" equals "The South" plus "the Prairie Midwest".

Garrison Keillor's Lutheran Minnesota characters are definitely Bible Belters, but they're definitely NOT southerners.

But that aside.

Yes. I also sometimes (not always) wish that Lincoln had just let them go. Leave the Union. Good riddance. And had Just forfeited our worst war before it started.

And the US would now be two seperate countries side by side, north, and south, with their separate cultures. And separate governments to go along with that. Would certainly simplify politics in both places.

I agree with your view of the Bible Belt including the rural Midwest. I pretty much stated it directly (remarks about Illinois outside of Chicago as well as Michigan).

At the time, Lincoln couldn't let the South go for reasons that were entirely economic. The cotton, corn, tobacco, sugar cane, and other crops were far to valuable to loose.

There have been some surveys and studies... the answer is ... not really... but as with everything, aspies tend to be all or nothing... either completely atheist or an apostle.

Indeed. To be fascinated by the subject matter, and interested in absorbing as many different points of view as possible, doesn't necessarily mean you personally embrace or endorse any of them.

I consider myself agnostic, because I feel it's irrational to be blind to the order of the universe - there must be some creative intelligence underlying it all, I do not believe in "cosmic accidents," yet I'm not personally interested in trying to quantify that intelligence, or assign it a name or personality, much less decide what it "wants" or "expects" from human beings.

We're talking about consciousness that transcends time and space, exists without beginning or end, and imagines universes into being - understanding such an entity's motivations is above my pay grade.



I grew up in a strictly fundamentalist home and have many immediate family members who are devoutly religious and consider themselves "blessed" by their intimate relationship with their creator and savior. And oddly enough, I'd have to agree with them - they live strangely charmed lives, in which misfortunes are rare and always seem to work out okay. Their ambitions are usually not lofty, yet they achieve everything they need to, and always seem to instinctively know where they're going.

But it's that very relationship that puzzles me. They literally seem to "hear" God's guidance and counsel - not audibly, but as a direct assurance of faith. They pray, and they're certain they've received answers - and things magically work out for them - every time.

It's unnerving how reliably their faith is rewarded - because you see, when I try that stuff, I hear - NOTHING. I don't feel God's presence, I get no special sense of what I should or should not do. When I call out in the spiritual darkness, the world remains silent as a tomb. I have no idea what I should be doing, or in what direction I should go, and invariably, the universe opens up and drops a truckload of manure on my head. There was a time in my youth when I attempted to embrace their faith, but I was never rewarded as they are. it's as though my autism makes me deaf to the voice of God.

This is not a matter of "attitude," I've had more than half a century to observe it happening and it's a very literal fact. Things work out for them, God seems to enjoy torturing me for grins and giggles. But then, If we're assuming the factual existence of their God, then it was HE who malformed my brain in the womb and punished me with this lifelong affliction before I had ever done anything to deserve it. Explain THAT to me, Billy Graham.

So, while I cannot speak for anyone else on the spectrum, if I am less religious than the average, it's because, as far as I can tell, whatever creator may be out there, it isn't interested in communicating with me. But it loves to see me miserable.

Well, I'm certainly not Billy Graham----but, I'd like to take a stab at answering this.....

I don't feel God has anything to do with, when bad / difficult / whatever things happen to people----like, for instance, when people are stricken with Autism (I feel it's MORE likely that something we humans are doing, is causing it)----and, I feel that it's quite possible that one of the reasons some Aspies don't believe in God, is because He's the easiest "thing", to blame, and it gives them an answer, and they feel SOMEBODY needs to pay, for how badly they've struggled, and so-forth. Do you feel, however, that you're the ONLY one who has struggled / struggled as badly as you, with Autism? If not, why can some of us believe in God (myself, included), and some of us, NOT?

I'm thinking one of the reasons why some of us don't believe, is because "the answers" the believers of us feel we have, and have accepted, just aren't enough for the NON-believers, of us----and, I can't help but wonder why some things are more easily accepted, than others (for instance, things we can't see - like radio waves or atoms, etc.), just because someone TOLD us, they exist. Well, as far as I and others are concerned, someone told us God exists (the authors of the Bible).

Also, I feel the reason these people you know seem to be "charmed", is because they believe with their whole heart and soul, that things will work-out / that God is looking-after them----and, IMO, it's quite possible that the reason you could pray yourself, simple, and still not get any results, is because you're not really, genuinely believing with your whole heart and soul, that you WILL.

I've been-through ALOT of things in my life, that I feel most would think are pretty bad (NON-Aspie things), and the more bad stuff happens in my life, the more I believe in God. Why would I believe that, when that seems so illogical? Because I don't take it that things are happening TO me (I just feel that they're things I'm witnessing)----and, because I dig deeper, and am not one of those people whom I feel are taking the easy way out, by blaming God. I look to "Was it something *I* did, that made this happen?"----"Was it something hormonal / neurological / psychological / whatever?"----"Was it something environmental?"----"Was it merely because that person is an idiot, that that happened?".....

Not only can absolutely EVERYTHING NOT be answered (even believers in God, will, most likely, IMO, tell you that), but I believe that it's quite possible that we, the human race, haven't even BEGUN to know what to ASK!! What about things for which scientists haven't, yet, assigned a name / equation----do you believe things like that, exist? For us, believers in God, pretty much everything has been answered----we just need to figure-out, sometimes, what it means; but, we can accept that we might not ever be able to that, and be okay with that.

***********************************

In response to the OP: What "makes sense" is subjective, is it not? A great shortcoming, IMO, of some Aspies----a GREAT shortcoming----is that some of us always want life all wrapped-up in a pretty little package, tied-up with a bow, and life just isn't, often, like that; and, the sooner we see the logic in THAT, the better-off we'll be, IMO.

So, would you say that the original question I asked is indicative of this mentality? I just hate the idea of faith because there is no evidence for it and you risk harm by not knowing what's going to happen next.