Religion (or lack thereof) and Autism/Asperger's?

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I am Agnostic.

Spiritual, not religious.

Raised Catholic but quickly realized I had major philosophical issues with it - by age 8. I don't lend much creedance to 'worshipping' as the concept is too narcissitic for me.

Wait wait wait who is finding that the bibles information is accurate? I don't really care but the bible wasn't written for a long time after the messaiah visited, plus in Rome the priest would not teach anyone Latin th language the bible was in, they would simply ask for money and support in order for them to read from it.

Ohhhhh right atheist here. I concur with the idea that there are more aspies that are atheist because of the scientific fact and religion being emotion faith based

Actually, most of the Bible was written long before Jesus. What Christians call the Old Testament, and for Jews is the whole of the Bible. That was written before Jesus.

And the use of "scientific proof" leads to think Coldkick isn't talking about passages where the future is foretold, but rather the biblical view of the world, and maybe miracles, and such.

I don't agree with Coldkick, but, still, while, yes, the New Testament was written after the events it talks about, still, the majority of the Bible was written before that.

The NT writers didn't waste time, either, though. All of the gospels and all of the epistles leave out a VERY important event that was absolutely catastrophic to the Hebrew religion and certainly impacted Christianity: The destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. This really isn't a problem for John, who most think wrote much later, but it is an undeniable fact that somehow the gospel and epistle writers seem to ignore the most significant event in their lives. They wouldn't have done that, so we can easily conclude that most, if not all, of the NT was written by the AD 60s. And that puts the events less than 40 years away from the documentation. That is an extremely rare quality for any ancient text, and we know that reporting close to the events generally means better reporting accuracy. The gospels are really collections of eyewitness accounts, not all necessarily as seen by the writer but as told by those present when the events recorded happened. These books weren't assembled into one collection until the 100s, but they were widely distributed and regularly used. There's really no question about accuracy nor canonicity regarding the gospels. The letters frame Christian theology as the first Christians understood the teachings of Christ. The early church found them important enough to recopy and forward to other congregations, all occurring before the destruction of the Temple.

I've only found ONE real difficulty with the OT, and that is a very minor discrepancy with the rule of two kings. Considering that the OT in its entirety is a pretty big collection and the oldest and best manuscripts have repeatedly shown that the sources we use for Bible translations are highly accurate, one insignificant detail that has nothing to do with theology isn't really going to make any difference.

I don't think that I could answer any of the following, because if I'm anything, I think I lean closer to Deism, though I don't claim a religion of any sort..

One of my old obsessions was the Bible. I read all of it, but I grew a much deeper fascination with the Old Testament, because the Old Testament is pretty much like reading a history book to me. One of the Bibles I read even had timelines of specific events in the OT like it was a History book, so I mainly read that section of the Bible. History was one of my major obsessions growing up, so after I read encyclopedias, I read the Bible. I could tell my parents were scriptures were and everything. Probably knew the Bible more-so than my parents. However, I was mad when I always saw people talk about the gospels & the New Testament, and could and did care less about the Old Testament. Why? Because of Jesus. I started to have a 'falling out' with this particular obsession after being failed to be protected from a traumatic event that I went through in Middle School. I was told Jesus would be there for me to protect & guide me. I couldn't deal with the inconsistency of what people were telling me of Jesus' omnipresence, and it started going downhill from there. My parents started to get mad at me when I lost interest and another obsession replaced that one. But I wonder if they realize if my ASD was always there (PDD-NOS) at the time. Which obviously, is a no....

Do I believe there is a God? Yes. Do I think he manifests of every event that takes place on as Christians do? No. I think he made us, and left us here to figure own how to make on earth on our own. You see some 'Christians' that rejoice when things go right, but blame and hate God when life starts to look bleak for them. Some call themselves Christians to keep the 'Bible Thumpers' out of their lives. Granted, some Christians praise God and live Godly standards no matter what. Some choose to put their faith in God, Some don't believe in God at all. I don't place my faith/trust where things are too inconsistent. I'd be better off handling life's struggles by my lonesome. That was my problem growing up, that I was too naive and trustworthy with people in general, and still fall victim to it if my guard is down. Maybe that's why I was so passionate of looking up sports stats, and history growing up. It's consistent, and it never changes. They only thing that can change are people's perceptions......

Science was somewhat easy for me in grade school, but I don't see the logic reasoning in certain issues, especially if certain theories change and you have to re-write rules in certain areas. But that is just me.....

(I'm not trying to offend, just offering my opinion....)

I'm atheist. Of course, a god could well exist, as any atheist who bases their opinions on logic/science must admit without being hypocritical (atheists who insist there is 0% chance a god could exist are the ones who are just as faith-based as religious people).

But I base my opinion on the fact that there is no evidence of a god, and so many different (yet often similar) religious traditions arising from many cultures all over the world seems to indicate it's more a cultural thing than a supernatural thing. Also, because I take the epistemological stance that I won't positively believe in something without evidence, even if there is a plausible mechanism - a plausible mechanism or explanation or whatever would give more weight to the idea that something exists, but it isn't sufficient.

I hope that there is some kind of afterlife/continuation of consciousness, though I haven't seen evidence to suggest this is so. That's why I can't think about it too much or I get obsessed about it and that would be life-ruining. So I do think I need some kind of spirituality/ritual, just to keep myself from being preoccupied over the inevitability of my own mortality, and I fully understand why people would still maintain a religious belief even when they are intelligent and well-educated and supportive of science/reason. Many (most?) people just would have a hard time facing the possibility of consciousness just...ending. I can't really face it myself - I think I'm more hardwired for religiousity than for strict logical processing.

I think they did a study where autistic people were more likely to justify their opinion (whether religious, atheist, or agnostic) based on facts and reasoning than NT controls - I don't recall whether there were more atheists in the AS group, but AS atheists demonstrated a more logically-based justification than NT atheists, on average. Correct me if I've remembered that incorrectly.

The poll is invalid because it omits a category for "Other" and the following:

[X] I am NOT religious, but attend religious services/meetings on a regular basis.

A common sentiment from many of the prominent atheistic figures in modern society:

"Every believer is an atheist in relation to every other god but their own. I simply take it one god further."

It is the height of arrogant self-centrism to believe that yours is the only true religion - everyone else thinks the exact same thing. You can't all be right. If you were born in China, you'd likely be a Buddhist or Hindu, just as if you were born in 2nd century Japan, you'd probably be a follower of the Shinto faith. Belief based on a "he said, she said" idea is all we ever have, as no religious institution has ever provided verifiable proof for any of their claims, relaying all questions at some point to either "faith" or "that's just what I believe", which proves nothing at all. "Personal revelations" are equally unconvincing. It all comes down to a hierarchical passing down of tradition to one's own progeny, and attempting to force this same belief system on one's neighbors. This is how religious prevail (or die, see Greek/Roman/Norse/Native American/Etc) - they are like a virus. Spread, replicate, propagate.

Honest atheism is not a belief system, it is a rejection of a lack of basing oneself in reality - a life of blind belief and superstition with self-reinforcing behaviors. Any atheist worth their salt is going to question each and every claim you make, examine it for verifiable validity (for which, if you are making a sweeping religious claim, you will have no evidence other than hearsay and illogic), and likely reject anything they find lacking. This is why atheism is generally rooted in a firm foundation of scientific knowledge and honest inquiry - evidence is not taken at face value; any claim you make must stand up to a rigorous, open, and honest verification process.

I find "religious morality" lacking as well, as I find no merit in killing of outsiders, slavery, genocide, fratricide, abuse of women, children, and minorities, lack of freedom of speech, thoughtcrime, and a general attitude of hate towards anyone not part of your in-group. These "morals" are applied in gratuitous doses throughout the Bible, Torah, and Qur'an (interesting aside - translate the commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill" properly, from the Hebrew text, and you'll notice "Thou Shalt Not Murder" turning up instead. Murder, in biblical rabbinic law, means the killing of Jews - "Gentiles" i.e. everyone else, do not fall under this precept). Every holy text is littered with in-group morality, and I find moral relativism to be repugnant and "evil".

For the most part, I don't believe in anything other than science. But, that's not to say that I'm not open to the idea of some greater power behind everything. It could be possible; heck, anything is possible except for curing human stupidity. I just don't believe that, if there was a God, it would be anything like what people believe today. All I mean to say is that the thought of a superhuman being behind everything is no different to me than movies such as Men in Black and The Matrix.

And there stands the problem.

Not really true. Monotheism (believe in one god) is prevalent these days, and monotheists don't, in general, consider the "God" of another religion to be a god they don't believe in. Rather, they consider other monotheist religions, like other versions of their own religion, to have incorrect beliefs about God.

Religion was once a major obsession. As a college student I would come home from classes just about every day for 3+ years and spend probably 8 hours a day just studying apologetics (proofs for religion). It reached the stage where I had entire paragraphs and many Verses of Scripture memorized verbatim. Then a few years ago I was at a religious discussion group with some relatives there and, in typical AS fashion, dominated the discussion with fact after fact of endless knowledge and never really gave anybody else a chance to speak. I thought they would be impressed but instead it became obvious in the subsequent couple of years that I had provoked some kind of envy and competition as I heard countless mean spirited comments after that, comparing me with other people and how "oh he doesn't have as much knowledge, but look how much he's helping out in the community", etc. I basically became discouraged by it and stopped studying. It's still ranked among the biggest mistakes of my life =(

I came to realize that sometimes if we have an obvious talent or unusual level of knowledge in something, other people are not necessarily going to encourage you. Most people have insecurities and they feel inferior and want to attack you. So basically I learned to keep myself to myself and not share the things I love with other people. Now I have new special interests and I am not going to let ANYBODY in on them.

Well, you probably recall from Ecclesiastes "For everything there is a season..." For someone with your particular abilities, it's easy to get wrapped up in the "technical" side of what you love and enjoy.

Christians essentially believe that a lot is at stake for a person who does not believe as we do. The point of apologetics is not to "prove" how right we are. The point is to demonstrate the validity of Christian faith in order to encourage the skeptic to come to faith.

I have no problem personally defending the Bible all day long. It's the next crucial step of actual persuasion that I struggle with.

What you have to keep in mind is not everyone has the ability to defend Biblical rationality like you do/did. I fail in the social arena. For me, it's all about music and I'm ok as long as I'm behind a piano. But I'm not "Mr. Personality" and not really fit to lead a worship service--though I'm lately beginning to wonder if that's not on the horizon for me. People who are "charismatic" and great leaders may not be the most knowledgeable despite being great communicators. That's why you're an apologist and not a pastor. Or why you don't visit sick people or evangelize (or whatever). Your gifts are unique and useful--but not "better" than those gifts of others. Your aim should not be to be "better" than everyone else but rather fill the role God has for you. We have to work together. It's not a competition. And with apologetics, you have to avoid making it a game or a competition. Less about winning debates and more about winning souls.

The bottom line is that...












... Christianity is a religion that teaches that God is a bully who threatens people with eternal torment and suffering if they do not believe exactly what He tells them to.

I believe in God. I do not believe that the Bible is 100% literal. If it was, I would have to believe in talking snakes, talking donkeys, water coming out of rocks, and global floods.
I don't attend church much anymore. I belong to a United Methodist congregation, but they are very conservative. I believe the pastor gives incomprehensible sermons, at least to me. I can't stand praise and worship music because it makes me anxious.
I don't embrace atheism, but I can understand how many aspies do embrace it.