Are most people with Asperger's Atheists?

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Not much research has been done. But this research suggests, it a problem in thinking teologically. It suggests that people with Aspergers have a problem assigning purpose to events in their life; a requirement for the kind of beliefs associated with most religions. If there is a biological basis in this, perhaps some people with Aspergers don't have the abilities required to fully participate in religion.

Interesting question; it could apply to some people with Aspergers, but not likely all people with Aspergers. Since Aspergers is part of a spectrum and symptoms vary in severity, it could be that some have partial ability to think teologically and some have very little ability to think teologically.

Here is the link and an excerpt follows:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=people-with-aspergers-less-likely-t-2010-05-29

I'd call myself an anti-theist, a term coined by Christopher Hitchens. I don't just not believe in God, I don't want there to be one either. Being watched by an omnipotent being 24/7 who won't even leave you alone after you died would be worse than any Orwellian dystopia you could think of.

Since we haven't discovered everything about our origins yet, a case for agnosticism can be made. I don't fault people for believing in God, I fault those who pretend to know what He wants from us, ie. those who practice organized religion. Believing in God is one thing, following some outlandish desert cult that has been completely debunked by science and rationale is an entirely different matter. Unless of course you seriously believe the earth is only 6000 years old, we are made from dirt, and there really was a worldwide flood about 4000(?) years ago which, strangely enough, the Egyptians (among others) took no notice of.

If there are imbeciles willing to believe even ridiculous nonsense like that, you can only conclude that Christianity was created too early. Knowing what we know today, one could create a religion even more effective in conning the old and senile out of the college money for their grandchildren.

Well now I know why my mother is confusing as hell when she claims god had a hand in anything. She is extremely teleological and invokes god for just about everything, and I don't instinctively blame things on supernatural forces.

You seem to be conflating "organised religion" and "fundementalist Christianity".

When I first read that article a thousand confounding memories came to mind. Earliest memories of church and sensing I wasn't getting the same thing out of this as everyone else. Am I human like they are? The constant mental literal images when people stated things like just put in God's hands (then me imagining a huge set of hands and wondering how I could fit a life issue in a huge set of hands).

I kept thinking one day I would be able to do what they were talking about; now I understand why it may have been easier for other people; and why I just couldn't get it.

And for those in all those other non-religious countries; they apply the same purpose to other areas of their life, and I don't doubt they get the same instrinsic rewards as the people get with the practice of religion. And when I speak of intrinsic rewards, Science is now providing evidence that it is a real phenomenon in the brain that can be measured.

It takes a little humility, to accept the fact that others may possess something good that one does not have and cannot have. It's not other people's fault if I can't experience what they can. And if this is truly the difference, some Atheists may never understand those other people that see this "illogical" purpose, whether it is "American Idol" or Church on Sunday.

Oh, I tried really hard to be religious when I was young, and I took religion very literally. However, it only lasted about as long as it took to determine that it had no real results. I never had any numinous experiences and "God's" hand was never apparent in any way. I got into it really intensely - as intensely as any interest - and then got back out just as quickly.

I don't particularly blame anyone. Actually, this is really fascinating to me - that NTs assign motivations and intentions to everything to various degrees around them. Other people, okay, that's expected but then it gets down to illness, the weather, etc. And they can derive stories from the interactions of objects. I don't really regret not having this because I have no idea what it would be like to have it, and I can't relate to it. I am sure it is a good thing for them, but it doesn't do anything for me.

Thank you for sharing that article, though. It really is fascinating.

Your welcome; the two things that I had the most problem understanding was the College Football Quarterback pointing to the sky after the touchdown pass, and the explanation of human suffering as Evil as a result of a Hurricane or Tornado. As I remember, the Quarterback was an Oxford Scholar. I always thought there had to be something going on other than logic.

Autism as been analogized as a puzzle, but the world around a person with Autism can truly be a puzzle with missing pieces, depending on how they experience Autism.

Every time I read something like this I realize more just how much I was unaware of. I am still not even really aware of it as such, but rather aware that it happens (if that distinction makes sense).

I asked a friend about this and she said that for her, the idea that everything she has experienced has no purpose is a horrible thought to her. To me, the idea of no purpose is reasonable. The idea that it all had a purpose actually strikes me as sadistic.

Since, I've been on this site, and have heard people talk about their experiences in life, I find that some of the things I have been able to imagine and perceive in life, are just as foreign to others.

An example that comes to mind, that I guess is associated with tactile senstivity, was the ability to imagine what it would feel like to scrape my teeth on a chalkboard when I was in school. Someone else brought it up in a discussion, and I asked several people I knew if they had imagined it or could imagine how it would feel, and the first thing they said is why would you think about such a thing, and the second thing they said is they couldn't imagine how that would feel no matter how hard they tried. I haven't seen a chalkboard up close in almost 30 years and can imagine it like it was yesterday, but only when I consciously try to imagine it.

The thing though is I could imagine the feel of the sand under my feet, the sensation of an ocean wave, and a thousand other pleasant sensations at will without being at the location. On the other hand I can't stand to touch anything with texture, it's overwhelming. While I understood that not being able to stand to touch textures was abnormal, I didn't realize all those good perceptions of sensations were unusual too, until I thought to ask others just recently if they've ever experienced those kind of sensations at conscious will.

I tried marijuana when I was young, and to find out what this getting high thing was about, and found my abilities to experience those pleasant sensations, dissappeared. The only thing I could think was, why would anyone want to smoke this and lose those sensations.

As I look back at my life, I think whatever emotions I had were crowded out by tactile sensations, both real and imagined.

I've always been a pantheist at heart, but maybe that's why, being actually physically connected to the world, not by emotion but by overwhelming sensation. The world seemed like a living thing to me.

Now as I grow older I am uncomfortably aware of the changing tactile sensations in my body, drowning out much of tactile pleasures I use to experience.

Maybe some are more connected by emotion and purpose and others are more connected by sensation; just speculation based on my own personal experience.

For the record, I can imagine it and I do not like it. It's probably only been about 8 years since I last saw a chalkboard, however.



I can imagine these things too. I can visualize just about any place I have been and imagine some places I have not, and fill them with full sensory experiences (textures, smells, sounds).

I can handle some textures, more than I could handle when I was in school. I remember this blanket that was horrible and painful to the touch and cutting the tags out of my clothes, and refusing to wear denim.

But I have definitely experienced good ones and can experience them at will.



I do not like what marijuana does to my brain. It completely disrupts everything.



That's an interesting speculation. I wish I could add something to it. I am not particular pantheistic, but a lot of things (objects) have seemed alive to me in a way I suspect is pretty atypical for most, but not uncommon among autistic people.

I remember looking up synesthesia that involves seeing objects as alive and I thought it didn't apply to me because the descriptions I read gave the objects personalities, lives, thoughts, etc. and that is not at all how I experience it.

Would make sense, as a general descriptor of Aspies involves them being "overly"-logical.

Same here, no personalities, individual lives, or thoughts, just intense, and for the most part, pleasant sensory experiences, of the world outside of me that made it all seem very alive. Perhaps it is inseparably associated with attention to detail. I don't feel it anymore and miss it; if those feelings are associated with being Autistic and typically most people don't experience them, it is quite possible that while we are missing out on the purpose experience, some others are missing out on the sensation/memory experience.

Maybe it has something to do with an extreme senstivity to Dopamine, but quite often people asked me why I was content and seemingly so happy for no reason. I may have been experiencing a party of sensation that they weren't.

I'm autistic and I'm Mormon...booyah!

Well, if you want to put it like that, then maybe I'm an atheist. I subscribe to my own "unicorn" theory as well, so it sounds like we're speaking of the same thing. I can't prove that unicorns don't exist, but I can believe in the probability that they don't exist. I find it highly probable that religion is entirely a man-made concept. I put more faith in what is provable by science, rather than what is believable through blind faith.

That said, I respect those that have religion and believe in God. I just I find that I don't share that belief.

I place myself in the agnostic category because I can't prove that God does or does not exist. I'm fine without knowing.

Some forms of Atheism are a kind of programmed belief to deny the existence of supernatural beings and the projection of worship of such beings as ignorant.

Logic dictates that if a supernatural being (or beings) exist they would be pretty shallow to expect tributes or sacrifices all the time unless there is a trade or something in the transaction that the worshiper derives benefit and so to the "god".

Therefore it is better to say we;
a) believe in beings, spirits or gods and pay them due respect in some form at some time;
b) acknowledge their existence but can't be bothered paying them any heed;
c) Don't acknowledge they exist but respect others need to worship them and finally;
d) Don't acknowledge they exist and in addition deny the legitimacy of others worshiping.

I think I fall into b) and c) mainly but occasionally try a) for insurance purposes.

I am a Christian, but I wasn't raised that way. I haven't been to Church since I was 6. My parents don't believe in any sort of God and neither do my brothers. So why do I? Simply because I have been saved from death several times. There is literally no reason (that I can think of) for my survival, other than God has greater plans for me. Even to this day there are things I can't explain, no matter how hard I think about it. But most Christian's probably wouldn't accept me as I tend to have somewhat "radical" opinions.

I also have friends who are athiest/agnostic, but that doesn't bother me. So what if they don't believe in God like I do?

Anyway, yes I am Christian, yes I believe there is a God, and no, I won't judge you if you don't hold the same personal beliefs that I do.