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

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CuriousButDepressed
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26 Jul 2017, 9:27 am

I ask this because I grew up in a relatively secular household that placed little emphasis on religious traditions. While the rest of my family didn't take it very seriously, I was the most opposed to any of it. I'd reject the rules on the grounds of them not being logical and would refuse to participate in holidays unless I found them fun. I hated the idea that the rules demanded faith instead of evidence and wanted everything to have a practical, logical reason behind it.

I asked if this was related to being an Aspie as they tend to prefer things that make sense and don't quite understand the social value of behaviors that don't have an apparent logical reason.



StampySquiddyFan
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26 Jul 2017, 9:31 am

It could be an Aspie thing; or it could just be a normal thing. I know people who have an ASD who are the complete opposite- they have a special interest in religion and theology and love learning about it. So, in my opinion, it could be because of ASD, but it's not a definite trait.


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kraftiekortie
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26 Jul 2017, 9:38 am

You have Aspies who are staunch atheists. You have Aspies who believe 100% in God, and can't understand why another person doesn't have the same degree of faith.

What might make Aspies less "religious than average" in a general sense is their reliance on logic and science over something which they regard as vague and lacking proof: the belief in a Supreme Being who is not tangibly present.



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26 Jul 2017, 9:43 am

StampySquiddyFan wrote:
It could be an Aspie thing; or it could just be a normal thing. I know people who have an ASD who are the complete opposite- they have a special interest in religion and theology and love learning about it. So, in my opinion, it could be because of ASD, but it's not a definite trait.


Having a passion to learn about religion and theology has nothing to do with being religious yourself.

You might be religious, or you might not be. Like having a passion to collect butterflies doesn't make you a butterfly.



CuriousButDepressed
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26 Jul 2017, 9:45 am

Well for context, I would be considered an agnostic atheist, since I do not believe in a God due to a lack of evidence, but admit that I currently do not know whether or not such a concept could exist. I simply refuse to believe in an idea that has no evidence, because I see that as potentially dangerous.



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26 Jul 2017, 9:54 am

If you hang out at the Wrong Planet "Politics Philosophy Religion" subforum you would get the impression that aspies are disproportionately atheists. And further that the minority who aren't atheists are all militant Fundamentalists.

All or nothing.

And that may not be a totally inaccurate representation of the aspie population.

Maybe aspies like it cut and dry. Either follow strict logic and eschew namby pamby ghost in the machine type stuff and be atheists, or they follow scripture to the literal letter. Not saying that I'm like that, or whether its good or bad.

Just sayin' ,and just guessin'.



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26 Jul 2017, 9:59 am

naturalplastic wrote:
StampySquiddyFan wrote:
It could be an Aspie thing; or it could just be a normal thing. I know people who have an ASD who are the complete opposite- they have a special interest in religion and theology and love learning about it. So, in my opinion, it could be because of ASD, but it's not a definite trait.


Having a passion to learn about religion and theology has nothing to do with being religious yourself.

You might be religious, or you might not be. Like having a passion to collect butterflies doesn't make you a butterfly.


Oh right, of course. The people I am referring to actually are religious themselves.


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CuriousButDepressed
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26 Jul 2017, 10:00 am

naturalplastic wrote:
If you hang out at the Wrong Planet "Politics Philosophy Religion" subforum you would get the impression that aspies are disproportionately atheists. And further that the minority who aren't atheists are all militant Fundamentalists.

All or nothing.

And that may not be a totally inaccurate representation of the aspie population.

Maybe aspies like it cut and dry. Either follow strict logic and eschew namby pamby ghost in the machine type stuff and be atheists, or they follow scripture to the literal letter. Not saying that I'm like that, or whether its good or bad.

Just sayin' ,and just guessin'.


Well, is my view all-or-nothing in your opinion? As I said, I'm an agnostic atheist who does not believe in God because there is no proof, but I still admit I am not entirely sure if the existence of a God is possible/impossible due to the subjectivity of the issue.



naturalplastic
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26 Jul 2017, 10:14 am

CuriousButDepressed wrote:
naturalplastic wrote:
If you hang out at the Wrong Planet "Politics Philosophy Religion" subforum you would get the impression that aspies are disproportionately atheists. And further that the minority who aren't atheists are all militant Fundamentalists.

All or nothing.

And that may not be a totally inaccurate representation of the aspie population.

Maybe aspies like it cut and dry. Either follow strict logic and eschew namby pamby ghost in the machine type stuff and be atheists, or they follow scripture to the literal letter. Not saying that I'm like that, or whether its good or bad.

Just sayin' ,and just guessin'.


Well, is my view all-or-nothing in your opinion? As I said, I'm an agnostic atheist who does not believe in God because there is no proof, but I still admit I am not entirely sure if the existence of a God is possible/impossible due to the subjectivity of the issue.


I was speaking of a statistical average of the whole population. Not any particular individual.

But I would say that anyone who puts "agnostic" into their self described creed (either agnostic theist, or agnostic atheist) is not "all or nothing". And is open minded to nuance.

Maybe I am just being swayed by the folks who make the most noise on the PPR which are the militant atheist and the militant Fundies. Both groups are rather black-and-white. Could be the both groups are smaller than they seem because of how much noise they make.



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26 Jul 2017, 10:16 am

^^Your view is similar to my view--except my view is less skeptical about the non-existence of a supreme beings as yours.

All or nothing? It'd be absolutely "all or nothing" if you, say, advocated the death of anybody who didn't believe precisely as you believe.

I don't believe our viewpoint is "all or nothing" at all, actually.



CuriousButDepressed
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26 Jul 2017, 10:18 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
^^Your view is similar to my view--except my view is less skeptical about the non-existence of a supreme beings as yours.

All or nothing? It'd be absolutely "all or nothing" if you, say, advocated the death of anybody who didn't believe precisely as you believe.

I don't believe our viewpoint is "all or nothing" at all, actually.


I just don't like to commit to anything without evidence, hence why I wonder if the idea of a "divine being" is possible, since the definition is very subjective and varies from person to person. Of course I don't believe in that idea, as there's no proof.



kraftiekortie
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26 Jul 2017, 10:50 am

That's the very definition of "non-all-or-nothing."

If it's "all-or-nothing," you'd absolutely believe in God, or you'd absolutely not believe in God.

You're in the "in-between" zone when it comes to this.



anti_gone
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26 Jul 2017, 11:48 am

Personally, I don't believe in God or any higher being...



EverythingAndNothing
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26 Jul 2017, 11:55 am

I'm definitely on the staunch atheist side.

A few years ago I was going through a tough time and a Christian family took me in with the intent to convert me.

And while I certainly appreciated their help, things did not end well.

I suppose, from their perspective, I was a lost cause.



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26 Jul 2017, 12:52 pm

I'm an atheist. There's no such thing as god or religion. I hate where I live since it's in the Bible Belt area of the country since more people are Christains. And god didn't create the world, you, me, or anything else. It just happened. Our parents had sex in a bed somewhere and your gender is identified by your Dad. Not God. The only thing that I think is true about the bible is that Jesus was a real person. That's it.



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26 Jul 2017, 12:55 pm

I am not religious and never have been, although I do enjoy the holidays. That tends to be the majority of Aspies in my experience.

Those of us who are religious tend to be of one of two types. On the one hand, you have those who make up their own religion. I know someone on the spectrum best described as a Catholic Pagan if that makes any sense. On the other hand, some of us become the worst kind of religious fundamentalist zealot. Fundie minded religion appeals to some of the worst parts of Autism, such as a narrow minded rigid mindset, inflexibility in our thinking, and a view of absolutes.