Is it common for people with Asperger's to become atheist?

[oskarandri]

I really don't know what else to say in this, share your thoughts with this thread

 

[GhettoButterFly]

I am a Christian but to be more specific on my domination, I am a Baptist (not Southern Baptist though). In my opinion, I noticed the Asperger's community seems to be atheist. It is hard to find fellowship with my fellow Brothers and Sisters in the community.

Then again I hadn't found much religious diversity in the Asperger's community. Maybe I am not looking hard enough though. :S

I don't want to go off topic more than I already have. So I guess I'll leave this thread to the thinkers and the "experts".

 

[. . .]

There seem to be very few religious people in the Asperger's community. The vast majority are atheist or agnostic. But I've noticed that, with the exception of Christian forums, forums in general seem to be comprised mostly of atheist/agnostic users. Why? I'm not sure . . .

I'm personally a former Lutheran Christian who now identifies himself as being agnostic. I decided to label myself as being agnostic since I don't truly know if there's a god or not. I also have difficulty telling other people that they're wrong and that I'm right. I feel that I must try to be neutral.

This world is a very diverse place and people have differing opinions. I find it wrong how everyone around me in this predominantly Christian town condemns people of other faiths and opinions and even of people of different Christian denominations than themselves. It isn't fair. I decided that it would be best to have a more neutral stance on religion and simply say "I don't know if there's a god or not". I think that if there is a god that I won't be punished for at least opening up the possibility of it existing . . . right (I hope )?

Opening my mind up to everything without adhering to any particular religion is ideal for me. I find it impossible to identify myself as being either an atheist or religious since I don't know what exists and what doesn't. I stick to agnosticism which I like because it doesn't anger religious people and doesn't anger atheists. It's neutral and doesn't offend/anger anyone.

That's all.

 

[BruceCM]

Well, I'm a Christian & I do, therefore, think other beliefs are, bluntly, wrong. That isn't condemning anybody & I strongly disagree with supposed Christians who do that. I at least try to respect others' right to different opinions about most things, as well. Unfortunately, I also have to disagree with agnostics. OK, we can't know there is a God, that's why it's called faith or belief. You don't say 'I believe 2+2=4', usually, do you? You know that for certain, right? There's plenty of other things, however, that we can't know for sure, though & there's reasons to believe there is a God. Whether you think those are good enough is a different issue altogether

 

[Spinning Compass]

I was brought up to believe in God--in fact, I was given no choice in the matter, it was go to church or get spanked. They kept talking at church about a Jesus who loves me, but this Jesus didn't seem to be anywhere around when I was getting teased and harassed.

Had an argument with my brother when I was about 7 and he was 6, regarding a fantasy world that up to that point I thought we mutually shared. He kept insisting it was one way and I kept insisting that it was another way. We argued and argued until a thought popped into my head (most likely put there by Satan), "Is this what grownups do when they argue about religion?" Though I kept my mouth shut and thoughts like this to myself, the doubts continued.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I consider myself agnostic. I have no desire to get into a religious argument with anyone; but I suspect that a lot of us with ASD's are agnostic because of our life experiences. We can't swallow the pablum that passes for a lot of Christian thinking.

 

[jaws]

I have read that it is because of our concrete thinking. Most religious beliefs require the understanding of complex analogies and "faith". That is a difficult thing for most aspies to comprehend. Basically I think most of us are not set to a belief if someone can just show us factual concrete evidence. I like to mess with my Southern Baptist family members by telling them I'm a Taoist or Gnostic Christian. I greatly enjoy archeology and I like to read about other religions...I look for the commonality of them and am always baffled by the needs to argue such petty differences that after studying most religions are not the primary point of the teachings. I am under the belief that we all originated from the same basic place and find it interesting that as we dispersed we developed different beliefs about our existence and origins.

 

[142857]

Atheists and agnostics seem to be in the majority among aspies.

I do not believe in God, and I identify as atheist. I stopped believing in God around about the same time I stopped believing in Santa Claus, and I didn't even find out what an atheist was until years later. I was in my mid to late teens before I realized that most adults really did believe in God (I had thought that everyone was faking it).

 

[oskarandri]

When you don't believe in god but you believe in something else means your an nontheist, atheist is someone who just believes in natural matter.

 

[. . .]

I was in my mid to late teens before I realized that most adults really did believe in God (I had thought that everyone was faking it).

To be honest, I also remember being four years old or so and thinking that people were faking it. I just viewed church as being a custom of sorts. I viewed Christianity as being a sort of fairy tale for adults (seriously), especially when I learned about all the monsters in Revelation.

 

[jbmv]

I was raised Roman Catholic, and also Ukrainian Catholic and I hated giong to church. I liked the social activited ,but felt the relidion part was like a fantasy world. I raised my children in the catholic church but when they began question things we all became atheist.

 

[Spinning Compass]

I agree with jaws about concrete thinking. I am a very much see it to believe it person, although I am capable of creating and enjoying fantasies. But when someone tries to tell me that fantasy is reality . . . ? I used to get lectured a lot about facing reality, then the same people who berated me for living in a fantasy world tried to tell me about an invisible world full of invisible spirits and improbable happenings that only a very lucky few got to see or experience, and that was supposedly reality.

What gets me, is if God and all that jazz is real, then why do so many parents use punishment or the threat of punishment to make their children believe in Him/Her/It? I never once heard anyone tell their children, "You will believe in Santa Claus, or the Easter Bunny or else!" But I have heard people say, "My child will believe in God or else!" That tells me that what is being peddled isn't so benign or there wouldn't be such resistance to it. The Tooth Fairy, that's a fun game. You don't have to twist a child's arm to get him or her to participate.

Could it be that the little ones somehow sense the dark secret that is at the heart of Christianity--that behind all the pretty talk about Jesus loving the little children the truth is he came to die a brutal death because otherwise humans are by default destined to hell and that there is a malign being that will do anything to make sure they go there? This isn't fun. This is scary.

 

[Nathan]

I'm a proud Christian but I'm skeptical of mainstream Christian beliefs, like the charismatic movement and the "future return of Christ" (especially when they say He's going to come before the tribulation). In fact, I'm a preterist, one who believes most or all of the end-times prophecies were fulfilled by the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70.

 

[juffur]

I'm an atheist and Richard Dawkins is my hero.

 

[katcha]

How do you know anything? How do you know you're not hallucinating?

All the science you know? have you personally tested it? Or read it from books you "trust"?

How much of your knowledge comes from personal experience, and how much of it comes from school and you trusting the material?

The truth is, all beliefs are "religion". It's not possible for a human being to truly "know" anything.

I'm agnostic by the way. The true scientific belief! (science is a religion as well!).

I'm sure people will disagree with what I've wrote. It's only natural.

 

[superboyian]

As I was raised up to be a Christian and always have been one since I do believe in god but I for some reason don't see it as a religion though.

Never really gotten deep into it though when I was younger as I pretty much didn't have much clue and everything, I would have troubles even paying attention to some detail.

Despite I've started looking more deep into it even as far as discovering things for myself.

The bible tells you whats the truth and whats not, but the only problem with that is that there are different versions of the english bible, and another problem that I've also discovered is that reading some of them just doesn't quite feel so right.

Now Science personally ain't a religion but that's just personal view of it though so I do disagree with some of the things katcha said apart from the personal experience part which I do tend to agree on.

But then again, every person has their own opinion and views on their way of life.

 

[gonzerd]

Goddamn, just wrote a whole post with many many sentences and believe it or not, even more words, but then something went wrong and now it's all gone. Must be the lord's way to tell me to put some music on instead.

 

[ajoycew]

I have always had a hard time accepting religion as it has been taught to me. My family is Christian...Penicostil Holiness to be exact. I probably spelled that wrong but you get the point. I just don't get it. The bible is so confusing to me I can't read more than 3 short chapters without putting it down and feeling a headache coming on. I get mad at myself because my upbringing nags at me. There is just so much I don't understand. For instance...there are so many different denominations. Christians believe theirs is the only "right" one and I'm sure the others feel the same way about their beliefs. Ok...so if they are the only "right" ones, why are they the only ones that get into the great heaven??? What happens to everyone else that lives strongly to their religion, why can't they make it because they believe differently. The bible is so contradictory. You can argue any point you want for either side and find rightness in it in the bible. Also, the bible was written originaly in Hebrew I think and translated. You have an old testimate and a new. How do we really know if it's really original material. It was written in times where women were pretty much nothing. We were put here only to please our man and carry and raise children. How is that right?? There is a lot I don't understand. And if God created the Earth in 7 days back in whenever it was, why is there scientific proof that the Earth has been here for much longer than when God was supposed to create it. There is a lot more I don't understand. My mom and I have had several conversations about the way I feel about it. She says I'm not supposed to question God and the bible. How can I not question? I just don't get it. How can I believe in something so strongly to live my whole life by it when I don't understand the point in it. I do believe that religion is good. If there was no religion the world would probably be a terrible place. Most people believe there will be "hell to pay" if they are bad so this creates a more structured environment. There are people who do terrible things but if there was no religion there wouldn't be many good people. People would act as they pleased and not worry about consiquences for it. So I believe religion is good. It's just not for me. My mom told me it's a miracle from God that I survived when I was a baby and I have a purpose in life. I was born with a bad birth defect but you can't tell it now. I am thankful for that. But I don't know if I consider it a miracle. I was a guinie pig when I was a baby and had 6 operations on my face and mouth. Not like I woke up one morning and was perfectly fine. Luckily my boyfriend agrees with me on this. He is into scientology and proof of things.

 

[Droopy]

And if God created the Earth in 7 days back in whenever it was, why is there scientific proof that the Earth has been here for much longer than when God was supposed to create it.

I don't think anyone really knows how old the earth is. I'm not an expert in science I admit but I just can't see how these scientists can tell how old something is without being there (or knowing of someone who was) when the said thing was created. I was actually watching a program about this a while back (forget the name but it was on BBC) and it explored scientists throughout the ages trying to figure out how old the earth was. Some of them were way off in their predicitions.

So personally, I take any science with a pinch of salt (as the saying goes) given it is always changing and correcting istelf.

@Gonzerd That would have made an interesting read. Care to type it up again?

 

[ajoycew]

I understand what you are saying, Calvert. Maybe it's all the different date stamps that throw me on that. But aren't they disproving a lot of biblical stuff? Like Noah's Arc? Was it really an all over the world flood? I have went to church to try to understand better. It really drains me for some reason. I do believe that their is a higher power. I do believe in fate. But I just don't know about the truth as I've been taught it. I don't understand. Maybe some day I will.

 

[katcha]

I understand what you are saying, Calvert. Maybe it's all the different date stamps that throw me on that. But aren't they disproving a lot of biblical stuff? Like Noah's Arc? Was it really an all over the world flood? I have went to church to try to understand better. It really drains me for some reason. I do believe that their is a higher power. I do believe in fate. But I just don't know about the truth as I've been taught it. I don't understand. Maybe some day I will.

It's not really possible to disprove anything in the bible as the bible did not include a guide to explain how context should be applied to the various statements and stories. How one read's the bible and it's meaning will be largely interpretive via the individual. Noah's flood for example was a real world event, albeit a localised one and the people who witnessed it would have seen their "World" flooding. Likewise, they more than likely would have tried to rescue some of their domesticated animals, which would have included all the "known" animals.

The thing about the bible people should realise is that it's purpose isn't to describe how the world works. It's purpose is to describe a way of life and a list of rules. You will not end up in hell for believing the world wasn't created in 7 days. (Context again, "day" could mean anything. 23 hours 56 minutes, 24 hours, the period of time where the lord abides, any other non-specific period of time.)

You'll end up in hell for intentionally and purposely breaking the moral code that the book describes. And as far as things go, I think it's a pretty good moral code.