Back in the fall of 2008 I spoke at the MIT Brain Science Center in Boston. One of the people at that talk was
Catherine Caldwell Harris, a psychology professor at BU. She asked an interesting question:
Why do you think Asperger people tend to be atheists?
First of all, I had no idea whether or not her premise was even true. Did Asperger people tend to be atheists? I turned the question back to her, and she told me about studies she'd done; exploring the religious views of a large number of people on the spectrum. Within the sample she had interviewed the majority tended to have what she saw as atheist views.
Since that time, I have conducted a sort of informal poll in the course of my travels, and I have to say my numbers look similar to hers. But I don't claim to understand the why of it. . .
After discussing that peculiar observation some more, we both wondered if the people's views were truly atheist, or really "anti-organized-church." The more I listened to Catherine, the more I felt it was the latter case. I thought Asperger people might shy away from organized churches because their dogma ran against our logical grain.
But I recently saw another study postulating the same thing - that people on the autism spectrum are less religious than the general population - but for a totally different reason - a diminished theory of mind.
Are you on the spectrum and religious? Are you an atheist? Are you spiritual, but not part of a church? Or are you a solid churchgoing believer?
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Comments (79)
I have friends with it and they are Christians but don't like to attend church much because people in the church are not always receptive to them or their ways of thinking.
Very interesting post. I can't say as I know many who have apserger's. However, the two I do know both attend church regularly. At a fairly large, though conservative, United Methodist church.
The older of the two, who is now in his Sophomore year in college, didn't believe in God for awhile if I remember right.
However, from what he has told me Obsessive Compulsive Disorders are common with people who have asperger's. In his later junior high years he developed an OCD regarding germs and cleanliness. He would shower more than a dozen times a day and was completely paranoid that he might come across germs. His mother had to quit her job to take care of him, and had to remove all sharp objects that he had access to as he was considering suicide.
However, she found a place that helped him. In there he read Job repeatedly on his own, as well as the counseling he got while in the recovery center, and he became a very strong and committed Christian.
While I don't know if that is the case with many, or anyone else, it is his story and it is inspiring to see how faith in Christ has changed his life.
Thanks for the post, I'm going to recommend it and I'd like to see what others have to say.
I have two aspie boys. One is an avowed atheist, and one believes in God but not adamently religious.I don't think it has anything to do with Theory of Mind or mindblindness. Maybe the reason so many aspies are atheist is because they were so unwelcome in their churchs and synagogues as young children with issues. That would turn anyone off of religion, especially when the so-called religious are anything but Godly.
I have a son who is an Aspie, and although raised in the church, he vacillates between unbelief and mild, but not committed to a church, belief. I'm not sure if it's because the way his mind works, or because of how he has always felt an outsider at most churches. Churches don't generally do a real good job of embracing and accepting those with psychiatric/neurological differences. My other two, neurotypical children are strong believers and are very attached to their churches and church families. All three raised in the same house, same environment...and the Aspie is different as far as church believe/attendance goes, as well as different with many other things, so we kind of accept it as part of who he is.
Funny, I had brought this very thing up with my wife just this week-end. I was thinking about it, and the logical "literal" mind of an Autistic or Asperger's person, especially a child, must have a very hard time with religion.
I mean, a lot of religion is "just trust me" and "have faith"... a lot of it, when you boil it down, is quite contradictory on a very literal sense and the rest is well, intangible.. you just have to have faith, just believe it for the sake of believing it.
I am not Autistic so I can't really say, but in thinking about it, I would imagine it being very hard to be that logic minded and to be religious at the same time. I mean, isn't that what separates religion and science in the first place?
I don't know, I can see how they'd find comfort and safety in God, in religion but I can also see how it would make very little sense to them.
You make it sound bad..............
Atheists are people too its just they have different opinions about God or a lack there of him......
there are stranger things then Atheists out there..................
take the mob for example or people who believe in the invisible pink unicorn or the fly spaghetti monster............
Atheists are the least of your worries.................
Why are they Atheists? because there isnt always safety in God for them or maybe they dont agree with some of Gods laws and some of them dont believe he is even there or some of them believe in other faiths.............
thats pretty much it...............
I wouldnt count to much on polls; after-all G.W. Bush was elected; just saying...................
Don't have much experience with autism, but the question reminded me of this:
http://www.optimnem.co.uk/blog/2006/08/on-being-christian.html
Yeah I'm an aspie and I'm the only one on my family who doesn't believe in God. To me it usually seems to be the Christians who are the least understanding and empathetic with those who don't fit the mold.
I have asperger's syndrome, yet I'm a strong devout Catholic. I don't think having asperger's has much to do with it. Many renowned people in history, such as Thomas Jefferson and Isaac Newton, had aspergers but were very devoted to faith. I have an aspie friend who is the same way. I think it has to do more with how liberal beliefs have plagued society and our educational institutions. People with aspergers tend to study more scientific topics, but sadly get duped in the process by hack professors who teach junk science and atheist indoctrination, and many students take it as gospel. I think the problem is many of these students are never given a chance to learn about God and who he really is, which may stem from the failure of Christian schools.
@lepton@xanga - If you believe Christians are the least understanding and empathetic with those who don't fit the mold, then you seriously need to read up on the Muslim faith. The "Religion of Peace" teaches that women are inferior and must cover themselves up in public at all times or else be violently beaten, stoned, and killed in public. It also teaches that any non-muslim or homosexual among their ilk are stoned to death or have their gentiles cut off or clitorises removed. Oh, I would also like to ask when was the last time you saw Christians behead someone who "didn't fit the mold" in the name of God on live television? The handful of bad Christians don't follow the teachings of Jesus properly. However, the many violent and extreme Muslims are simply following what the Koran tells them.
I don't think atheists are much better at being more understanding and empathetic either. Atheists (not agnostics mind you) are taught to hold people of faith in contempt and regard them as backwards and ignorant bigots who believe in a mythological God. At the same time, evolution hasn't been scientifically proven, yet atheists treat it as gospel and the only way they're able to win that argument is through the judicial system regulating what kids in public schools are taught.
Maybe because Autistic people are very logical and religion is based on a lot of unproved things. I'm not Autistic so I can't be sure, but maybe it's because of that?
@MasqueradeOfDreams@xanga - Evolution, Darwinism, and random selection are unproved, yet atheists still believe that's how life was created on Earth. Also, if you read the writings of John Locke, Thomas Aquinas, and other theologians, you'll find what they write is very logical.
@Chibi_Son_Gokou@xanga - unproved, but there's more support on those theories than on God. But I don't know much about it, I just thought I'd offer what I thought could be a possibility.
@MasqueradeOfDreams@xanga - It may seem like there's more support because it's given in a scientific perspective, but when you closely analyze Darwin's theory and other supporting theories, they fail to explain a number of key things. Not to mention that back when the Origin of Species was written, no one knew what the inside structure of a cell comprised of, nor did they understand the complex design structures of DNA. Darwinism/Evolution is more of a social movement than anything today for radical leftists to try and prove that God doesn't exist and that young children in public schools should agree.
I am a "self-confirmed" Aspie. (Long story to it, though there has been professional suggestion of it, it isn't confirmed by any of them for a whole lot of reasons...) I can't ever remember a time NOT believing in God... However, I did spend a whole lot of time seriously despising "Christians" because they were anything but "Christ-like". My own faith these days has elements of science and "religion" somewhat mixed together because a lot of it appears to me to be simply different expressions of a lot of the same ideas. I like how Fritjov Capra puts it in "The Tao of Physics", something to the effect of, "Science attempts to understand the universe from the outside in while religion/mysticism tries to understand it from the inside out." They're both coming at the same thing and looking for the same answers, just from two different directions... which, if you're capable of multidimensional thought, is not so far fetched. It is like seeing both sides of the coin at the same time by spinning it... or actually to be more realistic, it is like seeing all the sides of a multi-faceted object all at the same time by spinning it on multiple axes... but that's getting beyond what most people seem capable of grasping. (Try it sometime... picture spinning something one way, then spinning the axis that it is spinning on... LOL)
Time and motion are two things that trip people up in thinking about stuff. God is something like that... I've written a few blogs about the whole idea... feel free to look them up if you're interested.
@Chibi_Son_Gokou@xanga - Actually, the stuff they have found out in terms of DNA proves just how simple the evolutionary process is... and that it is still occurring. While I do not necessarily believe that humans evolved from monkeys or monkey-like creatures... there is a lot of current scientific evidence that supports at least "micro-evolution". An experiment was done (and has been repeated many times by many others) where a lactose intolerant strain of E.Coli bacteria was put into a dish with lactose as its only source of food. One would think that all of it would die off, but it did not... within a few generations, it had mutated enough to process the lactose efficently and it multiplied. If single-celled organisms can change that rapidly, there is no reason to believe that multi-celled organisms cannot do the same in a bit more time. Another example: There were speckled moths that lived in an area full of beech trees. Most of the moths were mostly white with black speckles and blended in well with the white trees. Mining operations were started in the area that covered the trees with black soot. Again, within just a few generations the new majority of moths were black with white speckles.
While I am a firm believer that God created the earth... I do not see that as being in opposition with the evolutionary process at all. Even the story of creation in Genesis very closely parallels the path that scientists believe evolution followed. It is not so hard to believe that God had a hand in it. Personally, I can't see one apart from the other and don't understand how either side can.
I have Asperger's, and I've been a born-again Christian for five years now; I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior in 2005. Before then, I was a very depressed and antisocial person. I thought God was this angry old man who wanted to take your free will away. But that all changed after I said the saving prayer.
I wouldn't necessarily call myself a "religious" person (even though my mom, also a born-again Christian, grew up in a Baptist church). I don't attend a church (though I live real close to one), but I do watch Creflo Dollar every morning on TV, do some Bible study on-line (right now, I'm studying baptism), study some questions my mom finds, read Revelife as well as the Bible, and I pray every night for the small things and the big things.
Over the past few years since becoming born-again, I've felt that I've really grown as a person and became more at ease with who and what I am as a person with Asperger's. I have family and friends who love me and care about me, and I have been blessed with a successful school career and a talent for writing, organizing and reading. I thank God Almighty for all those things.
I think what people with Asperger's need to understand is that God loves them unconditionally. They are all unique creations of the Lord, no matter what others might say or think. To paraphrase something Taffi Dollar once said, Aspergians (and everyone else) are not perfect; they are forgiven.
My boyfriend has Asperger's and he's Jewish. To me, he seems to take more culture than religion from Judaism, however. He doesn't even eat Kosher, haha. But we will drink Passover wine together. <3
But my brother who has Asperger's as well is an atheist without a doubt.
I think Vox Day makes the same argument in his book. I haven't seen impressive evidence for this myself, yet it's an interesting hypothesis that does intuitively make sense. a diminished theory of mind means one is less likely to ascribe agency to other things. so if one did have a diminished theory of mind, it would certainly in his case lead to less animism/pantheism/theism in general.
and yet, this is not necessarily something religious believers ought to be excited for. doesn't this mean that some people lack a religious predisposition that other people do have?
I have Asperger's, and i'm an atheist. I need logical and evidence-backed answers, so you can imagine how I came to abandon Christianity.
the next step would be to look at the subjects and their view towards others thoughts, intentions, and beliefs. not their own. key issue here. NOT their own. oh the fun we have when we watch your brains under fMRI while watching H&S tasks.
I have been accused of being autistic, because my mind is nowhere near normal. I have taken tests to confirm autism, and they have all been negative, to the great dismay and frustration of those who think I am autistic.
I teach sunday school at my church, I never would have signed up for the job, but I was asked by the pastor of my church one day, if I would please at least be in the room, because one of the children, is autistic(since diagnosed as having asberger's after an original diagnoses of ODD) jumped onto the back of the sunday school teacher who was 8 months pregnant at the time and bit her. The teacher did not want to return, unless someone else was with her. So I agreed to provide security, particulary after he was suspended from public school, for stabbing a kid through the hand with a pencil.
I started teaching, after the regular teacher went into labor. I taught that class for the next 6 years. He is now in the youth group, he is saved, he has been baptized. He is having issues with youth group, as his biggest problem, is not being able to control his tongue. He says the first thing that pops into his head, which on several occasions, has gotten him into trouble, particulary with the teenage girls in the class.
After teaching him in Sunday School and the weekly children's class, I am going to agree with those who are saying, that people with asbergers may not be into church, simply because of how the things they do or say are received by "normal" people.
Personally I am more easy going than a lot of people. I also think my church, may be more easy going than most. even though our asberger child is 3 years older than the oldest kid in the choir, we have allowed him to continue to be in the children's choir. he enjoys singing, he learns his lines, and he has fun, so it was decided to allow him to sing, as long as he was not a danger to the other kids, no biting, no pushing, no stabbing the younger kids, if he behaves, he can stay, and so he has behaved, and has been allowed to stay.
I think some christians, need to realize, that some kids and adults may have issues, but they are just as human as the rest of us. At one point, because we had a low functioning autistic girl (she could not talk, her only method of communication was grunts and sign language) the church was wondering, about using the low attendence second service, as sort of a service for families with children who would not otherwise be accepted. I have no issue with mainstreaming the kids and letting them attend service with everyone else, but some parents were embarrased and thought of thier kids as distracting the other adults, and so a second service, full of "distractions" was viewed as a possible solution. It did not happen, as the parents, that were reached out too, still did not feel comfortable.
So, I think that for the most part it is two fold, the children are not made to feel welcome, and the second is the parents may not be willing to take them to church to hear about God, because the kids are either an embarrassment, or the parents think the kids will not be accepted.
The person I knew with PDD-NS was in my classroom at a Christian Daycare. He has all the typical stuff that goes with the territory, but he also knew that my lap was safe when he got upset and out of control - He would come to my lap and sit. His variety of therapists would come to my room and work with him and teach us what to do with him.
He is older now and still attends this church with his family. This church has helped each SS teacher or other adult working with him what to expect and what to do. His parents have helped educate those around him.
I don't know if he is a Christian or will continue, he is in upper elementary right now. But the church he is attending with his family are doing wonders with him.
My girlfriend has Asperger's and lots of anxiety issues and is a Christian. That said, she does have a lot of trouble with the idea of metaphorical vs. literal things in the Bible. She also refuses to go to Church unless she's with me because she hates large groups and feels very out of place.
@lepton@xanga - Your comment makes me want to cry. It's so sad because it's true. On behalf of Christians, will you please accept my apology for our douchebaggery?
@FatherJenova@revelife - I don't think there's anyone who actually believes in Pastafarianism. It's a parody.
Ok heres my experience in this area. My son is only 6 (medical diagnosis aspie), but every night he askes me to say prayers with him. Sometimes just "Now I lay me", but others we say that + Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, and the Guardian Angel prayer- always in that order too, lol. He got mad at church one time because they said the Hail Mary first
He may not know all the details of his faith, but he has the simple childlike belief in something out there for sure.
My husband is more than likely an aspie as well (no formal testing, but multiple online checklist confirm this) He also has a strong belief in God, reads his bible daily (4 times through that we remember over all) and professes to be Catholic. However he does not attend mass regularly and seems to have more of a general belief and faith.
I am borderline Aspie myself (again, not diagnosed but through reading and checklist I am positive) and I am a faithful Catholic. I actually converted to Catholisim because it has a more logical stance in my opinion. Everything is structured and organized in what seems to me to be a logical plan. Do this at this time, do that at another. Very comforting for me with a whole lot less guessing than the evangelical background I came out of .
My brother is definately an Aspie - Mr Robison, you practically wrote his life story, lol. He is a VERY strong evangelical Christian. He is very judgemental and follows his rule book (Bible) very rigidly. He can be a real bible thumper.
I hear a lot about "athiest" aspies. I dont' know if they are all really athiests as much as agnostic (believe in higher power or God, but not in formal organized religion)