Aspergers and non belief in God?

Question

I work with a lot of kids and with autism some with aspergers.
I always got the impression that people with aspergers would have a really hard time with having a belief in God as they generally think in contexts of black and white and usually process things literally rather than figurativly.
I ran across this site that had a couple of polls
Belief in God was at 33% No belief 66%
56% said the world would be better without religion, 32% said no and 10% undecided.
What I am wondering is.. Aspergers is a defined neurological disorder. These people are functional in society and lead good lives but maybe can not grasps the idea of God.
How would God view these people? They have heard but possibly cant believe.
Also what are your thoughts? Makes me wonder if there is a connection between belief in God and neurological processes as many on the site say they can not "comprehend" believing in a god and thats how I feel for the most part.

Site is wrongplanet.net

I am not pointing out aspergers as a neurological disorder in a negative way only as a statement.
Also termed a developmental disability it is also known as a neurological one as well.

BTW I am agnostic I am not trying to counterclaim anything.

Answer 1

I have the same difficulty with belief so I try to have blind faith just in case. LOL. :)

It's not that I don't understand the idea that is presented by Christians and other religious people. It's just that the whole thing is hard to wrap my head around. I have thought about all the plants and animals and whatnot and have decided for myself that someone must have created them, yes. But I don't truly...and don't know if I ever will truly..."get" religion. All the ceremonies and rules. The idea of God as I understand it has made many people upset with me once they heard it. It's too simplistic. But that's just how I think. My view on God is this: one probably exists. One would hopefully want us to do well in life. One would laugh to see all the chaos and disorder and hard work going into serving him. One would also be sad and wish people would just lighten up.

Don't even get me started on Jesus. It will make Christians mad too. I think he most definitely existed or else he wouldn't be such a prominent historical figure. I just don't know about all that bible stuff. I've read the thing a lot as a kid coz of the religion my parents were in, and have studied it a little bit trying to put a lot of blind hope into at the encouragement of some neighbors who mean well. It seems rather contrived in some sections, and a bit like Aesop's Fables at times. It is a useful collection of books, but I do not know what I really think of it.

Answer 2

I have never, once, said that. What I say is that I don't believe YOUR claims (or anyone else's) that gods exist, because you can't provide any evidence to back up your claims. And by the way, your poor attempt at word games fails miserably. The "god" in that sentence can represent "an idea about a claimed god," and not a "real" god, which makes your little word game worthless. If I say "Leprechauns are not real," does that mean they exist, but in an unreal state? Peace.

Answer 3

I used to work with adults with developmental disabilities. The thought process of many of them were parallel to many religious people that I have known. Some atheists exhibit these behaviors, as well, but not nearly to the degree of the religious ones. It was a major factor in forming my opinion on religion, and theism. Many people have to act like this, just to function. It is not always bad, but when it is imposed on the masses, it causes global insanity. Look at the world, and tell me I'm wrong, with a straight face.

Answer 4

I don't have an answer, but a story. I work in a similar field. One of my tasks is working with people and their teams to find out what is most important to them. I try to ask the same question in many ways, until I find the right one for the person. I asked one guy - If you were alone on a desert island, what would you want to have with you. He looked at me, very intently, and answered "A Boat".

Answer 5

I know someone personally who has Aspergers and is a saved (born again) believer in Christ. I think God considers people with, say, Down's syndrome, to be like little children and therefore not accountable for wrongdoing. The Bible implies somewhere an age of accountability (which may not be the same for everyone) but I can't remember where it is.

Answer 6

One cannot imagine how a personal rejection of arbitrary metaphysics constitutes an offense to any particular hallucination so enthusiastically disbelieved overall.

(physical reality) - (empirical reality) = faith

Hindus have 30 crores of gods - that is 300 million deities. How is India doing? In the whole of human history across the entire planet not one deity has volunteered Novocain. It is a telling omission.


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Answer 7

While teaching kindergarten I had a young boy that we believed has aspergers, very typical symptoms. He had a hard time doing anything, except what he wanted to do. He misbehaved in church and would tell others he would kill them or chop their heads off. I am not really sure what to make of it. I think we all have the ability to believe in God, just not in a way that others could understand, maybe??? I am not exactly sure.

Answer 8

Fascinating idea. My autistic son is very interested in God and in life after death. Maybe we are just blessed that he has this comprehension. He does object to many ceremonial religious practices, though, which one would expect a guy who loves routine to really appreciate. I think he wants to understand the reasons, not just go through the motions.

Answer 9

I remember reading that the vast majority of schizophrenics believe in god. So there does seem to be a correlation with belief in god and mental disorder - but not in the opposite direction that you found. Do autistic people have trouble with abstract concepts? That might be it alone.

Answer 10

Jehovah God is a gracious God. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. Sometimes we worry too much about what He might think when, we should worry about how we think. We live in a fallen creation. Full of imperfection. God loves all of His creation.