The hallowed spectrum

 

An extremely interesting "discussion about everything" featuring Emerson Green and Jon from the podcast "Christianity on the spectrum". Jon has tried to get to the bottom of the question "Are autists more likely to be atheists" and the answer seems to be "yes". But why? The idea that autists lack a theory of mind and therefore can´t understand religion and spirituality (i.e. the minds of invisible gods) seems intuitively true, but Jon believes its much more complicated. 

After all, not all religious traditions are the same. Indeed, Jon´s research suggests that autists who are Christian gravitate towards liturgical and ritualist forms of religiosity, while shunning more emotionalist and spontaneous versions. Which makes perfect sense. It also turns out that many Christian autists are preoccupied with doctrinal orthodoxy. Perhaps because they can´t stand ambiguity and inconsistency?

So why do many autists de-convert and become atheists? The main reason seems to be precisely that they find themselves unable to uphold orthodoxy due to Bible contradictions or illogical theology. The cognitive dissonance becomes too great. However, there does seem to be another more sinister reason: Christian fundamentalists are often uncomprehending or downright hostile to autists. Children on the spectrum may be subject to exorcisms to cast out their "demons". In general, these groups tend to shun people with real or perceived mental health issues. There are theologians who argue that the "image of God in man" includes having a complex theory of mind - precisely what autists lack. One theologian even referred to the state of non-belief as "spiritual autism"!

Yet another factor could be that many autists are...ahem...a bit weird. And many Christian groups don´t tolerate weirdness (or *this* kind of weirdness). Thus, many autists have gender dysphoria and identify as trans or non-binary. Jon was at one point invited onto a Christian autists´ forum and soon realized that he was the only person there who *wasn´t* a Furry?!  

Jon also discusses the phenomenon of "autistic" influencers on TikTok and other social media platforms. They don´t know squat about autism and broaden the definition to include as many people as possible. These groups are usually Woke and exclude people with the wrong opinions. Jon himself is diagnosed with "autism 1" (what used to be called Asperger´s or high-functioning autism), suffered from gender dysphoria as a teenager, and left Christianity for atheism. Later, he re-converted. He has worked for the US military and is presumably more conservative in orientation.

I´ve heard of many of these things before, so it was nice to get them confirmed. One thing I didn´t know about was that some Christian theologians define "the image of God" or "communion with God" in such a way that people with autistic traits are excluded. I mean, that´s...wild.

Recommended. Although Jon, as a typical "aspie", talks too much!