Why am I not surprised? Interesting, no? Perhaps along with the autism, the atheists lack the 'God-part' of the brain as well...?
Hmmm, your article doesn't "link" autism to atheism in the way I think your trying to imply. Its basically saying that since people with autism are logical thinkers, and not gullible, they are less likely to be religious then the general population.
Atheism more common in Autistic people? Sound reasonable. Autistic people are not affected in the same way as others by emotional pressure. They are affected by some emotional pressure but religion is designed to fit the majority.
So the argument from the "Christian Extremists" is that God created autism so that people wouldn't believe in God and would roast in Hell. That goes right along with their belief that God planted the fossil record to convince people to believe in evolution and reject God so they could roast in Hell as well. Apparently God doesn't want people to believe in God because all of the evidence is against the existance of God.
Autistic individuals are actually highly intelligent, they simply lack communicative skills and direct bodily function as well as emotional stability (from my knowledge of it). Consequently it actually a good thing to see most are atheists, since it shows the more intellectually focused one is, the more logically one rejects theism.
I don't know, the Wiki says "These symptoms do not imply sickness, fragility, or emotional disturbance.[20]" so I think emotional stability might be an enhanced truth. Nonetheless, I think this is regardless of intelligence, a lot of intelligent people are theists or have delusions. I'd rather focus on the fact that they're less likely to be affected by religion's persuasive nature since they perceive emotions differently.
Did you read the OP? "The study, from University of Boston"....so now the U of B is now a hotbed of "Christian Extremists"??
Heaven forbid that Xtian extremists hate on people who are so evil as to prefer logical belief. "The study, from University of Boston, speculates that common autistic spectrum behaviours such as 'a preference for logical beliefs' and a distrust of metaphor and figures of speech, could be responsible." Or that the Xtian extremists would judge Aspergers as being somehow less than normal.
Sigh. Spurious correlation. High IQs are correlated with both atheism and autism. If two people who are highly intelligent (what people think of as "left-brain" intelligent), the child is more likely to be autistic (though nobody knows why, as far as I know). Atheism has long been linked to intelligence, higher social class, and higher education... mostly because all these things are connected and who really knows what causes what or how they all reinforce each other or what? I think the connection is that people in higher social classes are more free to have unpopular opinions and that more educated people are more likely to be exposed to alternative philosophies and to science. The intelligence-atheism link is also likely a spurious correlation. You really have to think when you look at the sensationalist correlations claimed by journalists and bloggers. If a correlation sounds stupid, it probably is. If you believe atheism and autism are directly linked, you'll probably believe that ice cream sales are directly linked to murder rates (yes, there is a correlation, a spurious one... just think about it for a few seconds).
It's also ridiculous to assert that atheists lack the "god part" of the brain. The psychological mechanisms that lead people to believe in God have not always led people to believe in God. Polytheism preceded monotheism and was likely itself preceded by animism. Many atheists (myself included) were religious at some point in their lives. And atheists are just as likely to partake in superstitions (good luck charms and the like), engage in magical thinking (thinking that it's raining outside just to (*)(*)(*)(*) me off), and speak of natural phenomena in anthropomorphic terms. Of course, an atheist might not take these things seriously (most Christians, I think, don't take every instance of magical thinking seriously), but on the instinctual level, they occur. We evolved to assume everything around us is alive and that everything that happens has an immediate cause, because these things help us to solve problems and survive in a hostile natural environment. It's the higher functions of the brain that lead to either scientific understanding or complex theology.
You guys keep on bringing in things that WERE NOT in the OP. Where was any mention of 'Xtian' or Christian extremists? There was NONE. There WAS a mention of the University of Boston. Do you think it is a hotbed of Christian extremists? If so, why? Please provide back-up for your assertations. Secondly, you need to understand what Asperger's syndrome is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome Since Asperger syndrome is recognized as a autism spectrum disorder, it is clearly NOT normal. Why would any one think so?
People with Aspergers are usually functional. Keep in mind that any classification system is an abstract human construction. Even in biology. Consider the platypus. We call it a mammal, but it doesn't meet the full definition. Reality doesn't conform to categories-- we use categories to describe reality (and often poorly). Consider the correlation between intelligent parents and autism. This suggests the possibiltiy that autism's spectrum is really just a cut-off point of a larger spectrum. Asperger's is really kind of borderline. People think it's either been underdiagnosed or is now overdiagnosed, similarly to ADHD when I was a kid and bipolar disorder more recently. Chances are the classifications make things appear more binary than they are.
So? I didn't state that those with Asperger's syndrome weren't functional. I said that an autism disorder WASN'T normal...another poster thought they were.
I think you were being called the Christian extremist because you brought up this article in the religious section, not the people conducting the study.
My brother is autistic and I've never asked him him what he thinks about God. We had a priest once who wanted to give him first communion, but we didn't follow through on that. My brother would not be capable of understanding what communion is. I can't imagine that my brother has ever committed any sins so he is not in need of religion.
Heck, I don't understand what communion is. I understand the bread and the wine and the symbolism. I don't understand why we loiter around being symbols though or why we expect symbols to do the work of the real stuff.
Correlation doesn't necessarily reflect causality. The "Pastafarians" facetiously pointed this out with their correlation of the decline in piracy being the cause of global warming.
Oh...so I AM a 'Christian extremist' now because I reported a study by the University of Boston... Attacking the messenger, eh? What is really funny is that I don't adhere to ANY dogma...so I don't belong to an organized religion. Seems certain atheists are very judgemental, true?
