Autism and Religion

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I'm an atheist who believes that everybody can benefit from a rational interpretation of the world and our place in it.
I find the way people live highly irrational and it scares me, add religion to the mix and you've got some thing very frightening. Though I have interest in religion as a product of history and respect it as such for that reason.

I remember reading one time somewhere online about the original The Legend of Zelda game, it sparked a controversy because one of their dungeons was shaped like that symbol.

Religions are created by neurotypical alphas to gain control over neurotypicals who are not alphas. Religion is used to control people.

That may be true for a few religions (*cough* Scientology *cough*) but most of them were likely created in an attempt to make sense of the universe before science was a thing. People don't like to just say "I have no idea what's going on" and would rather have something over nothing, so they invented the idea of an all powerful being in control of everything because it is simple.

Also, what's up with the hate on "neurotypicals"? They are the ones who keep society running while I am curled up on my bed after a sensory overload. Also, if someone is devising a plot to invent a religion to control people and/or pretending to be a prophet then they are likely narcissists, psychopaths, or something of that sort which would mean that they are not exactly "neurotypical". Just sayin'.

also it's only recently that religion and politics became (theoretically) separate, which isn't nearly a universal thing anyway. for thousands of years, government and religion were / have been one and the same. now we just don't call government religion anymore (because there are competing living fossils that take the title), but it's not essentially different

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If religions are an attempt to make sense of the universe before science then why are do the oldest and most popular religions have bad consequences in the afterlife for non-believers(e.g. eternal suffering, hell, reincarnated as an animal etc)? If a religion has bad consequences in the afterlife for non-believers then that religion is being used as a tool to control people.

I do not hate neurotypicals. I believe some of the theory of social animals applies to humans but that is a discussion for another thread.

control -- or govern

government necessarily implies imposing things that people wouldn't accept if they weren't forced to

I've been studying the story and timeline of the bible. I think it's such a beautiful story of how God chose to save the world by sacrificing Himself. I love that I get to be a part of my favourite story.

As a two year old, I was dragged out of Church kicking and screaming. I couldn't handle the music. As a very young child I said the 'sinner's prayer'. I followed Christianity. I wanted to go to heaven, but I worried that if there was music and flapping angel wings there, I would be continually scared by them.

As a ten year old, I became rigid and ritualistic with following rules I made up in my head. ie. If I didn't walk a particular way, I would go to hell. I read prophetic literature in the bible and had the worst way of interpreting it. I think a lot of this was caused by an anti anxiety medication. (Wow, that worked)

And finally, in my teenaged years, cheered on by 'name it and claim it' healing seminars I had witnessed, I asked to be healled, and then spent five years convincing myself I had been.

When I realised I hadn't been, I became angry at God. I believe His answer was "No, I won't just take it away, you always felt there wasn't really anything wrong with you, and that the people who were trying to fix you were wrong. You're right. I didn't make you this way by mistake. I don't make mistakes."

In saying that, I'm not saying everything about autism is good, or is God's will, I believe God can allow things to happen even which He doesn't particularly want to happen. I believe SPD and anxiety are two of those things, caused by the general sin and corruption and evil in every human heart; but through them, I trust Him to look after me.

I consider myself an atheist, but have enjoyed attending Quaker church, love religious music, and reading The Bible. The Qu'ran was interesting, too. I think that even if you don't believe, God is a useful metaphor or praxis for dealing with the world and understanding yourself and others. The way people deal with the concept of God can tell you a lot about them. I dislike when people are dismissive of religion and think all followers follow the same way or for the same reasons. These atheists are no different than fundamentalists of religions. One message I took from the show Lost is that faith can be both necessary and a liability--I try to keep that in mind as I wrestle with life.

Agnosticism is what I've always had trouble understanding, not atheism or faith. Black and what thinking on my part????

btw, when i say "living fossils" referring to religions, it's not necessarily bad. i mean, who wouldn't love to see living dinosaurs! . that's the appeal of religion. but then again... jurassic park. so there's that. big appeal, big caveats

People also use it because they lack judgement and morals and aren't able to form their own opinions and choices so they use religion to help guide them through life. Religion is like their parent.

give the children some toy dinosaurs they can play with and crew on if they wish

that's my personal stance on religion. it's an educational tool, if used wisely (which never includes fundamentalism, which is always bad as far as i'm concerned, because it's competition against today's governments, which is a gross anachronism)

Agnostic, because I am not smart enough to figure it all out. A couple of billion people can't all be wrong.

I was raised Christian, but lately I have been having a lot of doubts about it. I don't agree with most of the stuff in the Bible, and some of the things a perfect god is said to say/do are just horrible. Plus, I'm not sure if I believe in God. I don't live a religious life at all, and tbh I just want to forget about religion. But I'm still scared of going to hell, which is why I hope atheism is true.

I just wanted to get this out there about Jainism. We have no leaders, per se, like a cardinal, rabbi, pope, imam or what have you. There are organizations that promote Jainism and represent it at government functions, but they are not leaders.

Jainism is a self-study religion, if you will. Its cosmology is intricate and detailed so it may be necessary to take college classes on those.

Our main tenet is NO VIOLENCE in thought, speech and action. None, zero, zip. Of course, we are allowed to protect ourselves and our loved ones in case of an attack, but non-violence is what we strive for. We try our best to not even kill flies, ants, etc. We're completely vegetarian or vegan or fruitarians.

I don't have a religion. I do believe in god, but the one I believe in accepts people for who they are. Like, it doesn't matter to him if the person is disabled or even LGBT+ either. I refuse to believe in the same god as everyone else who frowns upon people like us and for people (also like me) that are part of the LGBT+ as well. So, again, I don't really have a religion, and I basically just believe freely of what I feel god is. Same goes for Jesus too.