The Autistic Atheist

Religion has been a fundamental aspect of human societies throughout history, but is on the decline in the modern scientific era. Simultaneously, Autism rates are on the rise, raising questions about whether this increase is due to improved diagnosis and recognition of the condition or if reflects an actual rise in prevalence. We explore the complexities of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), its potential causes, and the implications it holds for the future of humanity and evolution. Autism is a difference in intuitive thinking and understanding of the world. The differences in thinking from the point of view of the general population are often seen as deficits. Drawing on work from Ara Norenzayan this book explores the hypothesis that the deficits in theory of mind that Autistic people experience constrain their ability to believe in a God and accept religious claims. This book is an exploration of the evolutionary psychology of religion and Autism. What is the future of religion and its place in human evolution?

Autistic Atheist! Those two words sum me up. But I wasn't always willing to admit it. For I was born in a world with a strict, uncompromising view of "normal." Anyone outside the pedant definition was cast aside as like scum. When I was diagnosed with autism, I was shunned, viewed as an invalid, treated like disgrace to humanity. My childhood was not bad, but the parts of my child hood spent under the "treatment for autism" was of questionable scams created by sadistic doctors. In their eyes, I was nothing more that a "freak" who existed for their financial gain. As a result, I tried to hide my autism for years. When I started college, something most "doctors" told my parents I would never be able to do, I enrolled into a progressive program for people with autism. It was here where I finally saw the truth of my existence: I am not less than, I am different! I am not disabled, I am special! Through the college program I enrolled in, I gained confidence in myself and began to embrace autism as a part of who I am. I no longer hide my autism, I learned to accept myself for who I am. For I now see that autism was never my weakness. Autism is my superpower. For I now see that I was never the problem in this world, sadistic "doctors" who dehumanize patients and view them as "dollars" are the real problem. Although I now know the truth about my "guilt" (having autism and understanding that doctors are at fault, not me) I continue to live with the pain of the treatments I endured as a child. People have advised I move on from my past and "forget about it". I disagree. For I have been awakened. As such, I will spend the rest of my life fighting for autistic rights. Despite being called "stupid" by doctors, among other names, I am defying all odds by living a life a multitude of doctors claimed I would never know.

learn everything you always wanted to know about atheists, god and love from this satirically written childrens book for adults.

Religious scholar Hart argues that contemporary antireligious polemics are based not only upon conceptual confusions but upon facile simplifications of history and provides a powerful antidote to the New Atheists' misrepresentations of the Christian past.

The Autism of Gxd: An Atheological Love Story is truly a love story--the story of Ruth Dunster's autistic search for an authentic, personal, and theological "Gxd." In this, it resembles Augustine's Confessions, as a theological autobiography. It becomes atheological, however, as Dunster reckons with what Denys Turner terms "The Darkness of God." This awareness leads her through the poetry of Medieval mystics to the mythic "death of God" theology of Thomas J. J. Altizer. The search for faith is nonetheless very real in this strange territory. Dunster hears her autistic Gxd speaking in art, poetry, novels, and music; and this further leads her into the territory of Literature, Theology, and the Arts, where, in Blanchot's words, "the answer is the poem's absence." Indeed, Dunster calls the book "a strange poem, or even a hymn." Weaving an autistic mythology out of a rigorous survey of clinical autism, this book abounds in challenge and paradox. It offers a fascinating view into how an autistic poet becomes a theologian; and what more mainstream theologies might learn from this "disabled Gxd."

Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.

Examines what can be learnt about the brain mechanisms underlying religious practice from studying people with neurological disorders.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “As sweet and funny and sad and true and heartfelt a memoir as one could find.” —from the foreword by Augusten Burroughs Ever since he was young, John Robison longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother, Augusten Burroughs, in them)—had earned him the label “social deviant.” It was not until he was forty that he was diagnosed with a form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. That understanding transformed the way he saw himself—and the world. A born storyteller, Robison has written a moving, darkly funny memoir about a life that has taken him from developing exploding guitars for KISS to building a family of his own. It’s a strange, sly, indelible account—sometimes alien yet always deeply human.

Do atheists hate God? Many Christians seem to think so. For the last three centuries Christians have widely assumed that atheism is always a result of a rebellious, sinful rejection of God. According to this view, at some level atheists really do know there is a God, but they sinfully suppress this knowledge because they want to live independently of God. But what if that is not correct? What if some folks are atheists not because they're sinful and foolish but because they've thought hard, they've looked carefully, and they have simply not found God? What if the common Christian assumptions about atheism are little more than an indefensible prejudice? What if the atheist really is our neighbor?

In the past, as in the present, science has explored the reasons for belief. In recent years, with the rise of categorical, practical, and militant atheism, the scientific and philosophical community has begun studying the worldview of atheism. The Atheist Persona: Causes and Consequences is a summary of the most recent research, by the best of scholars, on the subject of atheism. In an effort to create a more courteous dialogue between theists and atheists, this book acknowledges that while there are reasons for believing in God, there are also reasons for not believing in God. Atheist Persona showcases how the worldview we choose to accept determines how we live our lives and how we influence those around us.