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byrnema comments on Atheism & the autism spectrum - Less Wrong Discussion
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Regarding atheism and autism, something that struck me as significantly different about the views regarding theism on Less Wrong (which has a self-reported high frequency of autistic tendencies) -- as well as similar views among 'New Atheists' -- is that they try to force theistic beliefs into overly literal interpretations, so that the beliefs the atheists ultimately disagree with don't seem to really represent what theists believe.
Forcing overly literal interpretations is a stereotypical autistic trait, though I now classify it as also a broadly atheist trait with perhaps some overlap.
Sometimes, maybe mostly, theists actually are 'wrong' in some sense. But often they're just espousing a perspective. The uselessness and vacuity of this perspective as applied to the real world has impressed me since my conversion to ideas such as 'make-beliefs-pay-rent', but I force myself to apply the principle in the other direction too: I won't argue with a theist unless they insist on something which actually makes a prediction different than the prediction I would make. Otherwise, it's just not a real argument about something, and not worth it. So I hardly every argue with theists.
Possibly this has to do with the sort of 'theists' one is exposed to? I would not have said "overly literal" or "just espousing a perspective" myself, but I am aware my perception of the wider 'theist' community is somewhat skewed by attempting to get a degree in psychology at a university where more than half the faculty believe in possessing demons.
(On a not-unrelated note: faith healers are evil.)
You're right, believing in possessing demons and faith healing seem really extreme examples of theism to me so it certainly depends on the sort of theism you're exposed to. The sort of theism I've been dominantly exposed to throughout my life is a sort of network of memes and moral ideas that operate to define a culturally consistent sense of what a 'good person' is and what defines a good life. 'Belief in God' mostly means you have a positive accepting relation to this culture, and people very rarely think of God as an existing entity, but if pressed he has more of a deist quality.
I grew up (and still relate closely to) people who do literally believe in miraculous healing and don't particularly associate it with 'extreme' so much as 'actual' or 'vaguely coherent'. When I think of extremes I think of people believing others are Not Good Persons and not having an acceptable relationship with the culture based on professions of belief. Fortunately the theists I expose myself to don't tend to be the bad kind.
Man, that sounds pretty great. I don't know if I'd go so far as to identify myself as 'atheist' if I'd grown up with that culture - hang on-