Before returning to Genesis I want to talk about what is going on in the world because you cannot trust everything in the news. We are to discern, to understand, to analyze, to question and understand the world. True discernment begins with thinking about what you are told and then testing it against logic and personal knowledge. We must always question ourselves; but, we must always question everyone else also, especially if they are experts and we think we can rely on them and not have to put in any effort.
That is really the key. Just because someone has a doctorate and honors does not mean they are right. I have both and that doesn't mean I am always right, I am still learning. Just as Doctors and Lawyers refer to what they do as practicing law and practicing medicine, the same is true for scientists and other "experts".
I read an article that said that Atheism and Autism had a connection. Being autistic I was intrigued by what stupidity I would read and I was not disappointed. The MailONLINE published the following article,"Is atheism linked to autism? Controversial study points to a relationship between the two". I have a form of autism known as Asperger's Syndrome. I am what is described as "High functioning", that just means that I have an IQ over 135; but, still have certain autistic traits.
I will attempt to explain autism to the readers and I am not going to use some Psychology book; however, I did take sufficient coursework to have received a degree in it. Autism is not what you think, it is not some child who bangs his head into a wall and doesn't talk. It is a understanding that the world is not where we should be, it is a rejection of this world. We see it for what it is and don't understand all the lies. Basically, we find it very hard to lie to ourselves. That makes it pretty hard to understand the world.
That is what underlies autism, that and the fact that we can understand things for what they are, that is why some of us can understand things, specific things more fully than anyone else, we see it for what it is. We are observers of the world more than we are participants. It is not so much of a condition as it is an attitude, an understanding, a way of looking at the world. Some people are color blind and others can see colors, same thing.
For those who have lower IQ's, for those of us who understand little; but, see the contradictions, life is horrible. These are the ones who people refer to as low functioning autistic. It is no different than being color blind and having a low IQ. Then there are those of us with higher IQs, because we are narrow in scope we can understand things to a greater degree than most, we are the ones who they say have "Asperger's". That is sufficient background to understand what I am going to say about the article.
The "study" looked at 192 different posters on an Aspergers Forum and surveyed 61 people with Aspergers. Lets start with the simple things, the sample size was too small, the approach was wrong and therefore it fails to meet the basic requirements for a valid survey or statistical analysis. The individuals were not chosen at random, they were posters on a forum, that is a no-no for a valid statistical study. As for the survey, it didn't meet the bare minimum required to be statistically valid. Oh, I took advanced statistics in college.
The study did not meet the basic scientific requirements to even be considered valid. Next, the study looked at people with "mild" forms of autism, there is no such thing, it is like being a little bit pregnant, you either are or you are not. What they really meant was that they looked at people who were autistic; but, really smart, that is what is called "high functioning" unless they change the definition to the traits we share in common and having an below average IQ. That is not what psychology has done, in fact they are now calling for high and low functioning people to just be called autistic and to eliminate the term "Asperger's".
Let us now consider the conclusions, pretty useless indeed. The study found that 26 percent of people with Aspergers (High Functioning) were Atheists. People who do not have Aspergers have a 16 percent rate of Atheists. The conclusion is that people with autism are more likely to be atheists. The conclusion is unrelated to the evidence. Firstly, they only looked at high functioning autistics, not all of us, so they cannot extrapolate for the rest. Secondly, they imply that more of us are atheists than are not and that is also wrong, we are just more likely than non-autistic people to be atheists. I don't find this surprising at all. We don't trust anyone, we are very direct and don't understand how the rest of the world cannot see itself for what it is.
So what was the point of the article? Who cares what religious beliefs we hold? What is it that they were attempting to prove and to whom? If you are not autistic, what conclusion will you draw? Probably none, you will think of us as the people who run into walls and hate the world, you will disregard anything that we think or say. This study was aimed at people with Asperger's. It was aimed at high functioning autistics, it is intended to be ammunition for other autistic people to prove to the believers who are high functioning that we are more likely to be atheists; but, it is flawed, it shows something else. It shows that 75% of us are not atheists. It shows that the vast majority of people with Asperger's know that there is more to this life than what we see, that there is a higher power, a larger mind, a greater sentience at work here.
For those of us with Asperger's, we just know certain things. It is how we are wired. Some of us know numbers, many can look at rows and columns of numbers and just know what the answer is if they are added together, that is very common and not something I do. Others as children can just know the most amazing music, just the right way to put sounds together to achieve an emotion, a response, I am not like them either. A study of the genetics of people with Asperger's found that we all had a particular genome and that it was never in the same place in any two of us, not surprising, God loves diversity.
God's love is everywhere, we all get his love and his blessing, his blessing is that we do not get more than we can handle and we don't. How far we are tested and what our special knowledge is, is unique to the individual. Remember that you are of God, he created you and each one of us is unique and as more of us are born we see more and more diversity. Isn't that what he told us to do, "be fruitful and multiply". This does not mean to just go about and make babies, we are told to be fruitful first. We are told to be fruitful before we are told to multiply.
I do hope that this post was of value. It is about how we should react to the news, which is to think and research. It is about how we should view experts, with caution and questions. Finally, it is about showing you how information is manipulated and misrepresented by "experts". If you rely on an expert because you are lazy then you have fallen into one of Satan's traps, you have given up your free will which includes your decision to understand, investigate and live the strenuous life for yourself so that you can fully become all that you can be, your best you and that includes your understanding the world around you in the best way that you can. Be well.
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