Autism and Religion: POST VIDEO DISCUSSION 

In regards to CPTSD and autism, I feel like living life as an undiagnosed autistic for years in itself is traumatic. Then we're more susceptible to be taken advantage of so I can see why we can have so much baggage. Having others like myself here helps me feel better! ❤

I dove into religion in adulthood and got totally carried away by the experience. Learned a lot; i felt like I graduated from something through it. I was left with only what was ME. That was the beginning of spirituality.

I’ve explored a few religions and I’ve landed on Hinduism and my life has changed and blossomed in amazing ways. My heart is so open to hear other people’s experiences of God

I consider myself to be spiritual but not religious. I’m not atheist, but I just overthink too much and too analytically to ascribe to any one religion because I struggle with blind faith. Like you said, I want things to make sense and I want them to be fair. It doesn’t make sense to me that someone who is good would go to hell for labeling themselves under the wrong religion, even if they followed very similar morals and values. I just try to be a good person and I hope that if we have a creator, they’ll see my heart and effort and will understand my confusion with organized religion and won’t punish me based on that.

Ahh I missed the livestream 😩 I do celebrate your transparency about talking about your experiences in church. I’ve had VERY similar experiences. I’ve been in church now for almost 45 years - I’ve seen it all. I do love church life but struggle with some things. In it all, I find my relationship with Jesus comes first and that’s helped me to see past the things about church that I’ve found more difficult - namely people who were sincere, but sincerely wrong 😑😅😊

I just came across this video and thought I'd offer some thoughts... I'm a Christian minister and recently came to the conclusion that I am autistic. The realization has brought a lot of things into focus about my life. Where many churches and ministers have trouble with autism is there isn't a recognized category for "high functioning" autism. This leads to other Christians putting this in the place of "you're just doing something wrong." "A Christian should be A, B, C, and D." What many cannot see is I am like A, B, C, and D but you are having a hard time seeing it because I am autistic. Since Christians are people too, they tend to treat this like most other people do. You get moved to the edge of the social circle just like you do in other social circles in life. The truth is, the Bible doesn't really address things like autism in a direct way (the same can be said about many things). It DOES teach wisdom and principles that are applicable but unfortunately few see that as they have the unbiblical belief that all brains are pretty much the same and you are ONLY the culmination of your personality, inner life and life choices. Christians do recognize that there is a brain issue with people who have severe and obvious mental disorders but not when they see you as pretty much mentally functional. Again, the Bible doesn't teach this but it is how many Christians think. I'm not sure what the solution is to this but I see and experience the exact same problem with people outside of the church. It is a human problem, not a distinctly Christians one. As for all religions having truth and leading to God. The logic side of my autistic brain just can't understand that. When most religions make the distinct claim of exclusivity, they can't all be legitimate. Either one of them is true or none of them are. I still see Jesus as "the way the truth and the life" and believe his claim that "no one comes to the Father except through me." Within the scope of Christian teaching, that is logical considering the Bible's teaching regarding sin, our problem in relation to it, and Jesus as the solution. So I will remain a Christian and love Christ's church...even though, due to my autism, I'll always be on the edge of that social circle too. I accept that many will never see my love and service to them though it is my life. Jesus sees though, and that is enough.

I experienced the same conflicts with christianity that you mentioned. I was a christian for 33 yrs (I'm 49), throughout those 33 yrs I had lots of questions but in the end I ran into the same wall, everyone says theirs is THE ONLY WAY. I had started the deconstruction process 5 years before my husband told me he started having doubts, in those 5 yrs I didn't tell him because I didn't want to rock the boat since he seemed serious. Once he told me I breathed a sigh of relief we walked away a couple weeks later. We are done with religion we just consider ourselves spiritual. I do believe in spirits and I am also an reiki energy healer. Yes, reiki can be done virtually. I've done it for my in-laws (who live 3 states away), when they ask me. Mindfulness and breath meditation has helped me so much. What a fun discussion.

It took me many years to realize the damage the evangelical church had done to me. I’m unpacking a lot of religious trauma and deconstructing. The one thing that made me question it entirely from the time I was about 5years old onward was the constant preaching about how missionary work is the most important thing because if people don’t hear about the love of Jesus they’re doomed to hell. So of course my mind is like how could any God condemn someone just because they never heard some magic phrases from an “exclusive” group of people. Now I realize it’s just a way to further imperialism.

I love the community you created. I feel less alone around here.

When i was young, religion was a way that my perfectionism and rigidity really manifested itself. I knew how a good Christian was supposed to be and everything that deviated from that was just unacceptable. Of course nothing is perfect so it just brought me so much anxiety that I couldnt meet Christianity’s standards. I thought so deeply about how I was supposed to interpret the Bible and religion and make it fit into my life and it seemed like no one else thought about it like that. Eventually i realized i couldnt make sense of it and I stopped going to church and believing in God.

What??? I feel like I just found my people!! This is my special interest 💜

I practiced the eastern philosophies most of my life, Buddhism/Hinduism, occultism/esotericism, Kabbalah/freemasonry/rosicrucianism, but I had a near death experience and encountered Jesus in Heaven. I will absolutely attest that Jesus is the Son of God and the ONLY way to the Father. The other world religions worship the fallen angels as their “gods”, from Sumer, to Babylon, to egypt, to Greece, Rome, and from there throughout the world, it is the same Babylonian religion throughout all world cultures from India to china to Native American and South America etc…ALL religions are not the same, for example Islam and Judaism reject that Jesus is the Son of God, therefore they do not have atonement for their sin. Jesus is the SACRIFICE for our sin, if you do not have Jesus by your side in the courtroom of Heaven then you will be guilty of all of your sin, He washes it away and presents us as pure to the Father. I believe because I’ve seen and I literally went before Judgement. Jesus was like my “attorney”. And I didn’t know anything about the Bible when I died. Also I am autistic, and I believe that ALL oppression is from spiritual dark forces, the enemy, demonic, satanic, whatever you want to call it. And by the way theology is absolutely one of my hyper focused interests😁I would just say don’t get offended if Christians suggest you can be “delivered” from your oppression, disease, affliction, etc, however with that being said I see autism differently, it is neurodiversity, not a “disorder”. We think differently, process differently, express differently. But not “wrong”. This is why I believe that autists who are “lower on the spectrum” is an entirely different classification of “disorder” and is absolutely evidence of severe demonic oppression, and/or environmental/chemical/genetic pollution and damage (which is also a form of oppression from the enemy). It is important to remember we live in a FALLEN world. God bless you all and I hope you come to the Truth and not believe the biggest lie ever told, that all religions are equal and there are many paths. I apologize for my autistic bluntness, this is not to be construed as not loving others from other religions, or condemning them, it is just Truth, and autists love TRUTH 🙏💖ps - a great RU-vid channel on NDE’s is Randy Kay ministries🙂 Pss- some autists think very logically and spirituality seems far fetched to them, I however am very spiritual but I also intellectualize spirituality and am very interested in apologetics, and biblical scholarship. I think it’s easier for me to believe because I’ve seen. More blessed are those who believe without seeing.

I too have come across some crazy Christians declaring Autism as demonic. there is a specific RU-vid channel on “testimonies” on this. being a late-diagnosed autistic adult for 8 months now, I am starting to deconstruct my Christian faith of 10 years this month. Too much legalism in the modern church; conforming to a strict lifestyle where the church basically takes away your personal life. I can go on and on. thank you Taylor on this topic! Hope you do another video like this!

I can relate to your experience with Christianity. I asked a lot of tough questions when I was a young child, to which I got the most inadequate answers. I wanted facts and good reasons to believe. So I went on a lifelong search for Truth. I did Buddhism, Hinduism, Hermetic and Occultic traditions... I came back to Christianity because I did some more sleuthing, realizing all of these religions cannot be true since they contradict each other. I am now pursuing a degree in Christian Apologetics at Southern Evangelical Seminary. ❤️🙏🤩

Religion defies all logic. I can't accept anything that doesn't have science to back it up. I am fascinated by religion and have studied it all my life, but I stopped being a believer as a small child, when I worked out the impossibility of it all. This was reinforced when studying the history of religion from a political standpoint and realising the use of religion was for control and subjugation in all places and in all times. I am amazed and confused that any intelligent, rational person can have any type of belief in supernatural beings, and even more confused that they discount all other gods apart from their own particular chosen ones. I mean, if it makes people happy , then fair enough, but I just can not understand that belief mindset.

I'm autistic/ADHD. I've always been a very spiritual person, I consider myself quasi-religious. As far as religious/spiritual views/understanding goes, I describe myself as a Universalist Christian Witch. So, my base is Christianity as well and I do believe in the divinity of Christ but focus on his wisdom as a teacher, rather than an authority figure. Universalism comes in because, like you said, we are all branched off from the same source, the same origin and I believe the same is true of religions. All the various religions in the world are just different interpretations of the same divinity, the same spirituality. And I practice witchcraft as a way to express and connect to my faith and the divine.

18:20 As a 16-year meditator, my experience is being the awareness of the thoughts; consciousness. The mind is a computer, ones and zeros, on and off. The mind is a powerful tool and to be used correctly; but it can be a high-tech weapon. Patriarchal religion can be a self-proclaimed box of self-righteousness. Human imperfections increase the chances of flying under the radar and causing harm. Adding up all the historical deaths in the name of religion is a bitter pill. There is a divine dance of light and dark. There is a FREE movie on RU-vid called, SAMADHI, there are 3 parts. It's worth the time to watch, I think 😉

To me, religion meant hatred and discrimination. Spirituality is different. Bigger. Most of the time, is it about accepting that we are all a part of that same big thing. That same big universe. I really loved every side and everything related to law of attraction 💜✨I also noticed a while ago that psychology and spirituality share the same base. They share an approach base on the incredible impact of our thoughts on our life, mental health and everything we attract on our life. Enough for now lol. This is just a RU-vid comment haha ;-)

On the internal topic issue of "demonizing' mental health issues and its not just mental health issues . its a very serious issue that really needs to be tackled at its core root layers , the reflective layers woven into of film Avatar: The way of water, these reflective story layers really touch upon these layers of "labeling" ,, Shunning, and creating the perspective of ----> 'The other'... In core recognition people on the autism spectrum community possess a very deep layer of recognition and internal sensitivity to such issues and look upon the depths of these oppressive layers from a very unique internal perspective . A deep problem with these "institutions" we are still grappling with everyday..

Archetypes are a bridge🌈 between science (psychology) and spirituality, left and right brain, his-story and myth.

Hypersensitivity/awareness/stimulation. Some people can actually see a bit of the UV range that wasn't theorized as possible before. As well as hearing higher frequencies. I wonder if autistic people aren't overstimulated but extra perceptive as in able to sense a literal wider range than typical. There is interesting literature about extra sensory perceptions as well like gaze-detection and FOP Feeljng of Presense

I grew up in an ultra conservative evangelical Christian church & the majority of my childhood misery & trauma stems from that cult of a religion… I wanted zero to do with church or religion after I left my parents home & I am still an atheist now. I never believed in gods or anything else supernatural as a child or now. It wasn’t & isn’t logical or reasonable to me that gods could exist & I was the kid in Sunday school always asking why. I consider myself to be a secular humanist. Now that I know I have an autistic brain it makes more sense to me why I was so frustrated as a kid when nobody had good logical and reasonable answers for me.

Descartes said, "I think therefore I am" but Karl Barth disagreed; he said, "I am thought on by God therefore I am."

👍

I have to say as a former agnostic I understand where the anger or confusion stems from when thinking back on prior religious experiences and I agree that many do not realize that they create more problems than they fix yet the truth of the matter is that we live in a fallen world so by default we're all sinners it's hard to explain without causing miscommunication so I will offer clarity; there is a difference between a mental illness and a spiritual attack most people suffer with mental illness and very few with an actual demonic attack. However there have been cases where people have been dramatically changed by accepting Jesus Christ as their saviour, for me I still suffer through mental illness although I realize I'm not demonically possessed I still know that God is there for me and Jesus Christ has died for my sins so the wrong things that I have done (and this is the seperation of my sinful actions from my mental illness) I realize that I am saved by the blood of Jesus so when the time comes I will be pardoned I still struggle yes but living life is a struggle that's the reality we all know to be true in the grand scheme of things we as humans have perpetuated the mental illness through the food we tainted the water we poisoned and the way we live through drugs and other chemicals we have put into our bodies this is the biggest point I am a sinner with a struggle that is related to my mental health however my mental health or my sins do not define me but the work on the cross defines we as a new creation and that helps me because of my anxiety I already felt like I wasn;t good enough that I was a horrible person and I was right finding Jesus has helped me realize the actual issues in my life and has calmed me down along with taking medication

Why can’t it be both spiritually and/or physiologically rooted if it is? All believers in Christ are called to be discerning of spirits, but not all are open or willing. Just like with the same illness, a prescription can be recommended by a Dr as well as a homeopathic remedy, if both help them then that’s good. I’m 67, and recently self-diagnosed through retesting myself by 6 clinical tests. 12 x’s over showing between the high and middle threshold scores, but I began to go down a dark confusing and winding path that left me terrified and frozen as my past misery and pain kept surfacing. I attended church this morning and the message reminded me that no matter what diagnosis for whatever illness, God will see me through it. I can still be ASD/ADHD but I’m not going to be defined by them nor the challenges they may have brought me in the past. I CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens me and I know who my Comforter is and who created me the way I am…colorful, sometimes loud, some say funny, creative, discerning/intuitive, intelligent, yet can be overwhelmed, anxious etc. those I can tame and overcome the debilitating results of the negative and get to a place of peace through my faith in Jesus Christ. He is the Prince of Peace. Just sharing some new perspectives for me.

I also don’t like that so many religious people/Christians think that they can/should “fix” mental health problems or things like adhd and autism or ocd or ptsd and things like that. I don’t want to be “ fixed!” I want to be understood!

I've been to Galveston. Beautiful old Victorian houses everywhere!

I’m deeply grateful I was NOT raised with a religion. I abhor being told how to believe and what to believe in. My complete belief in God as I understand God is so incredibly intimate and personal. I have found no religion that quite encompasses it. Fortunately I don’t need one either. There are aspects of my Autism that I truly love, this is one.

I am a recently saved autistic man. My church is more open minded on mental health issues. I'm saddened that it's driven a wedge between you and God but I understand fully. It's hard to navigate disability and dealing with other people. I was driven away from Christ because or Christians and they're a negative, ignorant bunch at times.

Christ Jesus died for all sins. Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!!! Autism is not sin. Holy Bible is the ultimate authority of Salvation and rules.

8:48 Exactly! I feel like that’s how so many get lost because just as children in general ask a lot of questions and then no one wants to give them an answer (or not a real/good one) so it can be head to believe and follow something that you don’t have so many questions about. Or you get like in trouble for asking so of those questions.

You might Dale Allen Hoffman’s stuff on breath work

I can relate to the Dr's. They just give up and suggest psychiatrist and psychologists.

I saw religions is motivationa coach BS with God and Jesus sprinkled in.

ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS VIDEO. I am a mother of triplets and have been suspecting having autism for the last year. I also have had ADHD since 5yo. I am ALSO deconstructing my catholic upbringing for the last two years so this video was amazing to watch and I resonate so deeply.

❤❤❤❤

I found religion distasteful throughout my life because it seems to be mostly a ruse for mind control

My autism made me an easy mark for a high demand religion and the abuse/trauma that came from that. Organized religion is something I identify as dangerous for me - a hunting ground. I have big emotions surrounding the subject that I wont get into out of respect for others' beliefs

I LOVE YOUR CHANNEL! ❤ I was raised Presbyterian, studied Catholic catechism briefly, had several Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist friends and studied Buddhism and ancient Egyptian writings on my own. I've been fascinated with religion & spirituality for years, not the dogma or ceremony but the messages. I'm also able to see ghosts sometimes and am a bit clairvoyant as well. As an undiagnosed probable ASD person, I feel I have an enhanced 6th sense and an appreciation of spirituality and connectedness.

I'm Indonesian and in my country religion is a very serious topic. It's a challenge to live with ASD in my country and I am mostly agree with your points in your previous video. But Alhamdulillah (or Thank God), I'm still able to cope with my beliefs and practice it normally, although my views towards it is much different than when I was younger (especially after moving to The Netherlands) and now I can tolerate many people's religions and beliefs. Thank you for existing.

Everyone who makes a choice in life, whether it is about religions or in general, chooses what they believe to be the "right choice". By default the other options are "wrong choices". Freedom is allowing others the right to make "wrong choices" or even "poor choices". Social skills, manners or common courtesy is being respectful to another's freedom to make their own choices in life..... despite my opinions about it. (Strong or mild) People do have a legal right to be "dumb". (Using an extremely opinionated mindset) However when you are in an intimate relationship with someone....... family, long time friends etc people tend to voice those private opinions, wanted or not. Loved ones love you. "Poor choices" creates anxiety and anxiety can motivate us to be pushy or step out of line. My take away tho is as life goes on we learn the wisdom of our over the top opinionated loved ones or the wisdom of the "poor choice". They may not have been a poor choice after all. 🤷‍♀️

Hi Taylor, I am playing catch up with your videos. This was a wonderful session and I feel I could write ten thousand pages on this. I won’t😱. But I will keep to the topic of religion. I tend to look at religion with logic as I am a definitely a black a white thinker. As I have said before I have no problem with there being a creator. I often ponder what I would do if I created all of the wonder around me. My conclusion is that I would set things in motion and move on as it were and create another one somewhere else. I wouldn’t create all of this and then make such strange rules about who is included. That stuff is man made for sure. I stumbled upon a 17th century Dutch philosopher called Baruch de Spinoza and “What God would say?” To me he is right on. I would include what he wrote but its probably too long for a RU-vid post. Anyway my two cents. You are so open and real that I always feel like I just had a great chat with you. I am loving to community you are creating!

Can you talk about really low income people who suffer autism? Cptsd etc. Right now, you seem so stressed.

Hearing about your background, I think you are amazing!

I can’t say I’ve had a problem with religion and having autism and other things they were still nice they didn’t think we were deomonic but the kids my age back in the day always made fun of me and treated me like I was stupid or talked down to me cause I can’t read very well but other then that it’s been fine but they always remind people don’t judge those with disabilities or mental health issues you should be nice

~ God created mankind. ~ Man created religion.

My Asperger's doesn't allow me to believe fiction is real. I could never comprehend how, If a child @ the age of 7 could figure out the silliness of religion and the beliefs in fictional characters being real. Why couldn't adults figure it out?

I was super religious. Religion is the enemy. Jesus is freedom! Jesus is the only way to God. Jesus is the best friend you can ever have. Give Jesus a try!