Abstract

Religion remains one of the key social institutions and in this chapter, we will consider religious responses to autism. There is a possibility, albeit a speculative one, that persons with autism were an important contributing factor in the genesis of religion itself. Given that, one might imagine that religious organisations would be safe havens for people with ASD today. The available literature does not support this intuition. Churches have gone as far as to take out court orders barring “disruptive” persons diagnosed as autistic from their premises, and religions other than Christianity fare little better. There are indications that people with autism have a marked tendency towards irreligion to the point of outright atheism. This has to do not only with a general pattern of rejection from the world of organised religion, but also from the respective natures of religion and ASD themselves. However, those religions that favour orthopraxy over orthodoxy will tend to be more accommodating, and also more successful in their attempts at intervention.

From this, it emerges that the approach we need to take to teach religion to learners with autism is to focus on religiously correct ritual behaviour. Educators and religious professionals will need to let go of insisting that religion is something to believe, and see it as equally, or more, as a way to behave, and thereby to be. Integrating a young person into a religious community is a challenge at the best of times. Integrating a young person with autism requires a specific approach.

Imagine what it is like. Someone begins to tell you stories about a man dying and being resurrected and living inside of you. Where exactly does he live? Heart? Lungs? Kidneys? What a disturbing thought! Then they tell you that God is here but you cannot see him, although he is in control of your life nevertheless! And such truths for Christians come before anyone suggests that they gouge their eyes out if tempted by lust! (Swinton & Trevett, 2009, p. 2)