( big grin) tbi - the online free dictionary showed me about forty uses besides traumatic brain injury, about which I know next to nothing.

Being terminally curious, . . . .

@Gwendolyn2018 Ahh that makes me feel a bit better, this guy has shown signs of loose screws before.

@Normanbites Daniel, please tell me more, esp about the loose screws.

@yvilletom I'm not sure I understand this request. I was responding to Gwendolyn2018's comment, ".....He says it isn't because the men who run the religions are autistic. Women are merely the followers. "

That's a bucket of loose screws right there.

In case you missed it, I am clearly Autistic, that does not make me even remotely religious and women are not necessarily "followers" nor ever have been.

@Normanbites Religious behavior is a consequence, one of several consequences, of autism. Like you, I’m not sure what @Gwendolyn2018 meant.

@yvilletom If that were true, as I am definitely Autistic, I should be definitely religious. I definitely am not religious. Your Hypothesis is severely flawed. And your idea that women are necessarily "followers" of any type, including religion is also clearly and severely flawed. You should abandon that hypothesis as well.

@Normanbites No. Religious BEHAVIOR IS A CONSEQUENCE - ONE OF SEVERAL CONSEQUENCES - of autism.

Many, not all, women are followers. You added the word “necessarily”; TAKE IT OUT.

@yvilletom Right .... so religion can also be a consequence of being an ignoramus .... therefore you must be highly religious.

@Normanbites End of discussion.

@Gwendolyn2018 In science, a hypothesis is not a claim. It is a statement to be tested and either proven or disproven.

Doubt is encouraged. You are performing well.

@yvilletom This hypothesis does not seem to be doing well.

@Gwendolyn2018 And in science that research may disprove it.

Read the hypothesis more carefully. Autism has several consequences. One of them is religious behavior.

Your post rang some bells for me. Your comment RE: eye contact in particular .... I've never been "trained" for that and to this day it shows. For me, too late .... but for him with the advent of the Dunning-Krueger effect and recent recognition contrary to prior popular opinion "eye-contact" no longer signifies "honesty and competence" as it used to as the public becomes more aware this is something liars and conmen do to gain your trust. So there my be some "relief" for your son in that regard.

And ummm "Social Cues" that's kind of a mixed bag. The idea of "micro-expressions" is now thankfully being debunked. However, there are more "timeless" cues and circumstances that require some learning, sometimes painful and unsettling. But hopefully for your son, there will be less nonsense to deal with than I had.

@Gwendolyn2018 My son was an early talker, and a prodigiously early reader and singer, yet he was diagnosed with Asperger's at age 6 because of his extremely unusual social and play behavior, and "stimming" -hand flapping, spinning, etc. He maxed out the verbal IQ section in kindergarten (hyperlexia), yet didn't get the simplest of social cues, had meltdowns, sensory overload, and so many autistic-like behaviors. In the mid-1990s, Asperger's was a new diagnosis in the US, so we were offered very little help. We had to sue the school district for everything we got. If he had been taught people reading readiness in kindergarten instead of reading readiness, which he already knew, his life would have been much easier.

'

@Gwendolyn2018 indicators is just his way of getting around providing evidence for his claims.

@Gwendolyn2018 I'm so glad your grandson is doing well. All kinds of awful things can befall children on the spectrum. I have my own horror story about what happened to my son at Devon Elementary School in the Phila. suburbs. On his first day there, when he was 8 years old, they placed him in an "emotional support" classroom that was anything but. Halfway through the day, he got up to use the bathroom without permission, and the teachers aide and the teacher, not having read his IEP, didn't realize he has malformations of the kidneys and bladder, and must use the bathroom whenever he needs it. They literally tackled him and threw him to the floor face down. They restrained him there for three hours!!!!! He kept saying he couldn't breathe. He kept calling out for me, and of course, had a meltdown, because they were killing him. Noibody called me during that time. At the end of the day, they called a taxi, shoved him into it, and still didn't call me! The first I heard of it was when he arrived in a taxi! The following day, they held an IEP meeting without including me or my ex-husband. The way I found out was by calling the school, and the secretary told me what was going on. As I had just stepped out of the shower, my hair was wringing wet. I jumped into my car, went down to the school, and walked into the illegal IEP meeting. I don't remember exactly what I said, but without expletives, I reamed each and every one of those so-called educators out, and vowed to contact a lawyer. The result was that the director of special ed. got fired over the incident, and we won a private school for kids on the spectrum for our son. Unfortunately, he is scarred for life over what happened. I am glad I'm not a violent person, or something else would have happened, I am sure.

That was not the end of my son's horrors, though. A year later, a relative whose name I will not mention, wrote a book about him and other children with disabilities. She did not ask our or his permission before the book came out. It was filled with lies and inaccuracies. When he was 16, he found the book, and read it. He was livid, and went through a depression over it. He was mentioned by name. I told him at that time that when he was an adult, he could sue the author if he so desired, and I would support him. Luckily for her, he decided not to do that.

People on the spectrum are often treated as if they are not even human. It makes me want to weep. My son, against all odds, is doing well as a double engineering major who works as a teaching assistant in a university lab. He does not have any of his childhood teachers to thank. He has only his own intelligence and initiative.

Please forgive me for getting emotional, but ordinary humans are capable of such appalling, egregious behavior -people in the educational field, even. This almost seemed like gang violence to me. No one thought to say: "enough!" when they were pinning my son to the floor. Even to this day I feel so helpless., and don't trust many people at all. I read a lot about primate behavior in order to understand why people act the way they do. I think that more than anything, that has helped me.

@Gwendolyn2018 What happened to your grandson, too, was completely unforgiveable. Our kids on the spectrum hear such awful things about themselves from adults who should know much better. Your grandson is so lucky to have you at his IEP meetings. How could they have left your grandson to cry on the floor of a locked room? And...criticizing him for needing a bathroom break?!? WTF?

Incidentally, I took a lawyer friend who also had a son on the spectrum to my next IEP meeting. Although I was well within my rights, the SPED people still acted as if I ambushed them.

Even at the age of 32 my son is still at times overwhelmed by sounds. When he comes here and the dog barks, or I call his name, he gets upset. I think it's the sudden noises which bother him the most. He startles easily. He still wears headphones and listens to music while studying. He does not like me to visit him in his house for some reason, but will come here, though he has to drive a long distance. I can't make sense of that, and he can't explain it either. Strangely enough, I just got a phone call from him that he is coming over to my house to fix some equipment, even though I offered to drive the 125 miles to his place with the broken equipment on Sunday. Go figure!

A thoughtful reply. Thanks.

Re "lazy thinking". I try to avoid judgmental language.

Re "not wanting to have to think much". Ritual requires little thinking, enables automatic responses.

I think religiosity has a lot to do with being just plain gullible, and maybe a bit delusional. The religious person also wants to belong to something bigger than they are. That said, I know plenty of people who are otherwise okay emotionally, who go to church in order to meet others, and to join groups. I've worked in churches for decades as an organist. It's just one of the things I do as a musician trying to make a living. Some churches are awful, and I wouldn't set foot in them. The mainstream protestant ones are more progressive here in the Northeast. I don't mind taking a paycheck just to play songs for them. The people are nice enough, with a few notable exceptions. I do have some interesting stories about that.

My son is on the spectrum, and is agnostic. He hates criminality and people who get away with it, like Trump. I have ADD, and am similar.

Hey, 70 year @OldWiseAss . I'm almost 92 years wise. I won't wait for you to catch up. (grin)

Don't men make religions and lead in them?

@yvilletom They do, but women are more likely to attend church services:

[pewresearch.org].

@BD66 Those who attend church are known as followers.

Don't men make religions and lead in them?

@yvilletom Yes but that would be religious leadership and not religion. We autistic people like to be exact.

@Fernapple (grin) There are religions without hierarchy (other than preachers' wives, boyfriends, and more youthful and diverse consorts).

@yvilletom I know of none. There are a few like Quakerism, which do seem to be egalitarian, but it is not a religion. Just a sub-sect of the very hierarcical Christian religion, which respects an imaginary, male god, male leader, male prophets, male writers of holy books, and male apologists.