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The Church, Autism and Men

3: God and the male brain - part two

By Craig Millward

In the first post in this series I referred to two articles which describe the reasons individuals on the autistic spectrum (who, statistically speaking, will be predominantly male) are less likely to believe in God. What is more, since typical male brains are considered by neurologists to differ in some respects to typical female brains, I cannot help but wonder whether these findings may explain why churches tend to have far more women members than men, and why female attendees are often more deeply engaged with a great deal of the activity that goes on in traditional ‘church’ services.

In this post I am going to explore how the difficulty people on the autistic spectrum have reading social and emotional messages makes it harder for them to attribute feelings and emotions to God, and thus relate to the deity in ways many churches encourage their members to do. Many men experience a similar challenge.

When we communicate with each other it is well known that words contribute a very small part of the message conveyed. When in conversation, eye tracking technology has revealed that most people spend the majority of time looking at the eyes of the person they are listening to. This is because, in addition to tone of voice and other signals, the eyes convey a huge amount of sensory information. Someone with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) or High Functioning Autism tends to spend far more time looking at the mouth of the person speaking. This may be because someone with AS will often find it harder to follow verbal instructions than neuro-typical people, and watching the lips prevents sensory overload, which is the primary difficulty faced by a person with AS.

Now, whilst it is true that God does not have a mouth and eyes to watch, this does mean that an autistic person will have significantly less experience interpreting a full range of social cues effectively. Someone with AS will also tend to spend far less time in social situations because they may find them tiring, which also means they have had less practice interpreting what others are thinking or feeling.

So, when we are told that God ‘loves’ us, women who may be able to access both sides of the brain more readily may thus be better disposed to feel empathy, and find it easier to envisage a loving being. They will thus find it easier to imagine what a being who is not visible but who loves is like. The steps necessary to draw near and trust such a God are therefore well rehearsed and relatively straightforward.

Someone with AS, and some men not on the autistic spectrum, will have a much harder time and may not, in fact, find the idea of being loved by a being they can’t see an attractive proposition. Being ‘loved’ implies closeness, which can sometimes feel threatening. It can also conjure up fears of a lifetime of trying to interpret even harder-to-read signals, since God has no physical features.

Part of the problem with the concept of ‘love’ is that it has been romanticised and sexualised to such a degree that it has become largely meaningless. Christian theology tells us that, because God IS love, he acts. This opens the possibility that God’s love is a far more concrete reality than many churches often communicate. Men and those with AS may find it much more attractive to be called to participate in the actions that flow from God’s love - which is exactly what Jesus called us to do.

An example is forgiveness. God’s love leads him to forgive. Jesus tells us that, in order to receive and participate in the experience of forgiveness we must also forgive. Obeying this instruction can be tough. We are forced to take concrete action which is what men often need to do in order to feel something. The same could be said of concepts like ‘grace’ or ‘justice’. Doing becomes the means that both sides of the brain are activated and the truth of God is experienced.