On Rachel Held Evans' site, there is an excellent post by Erin Thomas on Embracing Faith As an Aspie. The post is excellent, as were many of the comments. But my favorite comment was by lainiep:
"As
an aspie female myself, I resonate with a lot of what Erin has to say.
One of the difficulties with Asperger's Syndrome is that it is often
very difficult to find safe community. Ironically, this can be
particularly difficult in churches that emphasize 'relationships,'
'transparency,' etc. For many people in these churches, someone who
needs time to get to know others is clearly broken and in need of
fixing.
"(An aspie is also vulnerable to abusers/bullies/power-trippers in churches who use the rhetoric of community.)
"Until
churches are willing to acknowledge that genuine relationships take
time to develop and stop expecting instant intimacy, aspies may have a
difficult time finding a suitable worshiping community."
And Maddie_Faddenoid has a good response to that:
"I
don't have aspergers but I'm introverted and I can relate to that so
much. I went to a church that was all about 'relationships' and
'accountability' and I felt under a lot of pressure to share my biggest
struggles and deepest vulnerabilities with people I wasn't totally
comfortable with because I didn't know them very well at all. It was
difficult. I was treated as if I had something wrong with me and it was
hur[t]ful. The super-extroverted youth pastor just didn't get me at all
and would leap to hurtful conclusions about me, my family, my upbringing
and what he considered to be 'my issues' (none of his 'counsel' was
solicited). It's horrible to have to justify who you cannot possibly
help being when who you cannot possibly help being is treated as
defective. This was all in the name of relationships and
accountability."