So do other atheists <\/a>who recognize that much of the atheist subculture seems to have serious trouble with normal affective and social cues. Such atheist get a lot of flack from the rather large segment of the atheist community on line which can see absolutely no problems at all with itself and wonders why the world does not recognize their obvious and flawless superiority to the untermenschen.<\/p>\nNot surprisingly, Rajib Khan, writing on Discover Magazine\u2019s \u2018Gene Expression\u2019 blog said of the study resultes, \u201cI doubt this is going to surprise too many people.\u201d Nope. Not at all. He\u2019s right that you can\u2019t generalize to the whole population, of course. But the fact remains that, particularly on line, the bulk of the voices (and many of the leaders such as Dawkins, Myers, and Coyne) do come across like people who seem singularly incapable of normal social and emotional interactions. They themselves attribute it to their massively superior intellects. I attribute it something like an autism spectrum disorder. <\/p>\n
Let me hasten to add: There\u2019s no shame in autism spectrum disorders just as there\u2019s no shame in any other of the afflictions to which flesh is heir. God can make a saint out of every human being he creates if only the will to cooperate with grace is there and I expect there will be any number of saints who bore the cross of autism spectrum disorders as they have borne many other afflictions. <\/p>\n
But there is shame in pride and the culture of Evangelical Atheism is absolutely sodden with it. Such pride blinds weak people to the fact that they are weak and turns their characteristic flaws (whatever they are) into \u201cvirtues\u201d that help make them the abrasive jerks that guys like Myers, Coyne and their acolytes perpetually show themselves to be. Sin, as well as grace, \u201cbuilds\u201d on nature.<\/p>\n