Am I autistic? Am I atheist?

BELGİN AKALTAN - belgin.akaltan@hdn.com.tr

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At such times, one is left speechless. In my case, wordless... If you live in Turkey, you MUST have heard about the incident. If you read our paper and/or visit our website, then again, you couldn’t have possibly missed it. Only if you are outside Turkey and occasionally click onto us, then you need a sum up:

The head of the southern city Adana’s Association for Autistic Children, sociologist Fehmi Kaya, reportedly said, “Autistic children are all atheists. They do not know how to believe in God because they do not have a section for faith in their brains. That is why they don’t know how to pray, how to believe in God. It is necessary to create awareness in these children through methods of therapy.” He also reportedly said according to research in the US and Canada, atheism was a form of autism.

No need to say the Autism Platform, Turkish Psychologists Association and any other known organization have condemned this person and declared that what he has said was totally wrong. End of story, beginning of comments:

At times like this, I resort to social media – which is spontaneous, neutral and natural. Besides, it provides a window for those who do not speak the language into a section of the society that they are otherwise unable to reach. Here are some selected comments about these scandalous statements:

Before that, here is what I think in very, very simple terms: If you make religion the only reference in life, if religion is used for politics, then this is what you get. Expect more of it.

Even though this subject is a heartbreaking, grave, sad, stupid one, hard to joke about, force yourself away from your daily troubles and try to enjoy the humor for a couple of minutes:

Metin Uca (Twitter): Autism may be a curable child disease but the cure to transform this ox dressed as a sociologist into a human being has not been found yet!

Jack Skellington (Twitter): What is this faith field in the brain? If we hit a believer hard at that certain spot, can we make an atheist out of that person? This should immediately be clarified and a hard hat to protect beliefs should be manufactured. Second: You refer to researchers in the US and Canada.

Which article, which researcher? Is this a scientific way of saying the source was your bottom? Then let me present this finding: Researchers have found that certain sociologists in the Middle East are retards with highly developed bootlicking abilities.“

Umberto d (Twitter): This is a sentence that shows that Turkey has really developed to a good spot, given that the existing raw material is this. If a sociologist is like this, then it is really unfair to say anything to the rest.

illawarrior hill (HDN commentator): The person who made these comments clearly has a much larger piece of his brain missing than autistic children do…

A form of vegetable

Tekion Particle (HDN commentator): This guy himself needs therapy so that he can develop a section in his brain that would stop him talking rubbish. Why is everyone in Turkey obsessed with making everyone else religious?

Vargen Vargen (HDN commentator): Well, this country never gets boring, that is for sure.

Heidi Brandow (HDN commentator): Wow. Someone needs to tell this guy to go back to the rock he crawled out from under…

Doğu Yücel (Twitter): I thought it was a Zaytung story when I first saw it. It was not.

Haluk Ilıcak (Twitter): Sociologist Fehmi Kaya has said all autistic children are atheists. I could not believe it and I was horrified that scientific brains in Turkey have such a mentality.

mehmetsahin (Twitter): In Medieval times, when people came across an unknown disease, then the clergy considered that devil got into that person and that person was distancing from God, hence the reason for his disease was that his faith had weakened. What would you call such a perverted mind in 21st century Turkey?

bbwebbroker (Twitter): Actually it is autistic children who grasp God the best. Or maybe I should put it this way: When you look at an autistic child, you feel God in your heart. Even that proves the light they shed on the line of faith…

kjswbdlkjfdlkj (ekşi sözlük): a sentence uttered by a form of vegetable…

neal cassady (ekşi sözlük): This sentence which contains pretty serious hate speech both against atheists and autistics will not be processed by any one prosecutor.

sigaram ve ben (ekşi sözlük): If one comes up and says, “Islam is a form of imbecility,” that person is taken to court, at best… But someone else belittles my faithlessness, says it is a form of autism. He defines it as a shortcoming, a disorder that needs therapy. When I react to that, I might be prosecuted. This is what we call freedom of speech out here guys…

emsal kalfa (ekşi sözlük): It is a statement of a person who wants to emphasize that atheism just like homosexuality is not a choice but a genetic disorder, a disease; and who believes in this so much that he can use autistic children as propaganda material for this…

My officemate Mukadder: “God, it is you who has created this person, why don’t you follow up on such?”

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