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Autism is typically framed as a condition characterized by difficulties in understanding other minds. From this idea, a seemingly straightforward conclusion has followed: if autistic people struggle with social mindreading, perceived relationships with invisible gods, spirits, and other supernatural agents should be unlikely—and perhaps even impossible. But what if this assumption is wrong?

This book invites the reader into the everyday worlds of autistic young adults who describe themselves as religious or spiritual. Based on close, collaborative ethnography that treats autistic accounts as essential sources of knowledge, it reveals a rich landscape of supernatural meaning-making grounded in sensory perception, narrative worlds, emotional attachment, and embodied experience. These findings demonstrate how such experiences emerge at the intersection of cognition, culture, and lived bodily reality—and how autistic perspectives bring the limitations of dominant models into view while opening new conceptual possibilities.

Engaging with the cognitive science of religion, anthropology, and critical autism studies, this work offers fresh insights into the diversity of religious experience and argues that cognitive difference is not a problem to be explained away, but a vital resource for rethinking belief, imagination, and the human enactment of the world.

Autism is typically framed as a condition characterized by difficulties in understanding other minds. From this idea, a seemingly straightforward conclusion has followed: if autistic people struggle with social mindreading, perceived relationships with invisible gods, spirits, and other supernatural agents should be unlikely—and perhaps even impossible. But what if this assumption is wrong?

This book invites the reader into the everyday worlds of autistic young adults who describe themselves as religious or spiritual. Based on close, collaborative ethnography that treats autistic accounts as essential sources of knowledge, it reveals a rich landscape of supernatural meaning-making grounded in sensory perception, narrative worlds, emotional attachment, and embodied experience. These findings demonstrate how such experiences emerge at the intersection of cognition, culture, and lived bodily reality—and how autistic perspectives bring the limitations of dominant models into view while opening new conceptual possibilities.

Engaging with the cognitive science of religion, anthropology, and critical autism studies, this work offers fresh insights into the diversity of religious experience and argues that cognitive difference is not a problem to be explained away, but a vital resource for rethinking belief, imagination, and the human enactment of the world.

Tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) are popular hobbies that may offer specific social benefits for autistic people. This study investigated the ability of TTRPGs to provide a safe space where autistic adults could develop relationships with other autistic adults while engaging in character and world-building. A group of eight autistic adults were split into two groups and taken through a short-form online Dungeons and Dragons campaign over 6 weeks run by one of the researchers. The researcher then led a series of individual semi-structured interviews discussing how participants felt interacting in and out of the TTRPG. Several key themes were identified as important aspects of why autistic people could benefit from such an environment. Analysis showed that while real-life interactions could be challenging, in TTRPG play, they felt they experienced significantly fewer struggles. Results suggested that TTRPGs can provide a safe space environment where autistic adults can engage in productive social interactions with like-minded individuals. It also may allow autistic participants to experience 'bleed' or the ability to take on a new character that changes the way they feel about themselves outside of the game. Future directions for this work are discussed.

This presentation delves into consumption of paranormal horror, such as visits to haunted houses and horror movies, which people seek out for enchantment. In line with the research conducted at the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University, enchantment is described as a liminal state between pleasant and unpleasant, as well as between reality and fantasy. The empirical examples presented illustrate how unexpected and unusual events simultaneously are described as fearful and exciting; an act of balance which can be explained through the cognitive theory of predictive processing. The paper moreover illustrates the interactional loop between media consumption and religion, which seem to impact each other in various ways.  

Live action role-play (larp) is an improvised and embodied form of storytelling that develops through co-creation. While autistic individuals generally dislike unpredictable situations and social interaction in larger groups, anecdotal reports suggest that they often are found in the larping community. Through interviews with 10 autistic, experienced adult larpers, this study investigates larp as a scene for social learning. The examination focuses on the attraction of larps; what the participants learn about social interaction through larping; and how such insights transfer to everyday life. From a cognitive point of view, larping comes through as an optimal autistic space where players feel safe enough to dare push their social boundaries, which conceivably contributes to the formation of more precise social predictions since experimentation and mistakes facilitate embodied learning. From the participants' point of view, larping improved their understanding of social nuances, which in turn increased social confidence and well-being in everyday life.