Ok folks I found this nifty little test on the internet that will tell you what religion you belong to, by your answers instead of where you go. Go check it out: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html Matt a little help there plz.
Curt
PS my score was 100% Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints
EDIT by matthew: Linked.
That was very cool
I learned alot from doing that. It says 100% Protestant. Very interesting.
My score…
It pegged me. Here’s my top ten. Pretty cool. I still want to attend a UU meeting sometime; there are several congregations around Salt Lake.
I began calling myself a “secular humanist”, among those who have any idea what it is, about a year ago. What’s funny to me is that I’d “arrived” at secular humanism on my own. I walked through my beliefs one-by-one, trying to figure out what fit and what didn’t with my self-concept. I eventually nailed down several things, and only later discovered that there was a name for what I was.
What’s more curious to me is that I ranked high for “Liberal Quakers” and “Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants”. Apparently, you can be a Christian even if you consider questions of the Afterlife, God, Jesus, and “salvation” utterly irrelevant to your life, but have strong opinions on human rights. I’ll have to feed the test some bogus answers to figure out how it works 🙂
1. Secular Humanism (100%) 2. Unitarian Universalism (98%) 3. Liberal Quakers (86%) 4. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (79%) 5. Nontheist (70%) 6. Theravada Buddhism (67%) 7. Neo-Pagan (67%) 8. New Age (55%) 9. Taoism (55%) 10. Orthodox Quaker (50%)
Interesting note: my former religion (Mormon) was #14, with a 43% match. Which may explain why I was comfortable there for so long: I agreed with roughly half of what the Church teaches 🙂
—
Matthew P. Barnson
EDIT: Apparently, they have a discussion board where people talk about this utility, too. It’s surprising how many people are offended by what the test thinks they are. Another community which promotes religious diversity, which is my personal fave, is religioustolerance.org. The thing I love about their site is their complete absence of favoritism, and purposeful vetting to remove bias from all articles — pro or con.
Interesting
I’ve taken this test a number of times, and my results came out differently this time:
1. Liberal Quakers (100%) 2. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (97%) 3. Unitarian Universalism (97%) 4. Neo-Pagan (94%) 5. New Age (89%) 6. Secular Humanism (81%) 7. Bahá’à Faith (77%) 8. Mahayana Buddhism (67%) 9. Theravada Buddhism (65%) 10. Reform Judaism (62%) Interesting that not just the Quakers, but Mainline Protestantism scores higher than my chosen faith (which is somewhere between Neo-Paganism is Secular Humanism) and the faith I was raised in (Reform Judaism).
Also interesting that apparently you can be a Mainline Protestant without actually believing in a singular God or Jesus. 😉 Learn something new every day.
— Ben
A few pages at beliefnet
There are actually beliefnet summary pages for all of these. I think it’s interesting that certain beliefs — Liberal Quakers and Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants, for instance — are sufficiently broad to cover an extreme variety of belief and non-belief.
I find myself wondering if this could be considered a “bias” in favor of such liberal belief systems in taking the test? Some of the subjective evaluations on their message board suggest this.
Anyway, note that on the results page, you can click the links to find executive summaries of your “religion” (I’m going through several of them right now). Which is funny to me, because I don’t regard some of the religions listed to be religions at all… they’re specifically not religious organizations (if there is any organization at all), and in many cases themselves consider organized religion an anathema…
—
Matthew P. Barnson
religions
Perhaps “belief systems” would be more accurate.
— Ben
Supremes
This is why the Supreme Court has refused to hear cases which attempt to require a legal definition of “religion” 🙂 According to one of my neighbors, scientific truth is my religion. That’s too nebulous. Except maybe I could arrange to become a non-profit organization and become tax-exempt…
Yeah!
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Religion
Here’s my definition, which has served me very well.
Spirituality = an active belief in the supernatural (in some form)
Religion = Spirituality plus codified ritual
— Ben
I’m not so sure…
1. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%) 2. Bahá’à Faith (87%) 3. Liberal Quakers (79%) 4. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (78%) 5. Unitarian Universalism (72%) 6. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (68%) 7. New Thought (64%) 8. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (59%) 9. Jehovah’s Witness (57%) 10. Reform Judaism (57%)
I’m not so sure I buy the idea of being 68% LDS (or anything for that matter). What I mean by that is that there are a few fundamental ideologies to which you HAVE to subscribe to be LDS. In fact, in the case of Mormonism, failing to agree with the fundamental doctorines will get you excommunicated making you effectively 0% LDS regardless of how much else you may agree with.
An example of one of these would be a belief in Joseph Smith as a prophet who restored Christ’s gospel on earth. Another would be a belief that baptism, and other so-called “saving” ordinances, are required for salvation. If you don’t have those beliefs in your system then there’s not much overlap into a religion like Mormonism.
Interesting results for me, I think. I was surprised to see any form of real, organized religion on my list. I have a belief in a creator but noted on the test that I had no specific belief in the exact nature of that creator.
The same was true of my answers relating to an afterlife. The questions about “salvation or exhaltation” I answered in light of my belief that healthy emotional living is the key to eternal happines. I can see how an automated test, without benefit of deeper questioning, could interperet those answers the same as traditional Christian values. Also, as many of you know, I have strong opinions about abortion which are in-line with most organized American religions. My views on homosexuality, womens’ roles, and required rituals do not line up with most conservative religious groups though.
Interesting study one way or the other. ——– Visit my blog, eh! The Murphy Maphia
Spirituality test
They also have a “spirituality test” on their site. Unfortunately, that one was simply a linear scale, from hard-core skeptic through “Candidate for the Clergy”. The one in particular that struck me was the “terrible disasters affect my belief about God in this way” question… I thought “terrible disasters have nothing to do with the metaphysical.” But the only answer they had which was even close was “Terrible disasters convince me there is no God”, which isn’t really even that close to my thoughts.
I note their pages on “secular faiths” (heh, that’s an oxymoron) are quite sparse. My suspicion is that beliefnet promotes religious belief of one sort or another; nonbelief, though on the radar, doesn’t quite match the goal of the site, or, at least, nonbelief advocates don’t appear to use it as a sounding board.
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Interesting.
Here are my Top 10.
1. Unitarian Universalism (100%) 2. Secular Humanism (85%) 3. Liberal Quakers (82%) 4. Theravada Buddhism (80%) 5. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (78%) 6. Nontheist (64%) 7. Neo-Pagan (63%) 8. Mahayana Buddhism (55%) 9. Bahá’à Faith (54%) 10. New Age (54%)
Interesting that i was raised mainly in the Roman Catholic religion and it came in as 27th.
Hmm…
JB
Funny thing
I was raised baptist and it didn’t even make the list.
My Top Ten
1) A Major 2) c minor 3) E Major 4) e minor 5) G Major 6) Bb Major 7) c minor 8) Bb minor 9) g minor 10) D Major
I object!
I object to your inclusion of certain keys twice! You’ve blatantly chosen to believe in the superiority of Bb Major over g minor, and eliminated Eb Major from consideration in favor of calling it c minor.
Heretic!
Besides, the inherent superiority of F# Major should be baldly obvious to you by now. You seem to be an educated chap. I cannot understand your pigheadedness in continuing this fatuous dodge.
Of course, I expect your riposte will have something to do with D# Minor. Bah! Follywogs and grumblekins! I have you figured out!
For the musically-impaired: Bb Major and g minor (natural) are the same key. F# major/d# minor has the unique distinction of using every black key on the piano keyboard; it is referred to as Gb Major and eb minor, respectively. Notating it is a chore, because you end up with an E# (the same as an F), or if you go with the gb minor notation, you end up flatting a C, which is a B, but actually a Cb. Irritating, but I love the tonality of tunes in this key, so what do you do?
—
Matthew P. Barnson
In my religion
In my religion, relative major/minor keys aren’t the same, espeically on certain stringed instruments. Same thing with vocal ranges. Also, Harmonic minor changes the notes. Thus, I’ve been brought up to approach those keys differently.
Also, in my religion, I think about scales in flats, rather than sharps.
Equal Temperament
I believe in Equal Temperament. Pythagoras was a one-sided mathematical zealot 🙂
I’ve gotten into flamewars on internet newsgroups about the intonation problems with equal temperament. People don’t believe it exists. Noobs. Also note I edited my original post for clarity 🙂
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Unless It’s Neil Diamond
Because then…FLAME ON!!!
Heartlight
Neil Diamond wrote precisely one good song: “Heartlight”. And it was only good if you were living in the early 80’s, and had recently seen E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. And if you were a small kid who thought it was cool someone wrote a song about E.T., since he was your hero.
I wonder how many other people share that feeling? It might be only me 🙂
He did write one other catchy tune: “Coming to America”. It’s unfortunate, because it’s catchy-but-annoying. “TODAY!” Over and over again. Like that “Smelly Cat” song from Friends. Or “Two sets of prints for one low price!” or other commercial jingles. It just gets stuck in your head like taffy on the park bench where you just sat during a hot, humid day.
—
Matthew P. Barnson
-cowers-
I actually really like Neil Diamond. I particularly like the songs he wrote for “The Monkees” as well as most of the stuff he recorded himself. “Kentucky Woman” is one of my personal favorites. “Song Sung Blue” is another. ——– Visit my blog, eh! The Murphy Maphia
Also…
I like pie.
——– Visit my blog, eh! The Murphy Maphia
It’s not his songwriting…
It’s not his songwriting, really. (“TODAY!”). It’s his irritating lounge-lizard voice.
It’s kind of like how I don’t like Joe Cocker’s work. The man was probably a musical genius according to his fans, but his voice sounded like someone scraping a rusty saw across a chalkboard. I always hated it, and despite whatever “merit” there is in his work, the voice just ruined it for me. Never saw what people saw in it.
Great. Now I’ve got “Song Sung Blue” stuck in my head. Whatever else Diamond did, he wrote a bunch of hit tunes that won’t go away. Even when they’re not on the freakin’ radio anymore.
—
Matthew P. Barnson
I agree
One man’s tenor is another man’s baritone. Which of them is right and which is wrong?
——– Visit my blog, eh! The Murphy Maphia
A Major?
Dude, you are totally living in the past. Everyone knows that Eb Major is the road to salvation. I’ll pray for your soul.
— Ben
beleif-o-matic answers (from an inactive mormon…eek)
these are my responses– from teh quiz
1. Unitarian Universalism (100%) 2. Liberal Quakers (95%) 3. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (88%) 4. Neo-Pagan (82%) 5. Theravada Buddhism (81%) 6. Mahayana Buddhism (80%) 7. Secular Humanism (80%) 8. New Age (77%) 9. Taoism (74%)
What *I* Believe In
With all apologies to the familiness of the site:
“Well, I believe in the soul, the c***, the p***y, the small of a woman’s back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.”
My $.02 Weed
Attribution:)
Attribution: Bull Durham. Found this nifty page explaining the slang used.
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Mine is right on, sort of!
–Here are my top twelve plus one. 1. Neo-Pagan (100%) 2. Mahayana Buddhism (90%) 3. New Age (90%) 4. Hinduism (82%) 5. Jainism (82%) 6. Unitarian Universalism (79%) 7. Liberal Quakers (73%) 8. Theravada Buddhism (72%) 9. Reform Judaism (69%) 10. Sikhism (65%) 11. New Thought (63%) 12. Scientology (61%) 27. Roman Catholic (17% I find it very interesting that my former religion of being a Catholic came in dead last. That might be the reason why it is former. Oh and when I started out searching I was a Baptist myself for a while. It didn’t even make the cut. I would like however to find out how they have found a line between Neo-Paganism and New Age? Most of the older communities that follow an old traditional path find the two to be one and the same. I guess it depends on how many crystals you have. LOL. Teresa the Flautist and fire dancer