Monday, January 04, 2010

Religious Belief

Here's the introduction to the "quiz" I took at BeliefNet:

Even if YOU don't know what faith you are, Belief-O-MaticTM knows. Answer 20 questions about your concept of God, the afterlife, human nature, and more, and Belief-O-Matic™ will tell you what religion (if any) you practice...or ought to consider practicing.


So I took the quiz and here are my top five results:

1. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (100%)
2. Eastern Orthodox (99%)
3. Roman Catholic (99%)
4. Orthodox Quaker (93%)
5. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (84%)


I'm certainly not surprised at the #1 answer, but I was surprised by what I read at that link. One would think that I'd agree with the major tenets listed since I scored 100%, but I absolutely do not (the Genesis creation story is one such philosophical difference, for example). So while I consider myself a "mainstream Protestant", I'm not a fundamentalist or evangelical--two categories that this quiz classifies under my #1 category.

Interestingly enough, Mormon came in #8 at 69%, Islam #9 at 69%, Jehovah's Witness #14 at 60%, and Scientologist #19 at 38%. And bringing up the rear:

26. Secular Humanism (18%)
27. Taoism (16%)

If it's not too personal, take the quiz and let us know in the comments how you score and if you think it's "right". I've certainly identified my own concerns about the label I was given.

13 comments:

God said...

1. Secular Humanism (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism (91%)
3. Liberal Quakers (75%)
4. Nontheist (73%)
5. Theravada Buddhism (68%)

I agree with my results.

Anonymous said...

1. Reform Judaism (100%)
2. Islam (88%)
3. Orthodox Judaism (88%)
4. Baha'i Faith (74%)
5. Sikhism (72%)

No 1 was correct, not sure about the others

KauaiMark said...

Not so much interested in the top 5 but the bottom 8, I don't get. Wayyy off base to rate double digit percentages.

20. Neo-Pagan (32%)
21. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (28%)
22. New Thought (27%)
23. Scientology (25%)
24. New Age (24%)
25. Nontheist (24%)
26. Secular Humanism (21%)
27. Taoism (20%)

Donalbain said...

1. Secular Humanism (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism (92%)
3. Nontheist (81%)
4. Theravada Buddhism (80%)
5. Liberal Quakers (75%)
6. Neo-Pagan (71%)

Steve USMA '85 said...

1. Orthodox Quaker (100%)
2. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (99%)
3. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (96%)
4. Eastern Orthodox (77%)
5. Roman Catholic (77%)
===
24. Secular Humanism (42%)
25. Taoism (39%)
26. New Age (38%)
27. Nontheist (36%)

Interesting. #3 is closest to what I think I am but I would have to look up what Orthodox Quakers believe to see if it is correct.

Unknown said...

1. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (100%)
2. Eastern Orthodox (78%)
3. Roman Catholic (78%)
4. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (73%)
5. Seventh Day Adventist (71%)

#1 is correct. I used to be Roman Catholic, so I suppose that's feasible.

All in all, though, I think these online polls are unscientific and silly.

EK said...

1. Nontheist (100%)
2. Secular Humanism (84%)
3. Unitarian Universalism (77%)
4. Theravada Buddhism (73%)
5. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (64%)

Doug said...

1. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (100%)
2. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (76%)
3. Orthodox Quaker (76%)
4. Seventh Day Adventist (74%)
5. Eastern Orthodox (72%)

Exact match for #1. None of the others are remotely close, but I can see why so many convert from 'mainline' to Mormonism...

LH in Montana said...

1. New Thought (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
3. Neo-Pagan (98%)
4. Scientology (94%)
5. Theravada Buddhism (92%)

I have to admit I haven't heard of New Thought or these:

16. Sikhism (59%)
17. Baha'i Faith (53%)
21. Jainism (45%)

I also noticed that anything with the same percentage is in alphabetical order.

SentWest said...

1. Theravada Buddhism (100%)
2. Hinduism (84%)
3. Unitarian Universalism (81%)
4. Mahayana Buddhism (79%)
5. Nontheist (74%)
===
24. LDS (Mormons) (38%)
25. New Age (36%)
26. Seventh Day Adventist (36%)
27. Jehovah's Witness (31%)

I suppose I've got a sort of non-practicing zen-ish "there is no spoon" kind of thing going, so its fairly accurate.

Interesting the split with New Age and LDS at the bottom. Those are about the two least likely religions for me to want to participate in.

gbradley said...

Wow! I consider myself to be Catholic,#7 on the list.
I guess that's where they get the term Cafeteria Catholic.
I Pick and choose what I want to.

1. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
2. Orthodox Quaker (94%)
3. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (90%)
4. Seventh Day Adventist (89%)

--
24. Scientology (34%)
25. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (34%)
26. Taoism (31%)
27. Nontheist (30%)
I had to follow Marks lead, and list the bottom 5. Seeing Scientology down there makes me smile, I don't know why.

Forest said...

Here are my results:

1. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (100%)
2. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (94%)
3. Jehovah's Witness (89%)
4. Eastern Orthodox (86%)
5. Roman Catholic (86%)

It came pretty close...I am Mormon. I found that the choices usually didn't as closely state my beliefs as I would have liked.
I guess all the percentages might remind one that there is quite a bit of overlap in beliefs between lots of religious traditions.

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

Hi, Darren! I blogged and linked. I had no idea I was Jewish until today. :)