Search This Blog

Monday, August 30, 2010

BEDA 30: Belief-o-matic

    Ramadan began this month and Rosh Hashanah is fast approaching and EVERY day is a saint's day and I'm. . .uh. . . using those occasions to justify today's topic. Browsing the blogs and features on BeliefNet has become one of my favorite ways to procrastinate on work, and I recently took the "Belief-o-matic" test, a personality quiz about your religious and spiritual beliefs. It asks you a short number of questions and tells you which faiths traditions you're most "compatible" with. Kind of like a dating personality quiz for religious wafflers. Or curious procrastinators fascinated by theological divisions in Christianity. It's by no means an exhaustive test and I think some of the questions and answers are oddly phrased, but interesting nonetheless. My results are pretty accurate, I think. I am a conservative protestant, with some Seventh Day Adventist ethical leanings. I'm a little surprised no Mennonite sect showed up on the results, but it doesn't look like the Belief-o-matic includes too many anabaptist sects. I also find it funny that I scored higher in the categorie of Scientology, Neo-Paganism and Nontheism than Secular Humanism. And true. Few who know me will disagree. 
     Try the Belief-o-matic quiz here if you're interested. They also have some other interesting tests of general religious literacy and knowledge. If you're comfortable, share your results in the comments. Do you think the quiz is accurate? Can complex religious traditions and personal spiritual beliefs be reduced to a handful of yes/no questions? Is it weird that this is what I do for fun? 

My full results:


1. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (100%)
2. Seventh Day Adventist (97%)
3. Orthodox Quaker (92%)
4. Eastern Orthodox (89%)
5. Roman Catholic (89%)
6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (65%)
7. Islam (62%)
8. Orthodox Judaism (62%)
9. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (52%)
10. Hinduism (51%)
11. Liberal Quakers (45%)
12. Baha'i Faith (41%)
13. Jehovah's Witness (41%)
14. Sikhism (37%)
15. Reform Judaism (34%)
16. Jainism (33%)
17. Unitarian Universalism (32%)
18. Theravada Buddhism (27%)
19. Mahayana Buddhism (25%)
20. Nontheist (21%)
21. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (20%)
22. New Thought (16%)
23. Scientology (16%)
24. Taoism (14%)
25. Neo-Pagan (13%)
26. Secular Humanism (8%)


    
Posted by at
Labels:

7 comments:

  1. Bre MelvinAugust 30, 2010 at 7:58 PM

    Hmmm apparently I'm a quaker.... ummm not really. The wording on that quiz was weird, made me wonder if I was answer counter to what I actually believe in. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant came second though. In reality I'm a non-denominational Protestant with Pentecostal leanings.

    Now time to stop procrastinating.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LeahAugust 30, 2010 at 8:11 PM

    HAHA! Oh, wow.

    I took the quiz out of curiosity, because even though I consider myself a very spiritual person, due to the fact that I'm a Reconstructionist I've never paid particular attention to like... I dunno. The Rules, as it were.

    And it knew me anyway!

    1. Reform Judaism (100%)
    2. Unitarian Universalism (85%)
    3. Liberal Quakers (85%)
    4. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (78%)
    5. Orthodox Judaism (74%)
    6. Sikhism (72%)
    7. Baha'i Faith (71%)
    8. Islam (66%)
    9. Neo-Pagan (62%)
    10. New Age (62%)
    11. New Thought (55%)
    12. Mahayana Buddhism (53%)
    13. Orthodox Quaker (52%)
    14. Secular Humanism (52%)
    15. Jainism (50%)
    16. Theravada Buddhism (44%)
    17. Scientology (43%)
    18. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (40%)
    19. Hinduism (39%)
    20. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (37%)
    21. Taoism (35%)
    22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (32%)
    23. Jehovah's Witness (32%)
    24. Nontheist (31%)
    25. Eastern Orthodox (28%)
    26. Roman Catholic (28%)
    27. Seventh Day Adventist (27%)

    That actually really surprises and pleases me. I never feel like I know what I'm doing, religion-wise... or, like. I'm never quite sure if my personal beliefs truly match up with what traditional Jewish thought would say they should be. But apparently they do! And that makes me feel a lot more comfortable with myself.

    Thanks for the link, Sarah. In a way, that kind of made my night. I AM WHO I'M SUPPOSED TO BE. And that's good :D

    (Also it doesn't surprise me at all that they think I'd make a good Quaker xD)

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousAugust 30, 2010 at 8:30 PM

    I generally feel like a spiritual mess. I have faith, and I think about it a lot and it's integral to who I am, but I've never felt like I belong in any religion. So this was interesting. Why am I not surprised that my results are so similar to Leah's? xD



    1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
    2. Liberal Quakers (91%)
    3. Reform Judaism (89%)
    4. Neo-Pagan (85%)
    5. Sikhism (81%)
    6. New Age (79%)
    7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (76%)
    8. Mahayana Buddhism (72%)
    9. Jainism (67%)
    10. Baha'i Faith (66%)
    11. Orthodox Judaism (66%)
    12. New Thought (66%)
    13. Hinduism (62%)
    14. Theravada Buddhism (61%)
    15. Scientology (59%)
    16. Islam (56%)
    17. Orthodox Quaker (55%)
    18. Secular Humanism (52%)
    19. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (37%)
    20. Taoism (37%)
    21. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (35%)
    22. Nontheist (32%)
    23. Seventh Day Adventist (32%)
    24. Eastern Orthodox (29%)
    25. Roman Catholic (29%)
    26. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (27%)
    27. Jehovah's Witness (17%)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Craft Teach RepeatAugust 30, 2010 at 9:33 PM

    This was interesting to do. I'm not surprised with the results.
    . Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (100%)
    2. Orthodox Quaker (96%)
    3. Eastern Orthodox (91%)
    4. Roman Catholic (91%)
    5. Seventh Day Adventist (86%)
    6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (83%)
    7. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (79%)
    8. Hinduism (75%)
    9. Jehovah's Witness (63%)
    10. Orthodox Judaism (61%)
    11. Liberal Quakers (60%)
    12. Unitarian Universalism (58%)
    13. Jainism (55%)
    14. Mahayana Buddhism (54%)
    15. Theravada Buddhism (54%)
    16. Sikhism (50%)
    17. Islam (50%)
    18. Reform Judaism (40%)
    19. Baha'i Faith (35%)
    20. Neo-Pagan (35%)
    21. New Age (26%)
    22. Taoism (26%)
    23. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (26%)
    24. Secular Humanism (25%)
    25. Scientology (23%)
    26. New Thought (23%)
    27. Nontheist (17%)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ellen BAugust 31, 2010 at 4:34 PM

    1. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (100%)
    2. Orthodox Quaker (97%)
    3. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (95%)
    4. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (88%)
    5. Eastern Orthodox (79%)
    6. Roman Catholic (79%)
    7. Seventh Day Adventist (79%)
    8. Liberal Quakers (74%)
    9. Baha'i Faith (71%)
    10. Jehovah's Witness (67%)
    11. Orthodox Judaism (60%)
    12. Sikhism (57%)
    13. Unitarian Universalism (54%)
    14. Islam (49%)
    15. Reform Judaism (48%)
    16. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (46%)
    17. Taoism (40%)
    18. Hinduism (36%)
    19. Theravada Buddhism (36%)
    20. Mahayana Buddhism (34%)
    21. Neo-Pagan (34%)
    22. Jainism (32%)
    23. Secular Humanism (25%)
    24. New Age (24%)
    25. New Thought (23%)
    26. Nontheist (20%)
    27. Scientology (18%)

    Totally confused by the fact that Islam is kind of up there in the middle. Glad it knew that I'm pretty mainstream protestant (Episcopalian), but surprised Roman Catholic is further down than I thought it'd be. This was weird and interesting. And I love that you spend your free time doing this. :) Love you, Sarah.

    ReplyDelete
  6. freakinwinkyAugust 31, 2010 at 9:36 PM

    Here are my results. Pretty much right for me. It turns out that I am, in fact, not a liberal hipster Christian like...at all. Which I kind of knew but I'm glad we have these internet personality quizes to confirm who we really are as human beings. What would we do without them,really?

    1. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (100%)
    2. Orthodox Quaker (97%)
    3. Seventh Day Adventist (95%)
    4. Eastern Orthodox (82%)
    5. Roman Catholic (82%)
    6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (72%)
    7. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (62%)
    8. Hinduism (60%)
    9. Jehovah's Witness (53%)
    10. Islam (52%)
    11. Orthodox Judaism (52%)
    12. Liberal Quakers (48%)
    13. Jainism (46%)
    14. Baha'i Faith (41%)
    15. Theravada Buddhism (40%)
    16. Mahayana Buddhism (38%)
    17. Unitarian Universalism (36%)
    18. Sikhism (35%)
    19. Reform Judaism (32%)
    20. Taoism (27%)
    21. Nontheist (27%)
    22. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (24%)
    23. Scientology (21%)
    24. Neo-Pagan (20%)
    25. Secular Humanism (20%)
    26. New Age (18%)
    27. New Thought (15%)

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownSeptember 25, 2010 at 8:55 PM

    100% Orthodox Quaker with Conservative Christian/Protestant, then Catholic leanings...that was a fun procrastination tool...glad I didn't discover this post during the school week:)

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)