View Full Version : Beliefnet quiz
rodeosweetheart
8-5-15, 9:25pm
Has anyone else done the Beliefnet quiz, and what did it say you were?
It's here: http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Quizzes/BeliefOMatic.aspx
I am 100% Orthodox Quaker. . .
UU, not surprising. I went to the local UU church briefly, but had some issues with it, so didn't last long.
Wow, I did it and wound up 100% Unitarian Universalist (hey, soul sister, Kestra!)
Only 20% Roman Catholic (after going to 12 years of Catholic school and wanting to be a nun at various stages of my life.
Other close associations were:
Liberal Quakerism
Mahayana Buddhism
Taoism
Catherine, mine's a duplicate of yours except I scored 100% on both UU and liberal quaker. I found it interesting that most questions seemed to lump "I disagree" , "I don't know", "not supernatural" and "it doesn't matter" into one blah non-vote. Is there a "religion" for those of us who think most of the issues are Very important, thoughts about them make up our creed for living, but they're not necessarily otherworldly? Or is that where the UU comes in ...
Catherine, mine's a duplicate of yours except I scored 100% on both UU and liberal quaker. I found it interesting that most questions seemed to lump "I disagree" , "I don't know", "not supernatural" and "it doesn't matter" into one blah non-vote. Is there a "religion" for those of us who think most of the issues are Very important, thoughts about them make up our creed for living, but they're not necessarily otherworldly? Or is that where the UU comes in ...
I thought that as well. I have strong opinions and beliefs on some of those, but nothing to do with the supernatural. And "disagree" and "it doesn't matter" are completely different. I've had many conversations trying to explain my "it doesn't matter" philosophy, but religious people don't get that/like that.
I am 100% Secular Humanist.
I am 100% Secular Humanist.
You and my husband could be best friends. =)
I am 100% Secular Humanist.
You and my husband could be best friends. =)
https://kingarktvrvs.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/humanism-7375711_std.png
Welcome fellow travelers.
I got 100% Secular Humanist as well. I describe myself as an Atheist when the question arises.
https://kingarktvrvs.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/humanism-7375711_std.png
Welcome fellow travelers.
Thanks! I just re-took the quiz (it's been several years and two children later) I'm now a secular humanist, too.
I'm UU...raised Presbyterian ( northern) but unchurched since college 1970- I'm still unchurched.
https://kingarktvrvs.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/humanism-7375711_std.png
Welcome fellow travelers.
You are a secular humanist? I mean this, seriously, with all due respect. I would not have guessed that.
You are a secular humanist? I mean this, seriously, with all due respect. I would not have guessed that.Why is that?
rosarugosa
8-7-15, 12:22pm
Alan: I was surprised too. I can't speak for UA, but for me, it is because your stated views on abortion and other socio-political issues seem to be in alignment with the views of Christian groups. So I always assumed you were a Christian, no disrespect intended.
Why is that?
Yeah, I thought for sure you were a right-wing Christian. Albeit a fairly polite one. haha
Alan: I was surprised too. I can't speak for UA, but for me, it is because your stated views on abortion and other socio-political issues seem to be in alignment with the views of Christian groups. So I always assumed you were a Christian, no disrespect intended.Reason is not linked to religion, nor is it excluded.
Yeah, I thought for sure you were a right-wing Christian. Albeit a fairly polite one. hahaSorry to disappoint.
ApatheticNoMore
8-7-15, 1:49pm
but for me, it is because your stated views on abortion and other socio-political issues seem to be in alignment with the views of Christian groups.
I think on abortion one could be opposed for non-religious reasons, but the only sensible outcome of this seems to me to therefore become a strong advocate of birth control of all forms, including sterilization - not something to go into lightly on that one - but if it is what is desired, so that abortion is not needed. But truthfully at this point, I never expect men to get the need to control whether or not one has kids and when in the same way women will. Because they simply can not experience the issue with the same urgency.
iris lilies
8-7-15, 1:51pm
when I take this I usually come out Quaker light or UU. I don't like humans so I don't think I can be a humanist. But I'll take the test again and see how it shakes out.
I think on abortion one could be opposed for non-religious reasons.....
Absolutely, the sanctity of life is an ethical belief which just happens to be shared by most religions.
Absolutely, the sanctity of life is an ethical belief which just happens to be shared by most religions.
What kind of life are we talking about being sanctified? Human? Animal? Plant? Quantity of life? Quality of life?
What kind of life are we talking about being sanctified? Human? Animal? Plant? Quantity of life? Quality of life?When responding to questions regarding abortion, I think it's safe to assume human.
When responding to questions regarding abortion, I think it's safe to assume human.
Haha. Yeah.
iris lilies
8-7-15, 2:09pm
My results were 100% UU, 90% Secular humanist, 81% Liberal Quaker. I will only claim the last one.
This test has changed over the years if the commenters are to be believed. I smell a fix, with the UUs stacking the deck, haha.
I remember taking this test. I think I was UU, with Quaker and secular humanist coming in behind. This is ironic since my family tree is fairly packed with clergy--Evangelical Lutherans (generations of those), Puritan reverends, Catholic nuns and one Swiss Guard to the Pope--who knows? maybe there are a few druids further back... Maybe one of my Spanish relatives (out of two of them or so) was the Inquisition guy who sent my beloved's relatives fleeing to the New World. Stranger things have happened.
My guess is that people in my family have always liked to read, so if the only tome available was a Bible, why not? Or maybe we were sedentary even then. No farm work for us! (My personal hero was Thurston, the light house tender--a man after my own heart. But I digress...
I also got 100% Unitarian Universalist. 99% Taoism, 91% New Age, 90% Church of Christ, Scientist, and 85% Liberal Quakerism and Mahayana Buddhism were the next closest results.
I found it interesting that my only 0% was Eastern Orthodox, Christianity. Secular Humanism was only 52%.
Funny, when I googled secular humanism, it sounds right up my alley. Deal with here and now. It wasn't highly represented in my score because when pressed, I guess I went with some vague hopes rather than the things I'm sure about - in other words I pushed the envelope; perhaps acknowledging and atoning for one's sins is important - not from a supernatural standpoint but from the place of evolving to be a better and more honest person. Perhaps there is a unifying factor to all life, it would be nice if that were true. I think letting go of attachment is of great value, not to achieve nirvana but simply because it allows ... breathing room.
100% theravadan buddhist! and that is exactly what i practice. i had some of the kids at my house take it, one kid who goes to church with family all the time came up with 100% hindu, pretty cool and he had some questions. Not sure if his family would appreciate me sharing too much information with him. My son's girlfriend is unitarian universalist. my son refused to take it but he has been on the UU / atheist path since elementary school.
UU, not surprising. I went to the local UU church briefly, but had some issues with it, so didn't last long.
I would be interested to know what issues you had with the UU church. I'm interested in attending a local one, but I'm very nervous about it. I call myself a Secular Humanist, and it looks like UU focuses on how to live a good and moral life no matter what your beliefs. But it's been 20 years since I attended a church. I had been searching for community at the last one I tried, but it turned out to be clique-y. So maybe I'm just looking for community among open-minded folks.
goldensmom
8-12-15, 8:03pm
That was fun and (as I already knew) the result of the quiz was '100% Conservative Christian Protestant'.
I would be interested to know what issues you had with the UU church. I'm interested in attending a local one, but I'm very nervous about it. I call myself a Secular Humanist, and it looks like UU focuses on how to live a good and moral life no matter what your beliefs. But it's been 20 years since I attended a church. I had been searching for community at the last one I tried, but it turned out to be clique-y. So maybe I'm just looking for community among open-minded folks.
I've heard that UU churches vary a lot, so my experiences may be nothing like yours if you give it a try. Also a lot of it has to do with my upbringing, which was quite unusual, but not something I want to go into detail about here.
Three main issues, as I recall:
#1 - The whole congregation/sermon/pews type of thing makes me quite uncomfortable. Due to my childhood I'd never been to a Christian church service at all, and had generally negative internal reaction to things like that. So the sermony format made me pretty uncomfortable at a gut level, even though I knew intellectually there is nothing wrong with that. And of course, the talks themselves weren't about the Christian god/bible, etc.
#2 - Again, perhaps due to my upbringing, I tend to have an overly emotional reaction to any speeches about "being good to each other, or how other people are there for you," which results in me crying easily at such things. And then I'd be perceived as the weird, crying girl. And people might think I was having some sort of trouble in my life. Or worse, not care. It was just easier to not deal with the whole thing.
#3 - Because I was going there for a socializing opportunity it made sense to stay after the service for the coffee/snack portion. But making small talk with people you have nothing in common with (and mostly were decades older than me at the time) was very grating on my introvert sensibilities.
I probably went about 5 times, about 14 years ago, to the one church, and decided it wasn't my thing. But it's definitely worth checking out.
catherine
8-13-15, 11:17am
I've heard that UU churches vary a lot, so my experiences may be nothing like yours if you give it a try. Also a lot of it has to do with my upbringing, which was quite unusual, but not something I want to go into detail about here.
Three main issues, as I recall:
#1 - The whole congregation/sermon/pews type of thing makes me quite uncomfortable. Due to my childhood I'd never been to a Christian church service at all, and had generally negative internal reaction to things like that. So the sermony format made me pretty uncomfortable at a gut level, even though I knew intellectually there is nothing wrong with that. And of course, the talks themselves weren't about the Christian god/bible, etc.
#2 - Again, perhaps due to my upbringing, I tend to have an overly emotional reaction to any speeches about "being good to each other, or how other people are there for you," which results in me crying easily at such things. And then I'd be perceived as the weird, crying girl. And people might think I was having some sort of trouble in my life. Or worse, not care. It was just easier to not deal with the whole thing.
#3 - Because I was going there for a socializing opportunity it made sense to stay after the service for the coffee/snack portion. But making small talk with people you have nothing in common with (and mostly were decades older than me at the time) was very grating on my introvert sensibilities.
I probably went about 5 times, about 14 years ago, to the one church, and decided it wasn't my thing. But it's definitely worth checking out.
OK, so you wanted to join a church, but you didn't like the church building, the pews, the sermons, discussions about loving your neighbor, and getting to know the other congregants? And you joined for the social aspect? Why not just join a bowling league? :-) I don't mean to be sarcastic, your post just struck me funny. I don't know if I would try another UU church if you have such negative baggage around everything that churches represent (at least churches with a Western take on spirituality). I'd maybe try a Baha'i group. Far enough from Christianity to get away from the trappings of that. Also not dogmatic, and service/community oriented. Or maybe Buddhism. Or a bowling league ;-)
OK, so you wanted to join a church, but you didn't like the church building, the pews, the sermons, discussions about loving your neighbor, and getting to know the other congregants? And you joined for the social aspect? Why not just join a bowling league? :-) I don't mean to be sarcastic, your post just struck me funny. I don't know if I would try another UU church if you have such negative baggage around everything that churches represent (at least churches with a Western take on spirituality). I'd maybe try a Baha'i group. Far enough from Christianity to get away from the trappings of that. Also not dogmatic, and service/community oriented. Or maybe Buddhism. Or a bowling league ;-)
The thing is that you don't really know these things until you try. I'd never been to a church, so I had no way to know what I'd think of it. And yeah, this was many, many years ago, in a new city, where I knew virtually no one, and before Meetup.com or our Canadian version of Craiglist or anything like that. I think this was before I'd even found the Simple Living Forums. I don't know if I even had internet at home.
I'm certainly not looking to join any churches now. But now I have much better pre-screening techniques. I mostly meet people through this forum or the MMM forum, or through group activities or Meet-ups, where you get to learn a bit about the people in a less formal setting.
I'm not offended at all by your comment; I get what you are saying. But I think there is value in trying things regardless of outcome.
catherine
8-13-15, 12:21pm
The thing is that you don't really know these things until you try. I'd never been to a church, so I had no way to know what I'd think of it. And yeah, this was many, many years ago, in a new city, where I knew virtually no one, and before Meetup.com or our Canadian version of Craiglist or anything like that. I think this was before I'd even found the Simple Living Forums. I don't know if I even had internet at home.
I'm certainly not looking to join any churches now. But now I have much better pre-screening techniques. I mostly meet people through this forum or the MMM forum, or through group activities or Meet-ups, where you get to learn a bit about the people in a less formal setting.
I'm not offended at all by your comment; I get what you are saying. But I think there is value in trying things regardless of outcome.
Absolutely--and you did give it a good try, with 5 meetings.. I might have given up after the first if my gut was giving me negative signals.
I am a member of a United Methodist church as well as a Tibetan Buddhist center in my area, though I've been inactive the past few years due to sickness and having a full schedule of work/school, but one thing I really like about services at the Buddhist center is that you have the choice of sitting on a mat on the floor or in a chair depending on preference. There's a formality to it, but it's not *formal* like a pew. When it comes to services at the Methodist church, I tend to prefer the more traditional ones where they choose to use the old hymns, doxology, etc. rather than the more modern stuff, so that's usually in the main congregation with the pews. Kind of odd, perhaps, but it works for me.
iris lilies
8-13-15, 3:39pm
I'm not interested in church. However, I like that the Methodist church in the middle of our neighborhood is where most Protestant neighbors go. It serves an important community function here, not just religious. It provides meeting space for our monthly neighborhood meeting, it conducts community events including several dinners. It also has several programs for homeless and poor people.
for Catholics, there is a slew of grand Victorian churches within walking distance of us. We know many people who go to the Czech Catholic Church, a friend recently started attending the German Catholic Church, and we have a renegade Catholic Church just down the street. Too bad I'm not Catholic, I would love the choices here.
I've heard that UU churches vary a lot, so my experiences may be nothing like yours if you give it a try. Also a lot of it has to do with my upbringing, which was quite unusual, but not something I want to go into detail about here.
Three main issues, as I recall:
#1 - The whole congregation/sermon/pews type of thing makes me quite uncomfortable. Due to my childhood I'd never been to a Christian church service at all, and had generally negative internal reaction to things like that. So the sermony format made me pretty uncomfortable at a gut level, even though I knew intellectually there is nothing wrong with that. And of course, the talks themselves weren't about the Christian god/bible, etc.
#2 - Again, perhaps due to my upbringing, I tend to have an overly emotional reaction to any speeches about "being good to each other, or how other people are there for you," which results in me crying easily at such things. And then I'd be perceived as the weird, crying girl. And people might think I was having some sort of trouble in my life. Or worse, not care. It was just easier to not deal with the whole thing.
#3 - Because I was going there for a socializing opportunity it made sense to stay after the service for the coffee/snack portion. But making small talk with people you have nothing in common with (and mostly were decades older than me at the time) was very grating on my introvert sensibilities.
I probably went about 5 times, about 14 years ago, to the one church, and decided it wasn't my thing. But it's definitely worth checking out.
Kestra - Thanks for sharing your experience.
The whole church-like setting would bother me a little, but because I was raised a Lutheran and I'm afraid it would be a negative vibe for me. Some people find it comforting to have a familiar Protestant church-like setting, though. It would seem a little strange to have this setting and then have the sermon be all secular.
My local UU church seems to have a diverse mix of members by age and lifestyle. I know this because their member information is posted online. I haven't visited yet. They don't have services in the summer, interestingly enough, and I think that it's because a lot of them travel in the summer. Also, I'm sure some are farmers.
One concern of mine is that their openness to all belief systems might leave out the ability to think critically. As the saying goes, "Don't have such an open mind that your brains fall out." I like to discuss ideas, and it's a boring discussion if everyone goes along with whatever is said.
However, they do seem like a good spot to get to know some people and they are big on social justice issues, helping people out and making the world a better place. I think I'll check them out when they start up their services again in September.
I am a member of a United Methodist church as well as a Tibetan Buddhist center in my area.
I can't wrap my head around how you can embrace two vastly different world views like that. Maybe you're just more evolved than me. :)
I can't wrap my head around how you can embrace two vastly different world views like that. Maybe you're just more evolved than me. :)
Actually Buddhism complements a lot of religions. There are a lot of priests who practice aspects of Zen for instance, like Thomas Merton. The reason it can co-exist, and actually enhance the religious experiences of Christians or Jews or whatever is because Buddhists don't have any deity. And while they have their sutras, and paramitas, etc., they intentionally are NOT dogmatic. They're the ones that say, "If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him." -- in other words, don't make the god the Point. The god is not the Point--the god is just there to show you the way to enlightenment. It's a great practice.
Ultralight
8-13-15, 8:53pm
In my eyes, religion is kinda like playing jazz. You can pretty much make it up as you go.
I'm so glad I live in the Pacific Northwest, where it's common to be unchurched. In my experience nobody much cares if you have a religion or don't; certainly this is true among my friends. In my memory--in my adult life, anyway--no one has ever asked me what church I go to. I understand that's unheard of in the Southeast.
I'm so glad I live in the Pacific Northwest, where it's common to be unchurched. In my experience nobody much cares if you have a religion or don't; certainly this is true among my friends. In my memory--in my adult life, anyway--no one has ever asked me what church I go to. I understand that's unheard of in the Southeast.
Interesting. I never thought about the geographic differences. Where I live I would think it was super weird if someone asked anybody what church they went to. Maybe it's the area, or my age. It seems some older people go to church, but anyone in their 20s or 30s? Never heard of it. I'm actually a little bit startled when someone mentions going to church, other than a wedding or funeral. Very secular area I guess.
The only time religion really comes up is at Christmas, and there's the debate about the appropriate holiday greeting. I don't really like that people assume I celebrate Christmas, but other than that I don't care what others say to me at the holidays.
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