it is what it is

Welcome to reality. If you lived here, you’d be home now.

Belief-o-Matic

October31

Quite a while ago, I discovered BeliefNet’s Belief-o-Matic — a tool for ostensibly figuring out which religion best aligns with your worldview. At the time, the answer for me was that I best fit Mainline to Liberal Protestantism. This fit me quite well, and even helped me to realize that there’s a whole different world of Christianity out there beyond the conservative fundamentalism that filled my youth.

I noticed the bookmark for the Belief-o-Matic, and realized it might be enlightening (or amusing, at the least) to retake the quiz. I’m come to terms with (and made peace with) many beliefs that I’ve realized I have — and do not have. Here are my current state-of-mind results:

Your Results:

The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.

Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.


1.  Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2.  Liberal Quakers (87%)
3.  Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (82%)
4.  Neo-Pagan (82%)
5.  Secular Humanism (78%)
6.  Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (71%)
7.  New Age (69%)
8.  Theravada Buddhism (69%)
9.  Mahayana Buddhism (68%)
10.  New Thought (61%)
11.  Taoism (58%)
12.  Scientology (57%)
13.  Hinduism (55%)
14.  Nontheist (52%)
15.  Bahá’í Faith (50%)
16.  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (44%)
17.  Sikhism (43%)
18.  Reform Judaism (42%)
19.  Jainism (41%)
20.  Orthodox Quaker (40%)
21.  Jehovah’s Witness (33%)
22.  Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (31%)
23.  Seventh Day Adventist (18%)
24.  Orthodox Judaism (17%)
25.  Eastern Orthodox (15%)
26.  Islam (15%)
27.  Roman Catholic (15%)

Things have changed, and I feel very comfortable/confident with what I’ve discovered about my own beliefs. More on that — and on the future of this blog — coming soon.

posted under spirituality & religion
2 Comments to

“Belief-o-Matic”

  1. Avatar November 2nd, 2006 at 7:44 pm ninjanun Says:

    I got the same top three as you, in the same order!
  2. Avatar November 2nd, 2006 at 9:46 pm Mermade Says:

    I scored as an Orthodox Quaker. Huh? lol!
 
.

Allison
Los Alamos, NM
After a childhood of immersion in my family's religious tradition, I hit college and my first true experience with the question, "why?" Why did I believe as I did? If I thought about it, I had no idea. So, I spent the next ten years not thinking about it.

.

Once I hit 30, I began asking myself that question all over again. A few years later, I woke one day to realize that I simply didn't believe. For many reasons, I am a much happier (and more emotionally healthy) person having let go of god. There are still days that I wish god did exist. It would be a relief to relinquish responsibility to a greater power.

.

But, even better, I can see life for what it is, and work with reality. That's more powerful than any god could hope to be.