pushbutton quiz: What religion do you fit in with?

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 11:41 pm

It's a lame quiz with little understanding of the different faiths. Where Christianity is concerned, Spirituality is as much apart of it as faith.

left and right brained??? come on..

Vertigo 99 · Post by **Vertigo 99** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 12:01 am

Drakona wrote:Do you believe that man was created in the form of God, or that man evolved from other species?
I thought: Um... I'm undecided. Skeptic of both.
I put: Created. If I have to pick, that one seems a little more likely.

Are you a believer that you should try everything at least once?
I thought: Uh... everything? Heck no. I think I can go to my grave quite happily without eating a live rat, even just once. Yeah, yeah, that's not what they mean. Well, I do make an effort to try things before I reject them (i.e., foods, musics, philosophical perspectives), so I guess..
I put: Yes.

What do you trust more, your feelings/intuition or your logic/rational capabilities?
I thought: For discerning empirical truth? The latter. Relational truth's another story, but I guess that's what they want.
I put: Logic/ rational

Do you plan to recant on your deathbed?
I thought: What... the... ???? I don't plan to have any need to, so, um... no?
I put: No.

Do you often find different ways of expressing your own spirituality?
I thought: Sure! Prayer, study, charity, teaching, making food, doing math, sitting quietly... in fact, I don't draw a distinction between the spiritual and the mundane. Guess that's a clear 'yes'.
I put: Yes

Do you believe in any kind of afterlife?
I thought: Okay, an easy one.
I put: Yes

Do you believe in capital punishment?
I thought: A... political... question? How they score this (rational/irrational, faith/science) says a lot more about whoever wrote this quiz than it does about me!
I put: Yes.

Would you prefer a career in the arts, or in something technical?
I thought: Ah, right-brain/left-brain. That's easy.
I put: Technical.

Do you feel that you can be spiritual without having a religion?
I thought: Um, okay, that question is clearly predicated on some definitions or assumptions we don't share. I'm not sure what it means to 'be spiritual' without 'having a religion'. I guess there are people who believe in spiritual things that no one else believes in, but I'd say they are a religion unto themselves. And then there are people who are Christians but don't 'have religion' in the traditional sense. Taking the definitions at my own value, though, to be spiritual is to know God, and religion defined in an institutional sense still includes Christianity, so...
I put: No.

Do you believe that eventually, science will be able to explain everything about our existence and the world?
I thought: Hahahaha... sure. When pigs fly. The answers we have only raise three times as many questions. I'll check up on them in a few hundred years and see how they're doing, maybe revise my answer.
I put: No.

Do you believe that your own redemption lies in your own hands or those of a superior power?
I thought: Ooooh... sort of both. Mostly God, though.
I put: Superior power.

Do you believe that you are more right brained (creative, random), or left brained (logical, mathematical)?
I thought: Hehe. Any decent technical expert will tell you their work is art, but still, I guess that's pretty easy for me...
I put: Left.

Do you feel that you need to have a spiritual side?
I thought: Yeah. The same way I need to have a relational side, or a family side. I could live without it, but it'd probably be a pretty sorry life, and I'd hardly be an admirable person.
I put: Yes.

Do you consider yourself gullible, even a little bit?
I thought: Hahaha, what? What does that have to do with anything? Ohhhh... I get it, faith/reason dichotomy. Don't make me go on my 'faith is rational' rant through the deepest bowels of epistemology... Well, okay. Yeah, I can be pretty gullible sometimes.
I put: Yes.

If you were about to jump off of a cliff, with only a bungee cord attached to you, what would you be thinking?
I thought: LOL. What the heck kind of a question is that? I would be thinking, "Oh Crap Oh Crap Oh Crap I'm going to die." Ah... okay... those two answers look like they're fishing for emotional / rational. I'd probably be more in the emotional moment. I'd have done all the interesting analysis beforehand and would just be looking to enjoy the trip while I'm on it.
I put: I feel alive.

Until what age did you believe in the Easter bunny?
I thought: Hum. I never believed in the easter bunny, to my memory. Probably has more to do with my parents than anything else--they always presented the easter bunny, santa claus, the tooth fairy, etc., as a make-believe game.
I put: 9 or younger.

Do you actively work out, and try to maintain physical health in all aspects of your life?
I thought: Nah. I've got better things to do, like posting on internet bulliten boards. I do take my mental fitness very seriously, though.
I put: No.

Do you believe that the path to enlightenment/God, is within yourself?
I thought: In the sense that it is spiritual, yes. But does it originate with you? No. It originates with God. God is always previous.
I put: No.

Does your opinion of something differ from that of your religion (if you dont have a religion, have you actively questioned other religions)?
I thought: Hmm. Strictly speaking, this is asking if my beliefs are self-contradictory--that is, if I say I am a Christian and do not hold to essential Christian beliefs. Hodge-podge religions are generally very self-contradictory or naive, so I can't imagine this would be a good thing. Have I actively questioned religions, though? Constantly--mine and everyone else's. I hold essential Christian beliefs, but I believe a lot of unusual or even unique things where non-essentials are concerned. I still hold the majority of the beliefs I was taught in the church I attended as a child, but only because I have heavily tested them and believe they are correct. My methodology of Biblical study is quite different, though. Ummm.... *flips coin*...
I put: Yes.

Is it important in this life to live every moment to its fullest, and try to do everything that interests you even if some people consider it immoral?
I thought: You mean, am I a hedonist? Heck no, or at least, I try not to be. "Some" people? I guess I'm not against doing things that "some" people consider immoral, but I try to avoid it if I'm around them and I do not have opposint morals.
I put: No.

--------------------

You fit in with:
Buddhism

Your ideals mostly resemble those of the Buddhist faith. Spirituality is the most important thing in your life. You strive to live by all of your ideals, and live a very intellectually focused life.

0% scientific.
20% faith-oriented.
---------------------

I thought: Uh... sure, whatever. I guess the description works, except for the Buddhism part.

The fact that this quiz selects a religion based on whether you 'fit in' rather than whether you find its tenets reasonable says a lot about its creator. I don't particularly 'fit in' as a Christian at all--in fact, Christian scholars are outsiders, a lot of the time. But I think Christianity is true.

hey guys this was a good post i read every word of it

roid · Post by **roid** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 12:37 am

Drakona wrote:Do you believe in capital punishment?
I thought: A... political... question? How they score this (rational/irrational, faith/science) says a lot more about whoever wrote this quiz than it does about me!
I put: Yes.

It threw me too until i found out it was a faith question. Then i thought... huh? faith?
oooooh! coz you have to have FAITH that the person deserves to die, that no mistakes had been made, that he was given due process etc. The problem a lot of people have with Capital Punishment is the possibility of executing an innocent man.
that's why it's a faith question. Faith in the legal system though

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:01 am

Makes you wonder, did the person who wrote the quiz have a consistant definition for "faith" in mind, or did they just classify everything that could possibly be labelled "faith" together?

I'd say faith in a legal system is far different from what I mean when I speak of religious faith, or faith in my wife... and I'd imagine other people's definitions differ from mine. Probably, also, faith in the legal system can be more or less reasonable depending on whether or not you're a witness to the crime in question (that is, how sure you are of the conclusion outside of the system itself.)

I think it says a lot about the quiz author that he put "faith" and "reason" on opposite ends of the same spectrum. There are some things it's reasonable to have faith in, and other things it's unreasonable to have faith in.

roid · Post by **roid** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:29 am

yes he seems to assume if you have faith in this, then you will more likely have faith in other things too.
i dunno if that's correct or not, it could be.

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:50 am

It's not just "having faith" in things, it's a question of what he means by "faith". He seems to view it as the opposite of reason -- as if it's unreasonable to have faith in anything.

But, most of the people I know who say "I have faith in [thing]" will give reasons for it. (Those who just say "I have faith" but can't name what they have faith in are another matter.) In my experience, when someone says they have faith in the legal system, it's because the evidence they have leads them to believe it's trustworthy. Or, when they say they have faith in their friend, it's because their friend has never let them down and always comes through. When the Bible speaks of people having faith in God, it's attached to an entire history of God proving Himself. When I say I don't have faith in the UN, I say it because I see things the UN has done that aren't trustworthy. And so on... Everyone I know who says "I have faith in [thing]" has faith as a result of reason, not in spite of it. (That doesn't mean their reasoning is airtight, of course.)

I think people who treat faith and reason as opposites misunderstand one or both of them. The opposite of reason is madness -- reason is drawing sensible conclusions, while madness is drawing wild conclusions. The opposite of faith is distrust (with skepticism somewhere in the middle) -- faith is believing someone or something will be reliable or successful in a certain way, while distrust is believing they or it will fail. Faith can be a result of reason or madness, and distrust can be a result of reason or madness as well, depending entirely on how reliable the thing is that you have faith in! It just doesn't make sense to treat faith and reason as opposite ends of the same spectrum. They're entirely different things.

Behemoth · Post by **Behemoth** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:50 am

You fit in with:
Buddhism

Your ideals mostly resemble those of the Buddhist faith. Spirituality is the most important thing in your life. You strive to live by all of your ideals, and live a very intellectually focused life.

80% spiritual.
40% faith-oriented.

Interesting, i didnt expect much different even though im a christian too hah

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 8:51 am

Iceman wrote:I can't take the quiz because some of the questions don't have the appropriate answers. For example, question #1 ... I believed that God created man through the process of evolution. How do I answer that one?

I think the bottom line of this question is if man was created (in whatever way) through the purposeful planning of a superior being, or evolved 'randomly'. So I'd say go for the "created" answer.

Lothar wrote:It's not just "having faith" in things, it's a question of what he means by "faith". He seems to view it as the opposite of reason -- as if it's unreasonable to have faith in anything.

Not necessarily. Imo he honors the fact that having faith often seems to contradict worldy reason. Even the bible states that this is true.

Btw, according to that quiz, I am closest to Buddhism, which is complete nonsense. ROFL.

Foil · Post by **Foil** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:09 am

Vertigo 99 wrote:
Drakona wrote:...
[Summary of thought process throughout quiz]
...
hey guys this was a good post i read every word of it

Actually, I rather appreciated that post, Drakona. It was interesting to see how someone interpreted the questions differently than I did, especially when it came to issues that I agree with you on.

scottris · Post by **scottris** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 4:10 pm

Lothar wrote:He seems to view it as the opposite of reason -- as if it's unreasonable to have faith in anything.

The way I read it, it simply says that one can't completely rely both on faith (belief absent reason) and completely on reason. If you employ both some faith and some reason, as most people do, then you'd simply fall nearer to the center of the chart.

Still, both the chart and the quiz could use some work, in my opinion.

edit: But for what it's worth, I answered it as best I could (given that half the questions lacked answers to suit my needs), and it placed me on the Science/Reason side of Agnostic. Which is understandable, but incorrect. I am in fact Atheist.

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:06 pm

scottris wrote:it simply says that one can't completely rely both on faith (belief absent reason) and completely on reason.

I think it says a lot about the quiz author that he'd define faith as belief absent reason.

EDIT: and, moreover, that he'd consider "faith in the legal system" as falling under that definition of "belief absent reason".

scottris · Post by **scottris** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 8:28 pm

How about if we define faith as belief not requiring evidence and reason as belief requiring evidence, for the purposes of that chart?

Regardless, it's a flawed chart. The arrangement of the axis imply that science can exist where reason does not.

edit: Furthermore, the chart places Judaism/Christianity in the upper-left quadrant, implying that it is largly a faith-based religion (ok) but also more science than spirituality (say what?).