What I (Apparently) Believe ...

[saavedra77]

According to Beliefnet's Belief-O-Matic, I'm basically a secular humanist, but have strong affinities for Unitarianism, liberal Quakerism, Theravada. Which sounds about right, I guess:

1.  Secular Humanism (100%)
2.  Unitarian Universalism (94%)
3.  Liberal Quakers (79%)
4.  Nontheist (72%)
5.  Neo-Pagan (70%)
6.  Theravada Buddhism (69%)
7.  Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (63%)
8.  New Age (52%)
9.  Taoism (51%)
10.  Reform Judaism (48%)
11.  Mahayana Buddhism (45%)
12.  Orthodox Quaker (41%)
13.  Sikhism (39%)
14.  Scientology (34%)
15.  Bahá'í Faith (32%)
16.  New Thought (31%)
17.  Jainism (30%)
18.  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (27%)
19.  Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (24%)
20.  Hinduism (20%)
21.  Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (20%)
22.  Seventh Day Adventist (19%)
23.  Eastern Orthodox (18%)
24.  Islam (18%)
25.  Orthodox Judaism (18%)
26.  Roman Catholic (18%)
27.  Jehovah's Witness (9%)

If I'd taken this a few years back, I suspect that Mahayana would have scored higher. But I'm more comfortable with that ol' time Buddhism, at this point in my life--if it was good enough for ol' Gautama ...

Comments

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Bah. Once again Shinto falls through the cracks.

Not that I have anything against Unitarianism, but ...eh.

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

Alas, my spiritual education is clearly lacking in the Shinto department ... ;)

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

I gave up on it on the first question, where they lumped together "No God or supreme force. Or not sure. Or not important."

Sigh.

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

Clearly, the meme's not very concerned with the agnostic/atheist distinction. I guess that you could chalk that up to impatience with ambiguity?

On the other hand, the results do track your resemblance to "secular humanist" and "nontheist."

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't see how they can claim that sort of distinction in the answers if they don't make it in the questions. Bah.

[crm17.livejournal.com]

I found it interesting to consider the questions.

1. Neo-Pagan (100%)
2. New Age (96%)
3. Mahayana Buddhism (95%)
4. Unitarian Universalism (95%)

Next is Quaker but drops to 87%

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

A lot of people I know seem to score high in Unitarianism, various forms of Buddhism, New Age spirituality, and Neo-Paganism. As a friend of mine noted, either the test is slanted somewhat toward those kinds of beliefs, or our peer group is.

[crm17.livejournal.com]

I suspect some of both.

People with any of those beliefs tend to be more open and tolerant of other beliefs. I personally find that very attractive, and thus they represent a lot of my friends here. Happily, there is enough diversity here that I have also found fascinating open minded friends who have strong religious beliefs in areas that I tend to find less open minded on average.

As far as the test, I think there are several black/white distinctions made. Probably the most significant is the belief in a superior being. You are pretty much forced to say exists or does not exist in several questions. That may be a reasonable line to draw, but my answers would suggest a higher level of confidence in "not exist" than I truly feel. And that leads to the beliefs you mentioned rising to the top.