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There are many, many people out there who are just plain confused about religion. Personally, I know a lot of people (and I’m sure you’ll realize that you do, too) who have an idea of where they stand on individual issues (like reincarnation or satan or karma) but are intimidated when it comes to the big picture because they do not know what to call themselves.
I think there is a bizarre parallel between religions and music genres. Let me explain. There are quite a lot of people (you may be one of them) who enjoy music but aren’t passionate about it and have no extreme preference in what they listen to. One of these people would probably claim they listen to everything, even though it’s not like they sincerely enjoy every piece of music that goes through their ears. There are similar types of people when it comes to religion. The equivalent would be those who may know vaguely what they think but consider many matters unimportant, and then give themselves a label like agnostic (or not at all) and then attatch, “but I respect all beliefs”. But can they honestly say that they respect all beliefs? If they thought about it, probably not. On the extreme end there are also music fanatics who will just be plain OCD about their music generes. Have you ever been listening to a friend’s song on their iPod, and you ask what it is, and they’ll reply, “oh, that’s post-industrial tranceacid rapcore,” or, “that would be popharmonics jazz fusion.” Unfortunately, I think the same thing is happening to religion, and so many labels are popping up these days that I can understand how it would be hard to distinguish them without some good research. Lately I’ve heard people describe themselves as “christian wicca”, “naturalized deist”, and “environment-oriented theist” (I think they might have been trying to say pantheist) among some others.
All of this is to prove a point about people these days. An overwhelming amount of them just lose track of what they think. This is often either because they just don’t know what to call themselves, or because they get confused by the myriad of (now becoming) interchangable beliefs that eventually become meaningless if they’re mixed up too much.
To a point, I have a solution for these people.
I’m actually not kidding about this. It’s an astonishingly accurate quiz made up of about 20 really precise questions. I really think that many people are intimidated by, or just don’t feel like doing, the research it takes to be knowledgable about their faith. I think that this simple online quiz is surprisingly effective and non-hoaxy, as opposed to basically every other “what are you” quiz on the internet these days.
Even if you are quite clear on what you are, you should go on over to beliefnet and take a look, because you’re probably skeptical (and I know you want to). The quiz takes about 5-10 minutes and is so right it will surprise you.
Cheers
More by Chris Basinet
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Nifty quiz, but beware of advertising!
I agree that this particular quiz is extremely accurate. I first stumbled across it not long after I first started identifying as an atheist and reading relevant literature. I took the test again about a year after the first time and was surprised at how well the result reflected the evolution of my opinions.
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So, instead of actually doing the research and thinking about it logically, you propose a five minute Internet test?
That sort of goes against everything freethinking is all about.
I took the test and answered the questions honestly. Amongst many arbitrary categories, I am 100% secular humanist, 69% buddhist, and 6% Jehovah’s Witness.
This tells me absolutely nothing.
Encourage people to think, not place themselves into a box. That is the whole point of the Freethinker movement.
So, instead of actually doing the research and thinking about it logically, you propose a five minute Internet test?
Of course not. I’m not telling people to go to some internet quiz and then follow the belief that it tells them they should be. I’m saying, go take this quiz, it’s fun, accurate, and gives you an idea of what to look for.
This test is not a be-all-end-all ordeal. I’m going to trust that my readers are intelligent enough to understand that.
It seems to me that you are treating what should be carefully thought out philosophy in the same vein as a grade school kid who passes a lettre to his or her school crush saying “Do you like me? Check this box” instead of getting to know the person and figuring out what they actually have in common.
I’m just tired of all these Internet quizes that claim to be intelligent but merely feed our desire to fit inside a little box.
I think you misunderstand my intention.
I am recommending this quiz for
1. Fun, and
2. Clarity
That’s it.
I’m not saying the quiz should replace deep thought.
But actually, now that I consider it, the quiz might actually prompt some people to think about their beliefs more because of the specific nature of the questions.
If, because of this post, my readers have seriously considered solely taking a five minute quiz to decide their beliefs, then there is certainly no hope for anything else I write being understood.