Discover your religion!

frogus · Post by **frogus** » Tue Mar 19, 2002 3:13 pm

I made a man I know take the test earlier on. He is a devout Dominican Catholic, has a family of 7 because he will not use contraception and confesses his sins every week. I assure you he was surprised (to say the least) to find out that he is actually a Hindu, with Roman Catholic 11th on his list

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Mar 19, 2002 3:45 pm

Originally posted by frogus
I made a man I know take the test earlier on. He is a devout Dominican Catholic, has a family of 7 because he will not use contraception and confesses his sins every week. I assure you he was surprised (to say the least) to find out that he is actually a Hindu, with Roman Catholic 11th on his list

As has been written here before, the test doesn't measure your "dogma." It looks instead at your beliefs, and attempts to find a match among the various religious dogmas out there.

Curdis · Post by **Curdis** » Tue Mar 19, 2002 4:31 pm

Originally posted by Yshania
Well I appeared 100% Unitarian, but 99% Theraveda Buddhist so I could also join Minerva and Curdis..on some principles

What principles? I'm still trying to figure out what commonalities me and the Godess of wisdom have! - Curdis !

Timekeeper · Post by **Timekeeper** » Tue Mar 19, 2002 9:14 pm

I took this a year ago, actually led me to start studying up on Wicca.

Top
Neo-Pagan (current)
Mahayana Buddhist

Bottom
RCC (born and indoctrinated)
Jehovah's Witnesses

Got my family to take it (about a year ago), got my Utopia KD to take it (a month ago), but find it was already here before I posted.
Fable, you can be a real spoilsport. But in a good way.

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 8:42 am

Originally posted by Timekeeper
I took this a year ago, actually led me to start studying up on Wicca.

Top
Neo-Pagan (current)
Mahayana Buddhist

Neat! I'll drop off my prayer wheel, rejoin the Neo-Pagans, and we can claim two votes. But this is only the first step in our rise to power, and much remains to be done...!

Have you come to any conclusions regarding Wicca, at this point?

Vivien · Post by **Vivien** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 9:59 am

Did anyone else have problems taking this test? I couldn't answer many of the questions because I believed more than one...

Examples:
HUMAN INCARNATION(S) OF GOD (OR OF GODS/GODDESSES). Choose one.

The one that I most feel is the truth is-No particular Incarnations because God is all and all are God (or God is in all).

But as a Christian I MUST not believe this...

But I DO believe that God is in all that is...that we all have a bond to one another that is a manifestation of God...this same bond we share also with trees and rocks (And bunnies!) and all that is *shrugs*

If that makes sense

I think on many of these questions what 'I believe' is at odds with what 'I believe I should believe or go to hell' etc... Grrr...

Okay, enough religious rant.

The tallies have been interesting and I look forward to the end result when those Sikh's lead by Der'D will take the lead

P.S. For those church know-it-alls

Is 'Church of Christ' the same thing as 'Communities of Christ'? My SO is a member of 'Communites of Chrits' which I'd never heard of before...

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 10:17 am

Originally posted by Curdis

What principles? I'm still trying to figure out what commonalities me and the Godess of wisdom have! - Curdis !

I didn't mean your principles - I intended the tenets of the faith that were listed

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 11:46 am

Originally posted by Vivien
Did anyone else have problems taking this test? I couldn't answer many of the questions because I believed more than one...

Examples:
HUMAN INCARNATION(S) OF GOD (OR OF GODS/GODDESSES). Choose one.

The one that I most feel is the truth is-No particular Incarnations because God is all and all are God (or God is in all).

But as a Christian I MUST not believe this...

Once again

, this test is not meant to grade you on how you follow a given religion's dogma in reallife. You're just suposed to input your personal beliefs, and it gives you back whatever religion (supposedly) offers a dogma closest to those beliefs.

Some Christian mystics have maintained exactly what you wrote above, by the way.

Timekeeper · Post by **Timekeeper** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 11:58 am

Originally posted by fable

Neat! I'll drop off my prayer wheel, rejoin the Neo-Pagans, and we can claim two votes. But this is only the first step in our rise to power, and much remains to be done...!

Have you come to any conclusions regarding Wicca, at this point?

Besides being much looser than RCC and meshing more with my views, it's pretty much what I've always believed, 12 years of Catholic indoctrination (read: schooling) to the contrary. Bought my first book on it a year ago, been reading different ones since then; bought an aura reading book a couple weeks ago, been trying to learn that; bought my first Tarot deck in the past week, been learning that. Pretty ecletic for a solitary.

Yes, let's plot the overthrow of the misguided beasts condemning our brethen as mere deluded outcasts. We shall arise and proclaim in one voice, "Our Goddess gave birth to your God!"

*ahems*

I mean, as long as they don't try to send me to hell earlier than expected, I have nothing against them.

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 3:20 pm

Bought my first book on it a year ago, been reading different ones since then; bought an aura reading book a couple weeks ago, been trying to learn that; bought my first Tarot deck in the past week, been learning that. Pretty ecletic for a solitary.

Bear in mind, it's possible to be an agnostic and still use a tarot deck, or to be a Wiccan and regard tarot decks as silly. You can be a Wiccan without accepting that you must learn how to telekinetically toss horseshoes at a faire.

Yes, let's plot the overthrow of the misguided beasts condemning our brethen as mere deluded outcasts. We shall arise and proclaim in one voice, "Our Goddess gave birth to your God!"

For what its worth, most Wiccans do *not* believe in a Goddess, but are dual-worshippers. It's just that the feminist fringe of the religion gets a lot of publicity. what with television shows.

I mean, as long as they don't try to send me to hell earlier than expected, I have nothing against them.

I'd venture to suggest, purely on personal, anecdotal evidence, that most Judeo-Christians don't believe in the typical heaven/hell business that they're told awaits them after death. Personally, I find some attraction in Shaw's idea, that heaven is for striving and growth, hell for static enjoyment, and that movement is very easy between the two--as simple as changing your opinions about what you want. Think about it.

Timekeeper · Post by **Timekeeper** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 8:11 pm

I believe in a God as well as Goddess, it's just sometimes easier to lapse back and think you're dealing with only one.

Now, bearing in mind I've only been reading up for about a year, I'm only beginning. Trying to shake 20 years of Catholic upbringing ain't that easy.

Anyhow, I've come to recognize that RCC preaches a lot of things which parishoners don't end up following. Abortion, reincarnation, homosexuality, birth control, women's ordination, etc, tells me that RCC heirarchy is vastly out of step with modern society. Vatican II tried to change things; most for the better, a few for worse. It's a religion drifting from its roots, where priests were married and women were once exalted among the clergy. Neither exist anymore because politics overpower theology.

Hrm, this is sounding more like the downfall of the RCC than views on Wicca.

I try to be fairly tolerant and accepting. People may believe different faiths than I do, but as long as they don't proselytize, I let them be.

Didja notice that many religions have 'Do not harm / love everyone' clauses, or that J-C God is schizophrenic (compare Old/New Testaments)? But those are observations for another time...

Sailor Saturn · Post by **Sailor Saturn** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 8:23 pm

Originally posted by Vivien
P.S. For those church know-it-alls Is 'Church of Christ' the same thing as 'Communities of Christ'? My SO is a member of 'Communites of Chrits' which I'd never heard of before...

I only vaguely recall hearing about 'Communities of Christ,' but from what little I've heard, I would have to answer no. They may have branched off from the Church of Christ, but I don't know if that is the case or not.

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Mar 20, 2002 10:10 pm

Originally posted by Timekeeper
Anyhow, I've come to recognize that RCC preaches a lot of things which parishoners don't end up following. Abortion, reincarnation, homosexuality, birth control, women's ordination, etc, tells me that RCC heirarchy is vastly out of step with modern society. Vatican II tried to change things; most for the better, a few for worse. It's a religion drifting from its roots, where priests were married and women were once exalted among the clergy. Neither exist anymore because politics overpower theology.

I haven't seen any evidence that women were once part of the Orthodox or RCC clergy. Coming as it did out of a generally Judaic background for the first century, Christianity inherited an attitude that probably forbade women in the priesthood. The latterday intellectual Greeks who enthusiastically joined certainly fit into that mold, too. Though I'm strongly inclined to think, on the basis of the remarks Caesar made in his Commentaries, that women were equally members of the priesthood in some of the pre-Judeo-Christian groups that existed outside the Mesopotamian region.

And the Gnostic branch of Christianity (which was eliminated by brute force, after the Roman Empire became the Holy Roman Empire and ultimately endorsed the Orthodox branch) may well have included women in the ranks of its clergy, because the influence of outside religions was much greater.

I try to be fairly tolerant and accepting. People may believe different faiths than I do, but as long as they don't proselytize, I let them be.

That's great! Now, you only need to develop the habit of ducking when you hear the noise of something being thrown in your direction.

Sorry, just kidding. But it truly does get a bit tiring when people keep trying to convert you.

Didja notice that many religions have 'Do not harm / love everyone' clauses, or that J-C God is schizophrenic (compare Old/New Testaments)? But those are observations for another time...

I think the traditional way of explaning this is for Christian theologians to say that Christ represented a New Dispensation. To me, I admit, it seems like an attempt to sew together two fabrics that just don't make a single garment, but then, I'm not a Christian, so I really can't state that with any conviction.

Karembeu · Post by **Karembeu** » Wed May 22, 2002 6:54 am

1. Bahá'í Faith (100%)
2. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (95%)
3. Liberal Quakers (90%)
4. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (87%)
5. Sikhism (85%)
6. Unitarian Universalism (83%)
7. Reform Judaism (80%)
8. Orthodox Judaism (77%)
9. Jehovah's Witness (76%)
10. Orthodox Quaker (70%)
11. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (64%)
12. Jainism (64%)
13. Mahayana Buddhism (64%)
14. Islam (63%)
15. Neo-Pagan (62%)
16. Hinduism (61%)
17. Theravada Buddhism (60%)
18. New Age (59%)
19. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (58%)
20. New Thought (58%)
21. Secular Humanism (52%)
22. Seventh Day Adventist (49%)
23. Taoism (44%)
24. Eastern Orthodox (42%)
25. Roman Catholic (42%)
26. Scientology (40%)
27. Nontheist (27%)

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed May 22, 2002 10:13 am

Ah, one of the famous Swedish Baha'is, I see.

/-\lastor · Post by **/-\lastor** » Wed May 22, 2002 3:06 pm

Ghehehehe according to this test I'm some sorta alternative christian, in fact I'm an ateist untill I come across soem religion which can "convert" me.

1. Secular Humanism (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism (94%)
3. Liberal Quakers (81%)
4. Neo-Pagan (77%)
5. Theravada Buddhism (73%)
6. Nontheist (67%)
7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (61%)
8. New Age (56%)
9. Taoism (55%)
10. Mahayana Buddhism (48%)
11. Orthodox Quaker (46%)
12. Reform Judaism (44%)
13. Sikhism (42%)
14. Scientology (35%)
15. New Thought (32%)
16. Jainism (32%)
17. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (29%)
18. Bahá'í Faith (28%)
19. Hinduism (26%)
20. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (24%)
21. Jehovah's Witness (21%)
22. Seventh Day Adventist (20%)
23. Eastern Orthodox (18%)
24. Orthodox Judaism (18%)
25. Roman Catholic (18%)
26. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (18%)
27. Islam (10%)

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed May 22, 2002 3:57 pm

The Quakers aren't bad folks, as a rule. Within half an hour of where we live there's a Quaker meeting hall that remains standing from the 18th century (no big deal to you Europeans, but quite impressive by standards throughout most of the US), and is still in use. They're about a block away from one of two Indian restaurants my wife and I frequent, which must be awfully convenient when they adjourn their prayer services for a little chicken tandoori.

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Wed May 22, 2002 5:00 pm

Originally posted by fable
Ah, one of the famous Swedish Baha'is, I see.

ROFL

Famous indeed

Regarding Quakers, in Scandinavia this has never been a large movement, and it also came here very late, not until the 1930's - which is surprising considering the order was founded in Britain I think in the middle of the 17th century. Here, the Quakers are however characterised by their humanitarian and social efforts and they are not known to be fundamentalists.

Karembeu · Post by **Karembeu** » Thu May 23, 2002 11:58 pm

Originally posted by fable
Ah, one of the famous Swedish Baha'is, I see.

I read through the explanation of my so called "religion" but I can't say I really understood what it all meant...care to explain what "Baha'i Faith" is...

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri May 24, 2002 1:24 am

http://www.bahai.org/

Mind, I neither endorse that website, nor its claims made on behalf of the Baha'i religion. But if you want background, they've got it.