So to bring myself up to date i took a quiz on Beliefnet that i have taken four or five times over the last 25 years, the last time about five years ago is in this journal somewhere, Twenty brief. and sometimes silly and sometimes impossible questions are asled about the nature of the Divine, humans, suffering, sin, proper religious behavior, the afterlife, etc. Then i was given a score describing my agreement with twenty-six religious categories (which seemed to have been chosen at random, except that all the largest groups are there: Christian. Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh -- but, for example: all Muslims (and also all Hindus) are included under one single category, while Buddhists and Jews get two each. and Christians get TEN. Anyway, here were my results. The percentage is the percentage of my answers that agreed with the belief system:
Taoism 100%
Unitarian/Universalism 92
Mahayana Buddhism 91
Liberal Quaker 83
New Age 78
Theravada Buddhism 74
Jainism 73
Neo-Pagan 70
Hinduism 66
Scientology 65
Secular Humanism 59
Orthodox Quaker 58
New Thought 53
Christian Science 51
Liberal Protestant Christian 46
Reformed Judaism 40
Bahai'i 38
Seventh Day Adventist 32
Non-Theism (Atheist? Agnostic?) 30
Mormons 29
Jehovah's Witness 22
Conservative Protestant Christians 19
Islam 18
Orthodox Judaism 14
Roman Catholic Christianity 13
Eastern Orthodox Christianity 10
Over the years, the same four groups have always stayed at the top, though in different orders and with different numbers. And the same nine groups have always been near the bottom. I will say, that though those numbers appear low, they are much higher than they were 25 years ago. I was raised conservative protestant, I live among Mormons and find them lovely people. (Dianne's family is Mormon). Sufi (Muslim) poetry is the most lovely and truthful entry into spiritual experience that i have encountered. I have attended Roman Catholic Masses hundreds of times over the last 40+ years and often find the experience spiritually fulfilling. And my "guru," the most spiritually advanced human i have ever met was a convert to one of the Eastern Orthodox Churches. All i can say is, i guess you don't have to accept someone's belief system in order to learn from them, to appreciate them, or to love them.
Comments
Though thinking about it, in our world there's certain amount of insisting on making or remaking all humanity, swell as God, in one's own image....
But only God can make a tree.
And only fools like me, you see,
Can make a god who makes a tree.
(Apologies to Joyce Kilmer)