Religion Quiz: Share Your Results

I doubt this test is a true reflection of people’s actual belief systems. Its meant to be more of a fun thing, isn’t it? It would be interesting if someone devised a serious test though…!

with metta

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Thanks Kensho. :slight_smile:

I would say it’s as serious as an internet personality quiz can get. It’s been up and running for about 15 years now, with changes made for accuracy along the way. It doesn’t claim 100% accuracy:

It does not mean that Mahayana Buddhism matches every one of your response to every question. Any, or a combination, of the top scoring results may closely match your expressed preferences.

Your top result is
Theravada Buddhism
SelectSmart.com
Your Complete Results:
1. Theravada Buddhism (100%) More Info
2. Sikhism (89%) More Info
3. Mahayana Buddhism (88%) More Info
4. Jainism (81%) More Info
5. Hinduism (79%) More Info
6. Taoism (74%) More Info
7. Unitarian Universalism (69%) More Info
8. Neo-Pagan (64%) More Info
9. Liberal Quakers - Religious Society of Friends (59%) More Info
10. New Age (58%) More Info
11. Orthodox Quaker - Religious Society of Friends (42%) More Info
12. Scientology (40%) More Info
13. Secular Humanism (39%) More Info
14. New Thought (38%) More Info
15. Mainline - Liberal Christian Protestants (37%)

Funny. Not quite what i expected. i blame a brain which prefers logical consistency for these views. And, as others have perhaps suggested, a silly odd quiz.

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I’ve looked for a better one but I haven’t found one. It’s the same quiz that was originally developed for Beliefnet.com as the Belief-O-Matic.

The results of the quiz are also likely to be influenced by popular notions and beliefs regarding the religions represented.

What is the likelihood that the author had an exceptionally profound grasp of Buddhism of any sect, let alone Theravāda?

If someone with little exposure to Buddhism looked it up and got something like “Mahāyāna is the kind of Buddhism that focuses on other people, Theravāda is about individual liberation”, then they might well have that influence the way they design the questions in various ways. IMO at least.

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I just gave the test an honest crack. I shouldn’t really have expected anything…

imo in my opinion

“Should” is a loaded word, isn’t it? :slight_smile: i rarely use it myself, it seems to invoke baggage in hearers.

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I was thinking that when one hears “should”, a lot of associations may be invoked. All the "should"s one has been told, including those agreed with, and those not; all the strongest deepest voices of those "should"s, whethere recognized or not, whether loved and respected, hated or feared, or ambiguously uneasy… All of a sudden, listening, being present, can become very difficult or complicated… I think most people do not really know their own thoughts, sometimes do not know where thought x began, or that its origin was somebody’s craving… maybe not even the consciousness which would insist they stand before us…

Interesting, yes? :slight_smile:

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ah! just had an interesting thought from offering an answer: “should” ultimately makes the statement containing it a question of identity.

That may be summary.

Yes :slight_smile:

I got

1.	Unitarian Universalism (100%) 			
2.	Liberal Quakers - (93%) 				
3.	Secular Humanism (90%) 			
4.	Taoism (86%) 			
5.	New Age (78%) 	
6.	Mainline - Liberal Christian Protestants (77%) 				
7.	Neo-Pagan (76%) 
8.	Theravada Buddhism (76%) 	
9.	Mahayana Buddhism (75%)

I would like to share why I prefer Jodo Shinshu over Zen Buddhism, even though I have a sincere appreciation for both traditions. While Zen is more popular in the West, Jodo Shinshu is the largest Buddhist tradition in Japan.

Nembutsu recitation is the main practice in Jodo Shinshu, as an expression of gratitude to Amida Buddha, the boundless wisdom and compassion otherwise known as Dharma-body, for our future rebirth into the Pure Land.

In Zen practice, the primary goal is experiencing kensho. Kensho, however, is not the ultimate truth in Buddhism. Kensho is, instead, a momentary glimpse into the ultimate truth, of seeing into one’s Buddha-nature.

In Buddhism, the ultimate truth is Nirvana. Only Zen masters, however, are said to enter Nirvana at death. In Jodo Shinshu, the Pure Land is seen as the realm of Nirvana, and it’s open to all people, whether priest or layperson.

I like to quote Zen masters on Amida Buddha, because of Zen’s emphasis on the non-dual relationship between Amida and ourselves. Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho, however, also presents a non-dual understanding of Amida Buddha:

67 The Commentary on the Treatise states:
To aspire to be born in the Pure Land of happiness is necessarily to awaken the mind aspiring for supreme enlightenment.
68 Further, it states:
This mind attains Buddhahood means that the mind becomes Buddha; this mind is itself Buddha means that there is no Buddha apart from the mind…
69 The [Master of] Kuang-ming temple states:
This mind attains Buddhahood. This mind is itself Buddha. There is no Buddha apart from this mind.
Chapter on Shinjin - The Collected Works of Shinran

1.	Secular Humanism (100%)		
2.	Theravada Buddhism (96%)			
3.	Taoism (94%)			
4.	Unitarian Universalism (93%)		
5.	Liberal Quakers - Religious Society of Friends (92%)				
6.	Non-theist (78%)			
7.	Mahayana Buddhism (74%)	
8.	Neo-Pagan (64%)			
9.	New Age (64%)			
10.	Jainism (60%)			
11.	Mainline - Liberal Christian Protestants (60%)				
12.	Orthodox Quaker - Religious Society of Friends (53%)				
13.	Reform Judaism (50%)			
14.	New Thought (49%)			
15.	Scientology (49%)
16.	Sikhism (49%)	
17.	Hinduism (39%)				
18.	Bahai (38%)			
19.	Christian Science Church of Christ, Scientist (36%)				
20.	Seventh Day Adventist (23%)	
21.	Islam (14%)			
22.	Mainline - Conservative Christian Protestant (10%)				
23.	Jehovahs Witness (8%)		
24.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (8%)		
25.	Orthodox Judaism (3%)			
26.	Eastern Orthodox (0%)			
27.	Roman Catholic (0%)			

I was brought up a mix of Protestant Christian and Roman Catholic and I’d rejected both by 1972 in favour of rational atheism. I asked for five precepts (which I don’t keep particularly well) from a Thervadan nun in 2000. I can understand how Secular Humanism is 100% compatible with my answers, but wonder at the gap between Liberal Protestant on 60% and Roman Catholic on 0%. I guess there are many different ways of describing a liberal Protestant!! It would be fascinating to know how the quiz constructors characterised all the religions.

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Yes. A friend told me recently that while he was studying in a Catholic seminary he came across a pamphlet from the BPS, and that - so to speak - was that.

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I was Catholic. I went to the pastor and officially renounce verbally Roman Church.

I still got

Theravada Buddhism (78%)

And

Roman Catholic (28%)

Good :+1::rofl:

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Right at home

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  1. Theravada Buddhism (100%)
  2. Mahayana Buddhism (95%)
  3. Unitarian Universalism (92%)
  4. Liberal Quakers - Religious Society of Friends (88%)
  5. Taoism (85%)
  6. Jainism (82%)
  7. Mainline - Liberal Christian Protestants (75%)
  8. Orthodox Quaker - Religious Society of Friends (74%)
  9. Sikhism (71%)
  10. Neo-Pagan (65%)
  11. Scientology (64%)
  12. New Age (63%)
  13. Secular Humanism (62%)
  14. Hinduism (61%)
  15. Reform Judaism (60%)
  16. New Thought (57%)
  17. Bahai (49%)
  18. Islam (45%)
  19. Christian Science Church of Christ, Scientist (45%)
  20. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (44%)
  21. Orthodox Judaism (43%)
  22. Non-theist (41%)
  23. Seventh Day Adventist (39%)
  24. Mainline - Conservative Christian Protestant (35%)
  25. Jehovahs Witness (32%)
  26. Eastern Orthodox (26%)
  27. Roman Catholic (26%)
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