Religious survey

[FurryFury]

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2. Secular Humanism (94%)
3. Liberal Quakers (90%)
4. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (89%)
5. Neo-Pagan (70%)
6. Nontheist (68%)
7. Theravada Buddhism (68%)
8. Bahá'í Faith (56%)
9. New Age (54%)
10. Reform Judaism (51%)
11. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (50%)
12. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (46%)
13. Taoism (45%)
14. Mahayana Buddhism (44%)
15. New Thought (41%)
16. Orthodox Quaker (38%)
17. Jehovah's Witness (37%)
18. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (35%)
19. Sikhism (32%)
20. Scientology (31%)
21. Jainism (24%)
22. Orthodox Judaism (23%)
23. Seventh Day Adventist (20%)
24. Hinduism (19%)
25. Eastern Orthodox (16%)
26. Islam (16%)
27. Roman Catholic (16%)

 

[Evil_Geoff]

According to Belief-o-matic, my top 5 are:

1. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
2. Orthodox Quaker (88%)
3. Liberal Quakers (84%)
4. Unitarian Universalism (78%)
5. Reform Judaism (71%)

See, you CAN be a perverted, evil, sadist, and a Christian! *grins* My mother and her family were Quakers, my dad was Lutheran, and I got a rather ecclectic exposure to many different religions (mostly Protestant Christian ones) while growing up. So those results were no surprise at all. I was rather surprised that Judaism rated so high for me. Who new I would make a good Jew? I'm already circumsized so conversion wouldn't be THAT traumatic! *lol*

And for the bottom 5:

23. Taoism (36%)
24. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (35%)
25. Jainism (32%)
26. Nontheist (27%)
27. Jehovah's Witness (26%)

No big surprises there, though I was somewhat surprised that I scored higher as a Nontheist than a JW... shows you how much I know about the beliefs of that particular religion!

 

[intothewoods]

I tried to take the quiz, but none of the answers were fitting on most questions. Recent discussions with certain people I know here aside :
Anyhoo. I know the Belief-o-matic quiz shouldn't be taken all that seriously! But I just thought it was kind of funny that I couldn't complete the first 5 questions.

of course they do, how else you gona learn all those chants and "call the directions" and cast circles and how to make May Poles and astrology and which herbs make the best body paint and all that stuff....

May Poles! *giggle*

 

[FluteMaster]

I tried to take the quiz, but none of the answers were fitting on most questions. Recent discussions with certain people I know here aside , my feeling is that Jews are fundamentally different and that is why I cannot even take this quiz!

There is a set of beliefs, but it's not like ... at least as a more or less reconstructionist/reform Jew...someone says to you, here's what you should think. It's more like here is what we believe. I don't really spend a lot of time thinking is there a God and what form is that God....blah blah blah. The connection to other Jews, past, present and future, totally defines me. In celebrations and traditions, what has been written and the arguments about what has been written (it's totally your God given right to question everything as Jew ).

Anyhoo. I know the Belief-o-matic quiz shouldn't be taken all that seriously! But I just thought it was kind of funny that I couldn't complete the first 5 questions.

LOL - I have long ago come to the conclusion that any attempt to have a rational discussion about relgious belief is bound to fail - because we can't even agree on anything to even start with (eg - are we talking about a set of fundamental intellectual constructs, or a set of opinions cobbled together in a pick & mix fashion, or a set of rules to follow, or a historical tradition, or a right to discard any or all of the above etc etc.)

And then again, we have the difficulty of separating our own society's culture (eg Western Relativism) from the ideals/philosphy of the tradition we aspire to, from our own personal private take on all the above.

SO, if anyone asks, I am happy to explain where what I believe and how it affects my life. I am even happy to point to some traditions which would seem to validate approach from an historical point of view. But I have long ago given up trying to match my understanding to any one specific group.

And anyway, surely just having intellectual beliefs that are common with any one system is meaningless. It strikes me that the real measure of belief is how those beliefs are put into practice. When the shit hits the fan - what do we actually do, and in what do we put our trust?.

ok - I'll climb off my soap bax and get back to work.

 

[intothewoods]

When the shit hits the fan - what do we actually do, and in what do we put our trust?

When the shit hits the fan? I love it.

 

[Netzach]

When the shit hits the fan? I love it. That reminds me of a question I sometimes ask wishy washy Jews that I know: When Hitler comes to town, are you a Jew or not?

It's cute but a moot point. Both Hitler and my mother believe I'm a Jew because she is. What I believe doesn't enter into it. I'm free to be the worst possible Jew I know, I'm still getting gassed. A lot of the people who died that way were completely secular and atheists.

 

[intothewoods]

Well, yeah, exactly. Put whatever you want in the Belief-o-matic quiz. If you're a Jew, you're a Jew.

 

[Netzach]

Well, yeah, exactly. Put whatever you want in the Belief-o-matic quiz. If you're a Jew, you're a Jew.

I guess, even if I'm a Taoist who eats ham. This being the religion query versus the what ethnicity are you query I don't feel wildly Jewish. I haven't felt wildly Jewish since the conservative hebrew school made it clear to me that the world mapped out for me was totally different because I don't have a dingle. Didn't buy it, don't now.

Although, I do think we take a lot more of our upbringng with us than we let on. I find very few Christian pervs who groove on the notion of punishment without infraction, whereas I am married to it as a Domme.

 

[graceanne]

It's cute but a moot point. Both Hitler and my mother believe I'm a Jew because she is. What I believe doesn't enter into it. I'm free to be the worst possible Jew I know, I'm still getting gassed. A lot of the people who died that way were completely secular and atheists.

I put in there that I'm Christian, but if Hitler hit town, I'd be gassed, too. *shrugs* Frankly it's not called 'religion-ocide' it's 'genocide'. It's the killing of a certain genetic group. Genetically I'm Jewish, even though no one in my family has practiced Judeism (sp?) in longer than we've been in the US. Therefore I'm dead if somoene tries to kill of all the Jews, again.

 

[Evil_Geoff]

... I find very few Christian pervs who groove on the notion of punishment without infraction

*nods* I can understand that. Punishment, by definition, is - 2 a : suffering, pain, or loss that serves as retribution b : a penalty inflicted on an offender through judicial procedure

On the other hand, as a sadist, who needs to punish someone to inflict pain? *grins* I do it because I enjoy doing it!

 

[Etoile]

It's cute but a moot point. Both Hitler and my mother believe I'm a Jew because she is. What I believe doesn't enter into it. I'm free to be the worst possible Jew I know, I'm still getting gassed. A lot of the people who died that way were completely secular and atheists.

I love you, Netzach. You and I are Jews in the same way. Many people don't understand the concept of Jewish by heritage, not by religion. When people say "I'm half-Irish, half-German" or "I'm Japanese-American" or whatever, I say "I'm Jewish." And so many people don't get that...they think I'm telling my religion, but it's my heritage. True, most of my relatives were also Jewish by religion - but I'm not from a place.

I'll be holding your hand in the gas chamber, my friend.

 

[intothewoods]

Many people don't understand the concept of Jewish by heritage, not by religion. When people say "I'm half-Irish, half-German" or "I'm Japanese-American" or whatever, I say "I'm Jewish." And so many people don't get that...they think I'm telling my religion, but it's my heritage. True, most of my relatives were also Jewish by religion - but I'm not from a place.

I'll be holding your hand in the gas chamber, my friend.

Gah, who brought up Hitler in the first place. Oh right, that would be me.

 

[Evil_Geoff]

*comes into the room wearing his full length black leather trench coat, knee boots gleaming, black leather gloves encasing his hands, a vicious crop gripped in his right fist...*

Now zhen... Vut I vant from you, mein schotze, ist zimple.

I vill ask zhe kveschun's und you vill answer zhen. Kvickly und completely. Verstanze? Ja? Gut!

 

[Netzach]

*comes into the room wearing his full length black leather trench coat, knee boots gleaming, black leather gloves encasing his hands, a vicious crop gripped in his right fist...*

Now zhen... Vut I vant from you, mein schotze, ist zimple.

I vill ask zhe kveschun's und you vill answer zhen. Kvickly und completely. Verstanze? Ja? Gut!

Did I ever mention how badly I want to play partisans in the woods when I run into people in Nazi regalia at events?

 

[graceanne]

*comes into the room wearing his full length black leather trench coat, knee boots gleaming, black leather gloves encasing his hands, a vicious crop gripped in his right fist...*

Now zhen... Vut I vant from you, mein schotze, ist zimple.

I vill ask zhe kveschun's und you vill answer zhen. Kvickly und completely. Verstanze? Ja? Gut!

You'd pull of German so much better without the red hair, ya know.

 

[Etoile]

Fwiw, if someone asks my ethnic background, I usually say, I'm half Austrian Jew, 1/4 Hungarian Jew and 1/4 Irish Catholic (convert to Judaism). I look totally Irish though, which further confuses people.

Ah! You have it a bit easier than me then. When my ancestors came to the U.S., they were coming from "Poland, except it was Russia at the time, so they were Russian Jews, except it was kind of under dispute so maybe they were Polish, but probably they were Russian, but nobody really knew what that area was at the time, so we don't really know."

And of course my great-grandmother's maiden name was Kaplan, so the chances of finding records are slim to none!

 

[intothewoods]

*comes into the room wearing his full length black leather trench coat, knee boots gleaming, black leather gloves encasing his hands, a vicious crop gripped in his right fist...*

Now zhen... Vut I vant from you, mein schotze, ist zimple.

I vill ask zhe kveschun's und you vill answer zhen. Kvickly und completely. Verstanze? Ja? Gut!

Lol, oh no, let's not even open those floodgates! There's a whole thread full of scenes there!

 

[graceanne]

Ah! You have it a bit easier than me then. When my ancestors came to the U.S., they were coming from "Poland, except it was Russia at the time, so they were Russian Jews, except it was kind of under dispute so maybe they were Polish, but probably they were Russian, but nobody really knew what that area was at the time, so we don't really know."

And of course my great-grandmother's maiden name was Kaplan, so the chances of finding records are slim to none!

My family hid their jewish roots when they came to the US. My aunt has a transcript of her grandfather (I think) talking about before our family came to the US. He was just a child, but he remembers playing in a ball room with a star of david built into the floor. Beyond that you can tell we're Jewish anytime you see my mom or her sisters. They look Jewish. I'm not so obvious, I just look German. lol I'm 5/8 German, 1/4 English, and 1/8 Native American.

 

[marieR19]

*can't remember if I posted here awhile ago or not*

I'm still pretty confused about my family's religious background, I know my mom's side of the family is Christian (Methodist, I think), but I was raised pretty much free of any religious stuff, so I explored religion on my own when I was in my early and mid teens.

Over the years I've identified as a Christian (because of my family), unofficially as a Jew (research led me to the conclusion that I was most "like" a Jew), then Wiccan, which I still kinda-sorta-sometimes identify as. More often then not nowadays, because of personal experiences, I'll say that I don't really believe in God. I believe in a higher power, but personal losses have made it hard for me to trust in a God (or Goddess).


Heather

 

[FluteMaster]

My family hid their jewish roots when they came to the US. My aunt has a transcript of her grandfather (I think) talking about before our family came to the US. He was just a child, but he remembers playing in a ball room with a star of david built into the floor. Beyond that you can tell we're Jewish anytime you see my mom or her sisters. They look Jewish. I'm not so obvious, I just look German. lol I'm 5/8 German, 1/4 English, and 1/8 Native American.

I just love these stories, as they make a mockery of any attempts to prove anything on racial grounds.

On my mum's side (and she was born in the US), there is German Jewish, Danish and Scottish. On my Dad's side there is English. Irish and Welsh. The Jewish is my Great Great Grandfather (ie 1/8), and yet apparently I look so much like him that those who have seen his picture are suprised at the likeness.

As for belief - My GGF converted to Christianity (for faith reasons), and became a Quaker Pastor so my mum was brought up American Quaker. My Dad was brought up Anglican, and we were all brought up Roman Catholic, (go figure, I can't explain it).

And Me? Christian by by personal belief, but interested and accepting of most other systems.

 

[~Kitty~]

I voted spiritual but not religious. Personally, I think religion just gets in the way.

 

[slutnextdoor]

I was brought up by a conservative-Jewish mother and an Athiest father. So I think of myself as Jewish by heritage, Athiest by religion.

Whips and kisses,
~Arashi Lilith

 

[Netzach]

I was brought up by a conservative-Jewish mother and an Athiest father. So I think of myself as Jewish by heritage, Athiest by religion.

Whips and kisses,
~Arashi Lilith

With the exception of M, all the atheists I know are Jews.

I guess with our love of certainty, our track record of life sucking, and our lack of a nasty ol' hell to get us, why not?

 

[Pure]

I find very few Christian pervs who groove on the notion of punishment without infraction, whereas I am married to it as a Domme.

key to SM is punishment done arbitrarily or for reasons unknown. one branch of Xtian (Calvinist/Puritan) has the predestination perspective: from birth (or conception) you're slated for heaven or hell, irrespective of what you do. most, of course, for the latter.

this isn't quite arbirtary punishment, but it will do! (you're in the wrong (irretrievably sinful) because you were born that way; and you'll pay for it!)