[Buddha-l] Will this be on the final exam?

[Curt Steinmetz]

The test accurately profiled me as a Pagan-Hindu-Mahyana-Buddhist (100%, 
77%, 70%). It should have been more like 100%, 80%, 90% - but what do 
you expect from teh internets?

Like all tests the Beliefomatic has a very clear cultural bias. In fact, 
the very idea that "religions" are correlated with "beliefs" is rooted 
in European Christianity (which has always been obsessed with creeds and 
"beliefs").

This "test" is primarily aimed at distinguishing between various forms 
of Christianity - and everything else is an afterthought. Here is the 
breakdown of subcategories by "religion":

Christianity: 11 subcategories
Unitarian, Liberal Quaker, Mainline to Liberal Protestant, Christian 
Science, Jehovah's Witness, Mormonism, Orthodox Quaker, Eastern 
Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Mainline to Conservative Protestant, Seventh 
Day Adventist

Islam: No subcategories

Hinduism: No subcategories

Buddhism: 2 subcategories
Theravada, Mahayana

Judaism: 2 subcategories
Reform, Orthodox

10 more religions with no subcategories:
Paganism, New Age, Sikhism, Jainism, New Thought, Scientology, Baha'i, 
Secular Humanism, Taoism, Nontheist

Curt Steinmetz

Richard Hayes wrote:
> Dear denizens,
>
> About once a year I amuse myself by taking the on-line quiz at
> http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Quizzes/BeliefOMatic.aspx to see
> how (or if) my religious views are evolving. During the past four months
> I have been involved in a great deal of re-examination of my core
> beliefs and practices, so it seemed a good time to entertain myself by
> taking the notoriously unscientific Belief-0-Matic quiz again, just to
> see if the folks at Beliefnet have refined their quiz in such a way that
> they can put me in the right box. 
>
> After answering the 20 questions, I was shown that the Belief-o-matic
> algorithm had determined that I agree 100% with Theravada Buddhism, 97%
> with Unitarianism and 91% with Liberal Quakerism. This means that since
> I last took the quiz, Unitarianism had dropped 3% and Theravada Buddhism
> has risen about 12%. (I'm glad that someone finally perceives me as a
> Buddhist, even if it's only a dimwitted algorithm probably put together
> by a thirteen-year-old Linux nerd.) Strangely, Secular Humanism fell
> from the number two position (97% agreement) to sixth place (83%). I
> suppose this must have something to do with reciting the Obámanos mantra
> so fervently in October.
>
> At the other end of the spectrum, the three religions that speak least
> to my condition are just the same as before: 11% agreement with
> Jehovah's Witness and just 8% with Eastern Orthodox Christianity and
> Roamin' Catholicism. (I am amazed, as always, to find myself agreeing
> that much with any of those three religions; I perceive myself as
> agreeing with them a little less than 0%.) It does not surprise me too
> much that Orthodox Judaism and Islam come in at about the same level,
> but it does surprise me somewhat that the level is as high as 20%; I
> would have guess more like 5% for each of them. Perhaps it is my
> fondness for falafel and pita that raises my score so high. 
>
> As always, taking this quiz is required of all buddha-l subscribers, and
> anyone who gets a score less than 90% in Theravada or Mahayana Buddhism
> will be required to stay in after class is dismissed.
>
>