The Belief-O-Matic Quiz

I just took the "Belief-O-Matic" quiz and here are my results:

1.	Secular Humanism (100%)
2.	Unitarian Universalism (92%)
3.	Nontheist (80%)
4.	Theravada Buddhism (74%)
5.	Liberal Quakers (72%)
6.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (59%)
7.	Neo-Pagan (59%)
8.	Taoism (48%)
9.	Reform Judaism (47%)
10.	New Age (46%)
11.	Mahayana Buddhism (38%)
12.	Scientology (35%)
13.	New Thought (33%)
14.	Orthodox Quaker (26%)
15.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (25%)
16.	Sikhism (25%)
17.	Baha'i Faith (24%)
18.	Jainism (22%)
19.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (19%)
20.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (18%)
21.	Islam (16%)
22.	Orthodox Judaism (16%)
23.	Seventh Day Adventist (12%)
24.	Hinduism (10%)
25.	Eastern Orthodox (8%)
26.	Roman Catholic (8%)
27.	Jehovah's Witness (0%)

First of all, I think the most obvious conclusion that can be made is that the test is fairly accurate, at least at categorizinig non-believers. I think its accurate to describe myself as a Secular Humanist, an also as a "non-theist" (no atheist option?). However, another thing I immediately noticed, and found rather funny, is the fact that my beliefs (or lack thereof) more closely align with Unitarian Universalists than non theism. This is particularly interesting to me, since for the first 6 years of my life I went to a UU church, and some members of my family still consider themselves Unitarian Universalists. I often joke that the UU church really has no specific doctrine, that its members can believe or not believe whatever they choose. Apparently, I fit more closely with this church than with the non-theistic worldview.


Secondly, the nature of the questions that were asked are highly suspect. I don't recommend this entertainment quiz for anyone who is truly trying to discover what they believe, it is interesting and fun to take it and find out where you fit. However, as I just mentioned, the questioning was far from perfect. In fact, it even indicates an anti-atheist bias, which is something high on my list of "Why a secular world would be better". The way the quiz is design clearly indicates that it is better to have some sort of faith or spirituality. I find this claim highly unsupported, and in fact I would posit that faith does much more damage than is does good. But I guess that's for another time. For example, the first question that the  quiz asks 


"What is the number and nature of the deity (God, gods, higher power)"?

Only one God--a corporeal spirit (has a body), supreme, personal God Almighty, the Creator.

Only one God--an incorporeal (no body) spirit, supreme, personal God Almighty, the Creator.

Multiple personal gods (or goddesses) regarded as facets of one God, and/or as separate gods.

The supreme force is the impersonal Ultimate Reality (or life force, ultimate truth, cosmic order, absolute bliss, universal soul), which resides within and/or beyond all.

The supreme existence is both the eternal, impersonal, formless Ultimate Reality, and personal God (or gods).

No God or supreme force. Or not sure. Or not important.

None of the above. The only possible atheistic responses are "None of the above" or, the one I went with "No God or supreme force. Or not sure. Or not important". O.K., I could understand possibly lumping "No God" and "Not sure" together, but "Not important"? Give me a break. To be clear, I think the questions of existence and good and evil and the origins of humanity and love are the most important questions of all! Yet, there is this underlying attitude that for atheists, this isn't important, and they don't care about these things, and there is no purpose to live. Quite the contrary, I spend a good deal of my time and effort exploring these issues, possibly spending much more time than many "believers" do investigating these things. It is this ridiculous connection between atheism and "not important" that makes people look down upon atheists and not trust them in public office. The best way to combat this attitude is to continue to examine this things for yourself, and engage believers in these discussions, demonstrating your knowledge of and the level of significance you attach to the most important questions facing human existence. That way, the world will begin to understand who we are and what we believe (or don't), and perhaps the differences can slowly be alleviated and we can move forward together.