Belief-o-matic Do You Believe What You Think You Believe? Find Out!

[Crazycatlady]

1. Jainism (100%)

2. Hinduism (96%)

3. Mahayana Buddhism (92%)

4. Neo-Pagan (91%)

5. Unitarian Universalism (88%)

6. Theravada Buddhism (83%)

7. Sikhism (81%)

8. Liberal Quakers (80%)

9. Secular Humanism (69%)

10. Reform Judaism (66%)

11. Baha'i Faith (65%)

12. New Age (62%)

13. Taoism (60%)

14. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (58%)

15. Orthodox Quaker (56%)

16. Orthodox Judaism (54%)

17. Islam (45%)

18. Nontheist (44%)

19. Scientology (43%)

20. Seventh Day Adventist (40%)

21. New Thought (39%)

22. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (31%)

23. Eastern Orthodox (30%)

24. Roman Catholic (30%)

25. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (29%)

26. Jehovah's Witness (28%)

27. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (25%)

[Crazycatlady]

And, having remembered that I saved the results from a few years ago (back when I was still a good little catholic girl), I will post them below.

 

1. Orthodox Quaker (100%)

2. Eastern Orthodox (94%)

3. Roman Catholic (94%)

4. Seventh Day Adventist (84%)

5. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (80%)

6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (70%)

7. Liberal Quakers (61%)

8. Orthodox Judaism (55%)

9. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (55%)

10. Hinduism (53%)

11. Baha'i Faith (50%)

12. Jehovah's Witness (49%)

13. Islam (48%)

14. Unitarian Universalism (46%)

15. Sikhism (45%)

16. Jainism (41%)

17. Reform Judaism (40%)

18. Theravada Buddhism (37%)

19. Mahayana Buddhism (36%)

20. Neo-Pagan (34%)

21. Taoism (32%)

22. Secular Humanism (31%)

23. New Age (27%)

24. Scientology (19%)

25. Nontheist (19%)

26. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (18%)

27. New Thought (14%)

[ShackledNoMore]

1.secular humanism (100%)

2.unitarian universalism (93%)

6.non theist (68%- WTF????)

 

The rest seems to me like alot of hooey, even though I may agree with some beliefs.

And mine...

 

1. Secular Humanism (100%)

2. Unitarian Universalism (91%)

3. Nontheist (81%)

4. Liberal Quakers (69%)

5. Theravada Buddhism (65%)

6. Neo-Pagan (53%)

7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (50%)

8. Taoism (38%)

9. New Age (36%)

10. Reform Judaism (31%)

11. Orthodox Quaker (25%)

12. Mahayana Buddhism (24%)

13. Scientology (24%)

14. New Thought (21%)

15. Sikhism (18%)

16. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (15%)

17. Baha'i Faith (12%)

18. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (12%)

19. Jainism (10%)

20. Seventh Day Adventist (10%)

21. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (7%)

22. Hinduism (6%)

23. Jehovah's Witness (6%)

24. Eastern Orthodox (3%)

25. Islam (3%)

26. Orthodox Judaism (3%)

27. Roman Catholic (3%)

 

I was a little surprised also to get only 81% non-theist, but I have a guess as to what's going on: I'm guessing the Belief-O-Matic cannot reconcile lack of belief in a god or gods with actually adopting any sort of morality. I struggled a little with some of those answers, because they would be N/A for the position I would like my church to take (not being likely to belong to a church), yet they were moral positions that I subscribe to myself, and for which I would feel at home with in an organization of some sort of like minded people. While the overall ordering for me is generally accurate, I still don't buy that the Belief-O-Matic knows better than me what faith I am!

[Amethyst]

I was a little surprised also to get only 81% non-theist, but I have a guess as to what's going on: I'm guessing the Belief-O-Matic cannot reconcile lack of belief in a god or gods with actually adopting any sort of morality. I struggled a little with some of those answers, because they would be N/A for the position I would like my church to take (not being likely to belong to a church), yet they were moral positions that I subscribe to myself, and for which I would feel at home with in an organization of some sort of like minded people. While the overall ordering for me is generally accurate, I still don't buy that the Belief-O-Matic knows better than me what faith I am!

 

I think you're right, the people who wrote the Belief-O-Matic must not realize that non-Theism = Secular Humanism too.

 

Also I suspect it might be a recruiting tool for the UU's. Every time I've taken it, I scored high on UUism as well. From what I understand, the Unitarian Universalists accept just about anyone, regardless of what religion they happen to be (or even none at all), as long as they're open-minded.

[mahjong]

I tried to take the test by how I believed in the past but it aggravated me!

 

1. Secular Humanism (100%)

2. Unitarian Universalism (94%)

3. Liberal Quakers (75%)

4. Nontheist (74%)

5. Theravada Buddhism (73%)

 

I guess the percentages represent what portion of that belief contains my personal answers? The top 5 selections do represent the thoughts I've had regarding myself.

[mahjong]

I don't think it has to do with UU as much as how we, on this site, are apt to answer. My husband took the test, he is non-religious but is a yogi. He is by no means Hindu.

 

1. Hinduism (100%)

2. Mahayana Buddhism (97%)

3. Theravada Buddhism (80%)

4. Jainism (63%)

5. Neo-Pagan (63%)

 

He thought the test was very vague, he does appreciate Buddhism, and Theravada Buddhism is one belief we have 'in common' in this test.

[PiracyOfTheHead]

While the overall ordering for me is generally accurate, I still don't buy that the Belief-O-Matic knows better than me what faith I am!

 

The belief o matic tallies up your answers in a certain fashion, its not that because you were to get say 75% Hindu, that you yourself are a person who is 3/4 hindu, what the percentages mean is that you are answering 81% the same as Non theists answer.

 

All it is displaying is how closely you answered the questions according to the belief system.

 

Of course you know what you believe in, but its supposed to be an eye opener to show you that you also share beliefs with others you would not have known, and to show you that perhaps the totality of your individual beliefs are better represented in certain systems than you may have thought.

 

It's a calculated printout and is not all-inclusive so there are obvious flaws, but all in all it seems to be accurate.

 

Did you read the page where it describes how it comes up with the percentages??

 

The MIGHTY belief-o-matic will pardon your transgression and lack of faith if you perform 150 prostrations.

[Crazycatlady]

I didn't realize it was supposed to be an eye-opener. I thought it was intended as a light-hearted, semi-accurate quiz for the purpose of killing time...

[The-Captain]

I didn't realize it was supposed to be an eye-opener. I thought it was intended as a light-hearted, semi-accurate quiz for the purpose of killing time...

 

Eye-openingly so..

[Astreja]

My results:

 

1. Secular Humanism (100%)

2. Unitarian Universalism (99%)

3. Nontheist (80%)

4. Liberal Quakers (78%)

5. Theravada Buddhism (78%)

6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (69%)

7. Neo-Pagan (64%)

8. Taoism (61%)

9. Reform Judaism (48%)

10. New Age (48%)

11. Sikhism (46%)

12. Mahayana Buddhism (45%)

13. Scientology (34%)

14. New Thought (31%)

15. Jainism (29%)

16. Orthodox Quaker (29%)

17. Baha'i Faith (27%)

18. Hinduism (25%)

19. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (24%)

20. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (20%)

21. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (20%)

22. Seventh Day Adventist (18%)

23. Eastern Orthodox (11%)

24. Islam (11%)

25. Orthodox Judaism (11%)

26. Roman Catholic (11%)

27. Jehovah's Witness (0%)

 

This is the third or fourth time I've taken the Belief-O-Matic quiz (roughly once a year since I first became aware of it). There's been a steady progression towards non-theism, with religious attachments falling away or being subjected to more and more scrutiny.

 

Secular Humanism at the top of the list... Very appropriate, as I'm a member of the local humanist association. Theravada Buddhism at #5 and Neo-Paganism at #7 agrees with my non-theistic Buddhism and my identification as an Ásatrúar.

[ShackledNoMore]

Did you read the page where it describes how it comes up with the percentages??

I don't think so. I followed the link to the quiz again and didn't see another link, so I killed two birds with one stone and quickly took the test again to get to the results page and test my theory on non-theism, secular humanism, ethics, and the Belief-O-Matic at the same time. I did find a short paragraph on the results page explaining the results.

 

My experiment yielded the following results:

 

1. Nontheist (100%)

2. Secular Humanism (100%)

3. Unitarian Universalism (86%)

4. Theravada Buddhism (65%)

5. Liberal Quakers (49%)

6. Neo-Pagan (29%)

7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (26%)

8. Taoism (16%)

9. New Age (8%)

 

...followed by a long, alphabetically ordered list of sundry religions all at 0%

 

This time I'm a little surprised at the 100% value for Secular Humanism. In my attempt to pose as a True Atheist™ (by the Belief-O-Matic's standards) I answered all ethical questions as non-applicable, but I thought Secular Humanism DID uphold ethics and living a good and rational life, and therefore I would expected the match to be less complete. Before now, I assumed I scored 100% on Secular Humanism the first time in part as a result of my ethics answers.

The MIGHTY belief-o-matic will pardon your transgression and lack of faith if you perform 150 prostrations.

Thanks to the 3% similarity of my beliefs to catholicism, I was able to do the following prostrations in front of the Belief-O-Matic:

 

Belief-O-Matic

 

Unfortunately, I think I blew AGAIN, after my skepticism re-emerged in the form of my arrogant experiment to probe the wisdom of the Belief-O-Matic. Damn, looks like it's more penance for me!

[PiracyOfTheHead]

The MIGHTY belief-o-matic will pardon your transgression and lack of faith if you perform 150 prostrations.

Thanks to the 3% similarity of my beliefs to catholicism, I was able to do the following prostrations in front of the Belief-O-Matic:

 

Belief-O-Matic

 

Unfortunately, I think I blew AGAIN, after my skepticism re-emerged in the form of my arrogant experiment to probe the wisdom of the Belief-O-Matic. Damn, looks like it's more penance for me!

 

 

We're not worthy, we're not worthy!

 

 

I had to do 110 full blown Eastern Orthodox Prostrations (they're like squat thrusts almost) every day at the monastery...look how much its helped me!!!!

[Vendredie]

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)

2. Neo-Pagan (91%)

3. Liberal Quakers (90%)

4. Secular Humanism (89%)

5. New Age (85%)

6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (79%)

7. Theravada Buddhism (74%)

8. Mahayana Buddhism (65%)

9. Nontheist (62%)

10. Reform Judaism (56%)

11. Taoism (55%)

12. Orthodox Quaker (50%)

13. Baha'i Faith (48%)

14. New Thought (47%)

15. Scientology (45%)

16. Jainism (39%)

17. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (37%)

18. Orthodox Judaism (33%)

19. Sikhism (31%)

20. Hinduism (31%)

21. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (28%)

22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (25%)

23. Islam (25%)

24. Seventh Day Adventist (24%)

25. Jehovah's Witness (18%)

26. Eastern Orthodox (16%)

27. Roman Catholic (16%)

 

This is why I now identify as more of a pantheist/atheist Pagan. UU and Neo-Pagan are always the top two anyway, they were even when I was a Christian.

[Brother Jeff]

The test is fucked up. After question 6, clicking "Next" just brings up a fucking full-page ad for the new Narnia movie. I HATE all of the goddamn advertising I am constantly subjected to these days whether I am watching TV or browsing the Net. The goddamn advertising industry now owns the entertainment industry just as the goddamn pharmaceutical industry owns the American medical profession. FUCK all of them!!!

 

My beliefs are non-traditional and wouldn't be reflected properly on a test like this anyway. I can't prove it at the moment, but I strongly suspect that there is an afterlife of some sort due to my own experiences and those of my family. There must be a God of some sort who started it all since the creation of the universe and the evolution of life otherwise is so exceedingly improbable that it is basically impossible and... I can't honestly believe that the impossible actually happened just because the impossible happening conveniently rules out God. TO ME it makes more sense to believe in God than it does to not believe in him, considering all of the evidence of design that there is in the universe... and the claims of Dawkins and those like him that design isn't actually design just don't work. It takes a lot more faith to be an atheist than it does to just accept the much simpler explanation of a Designer or... God. I am more or less a Deist and a Theistic Evolutionist. That position satisfies both Occam's Razor and the findings of modern science, and it avoids the inherent depressing meaninglessness that is so much a part of Atheism.

[Vendredie]

The test is fucked up. After question 6, clicking "Next" just brings up a fucking full-page ad for the new Narnia movie. I HATE all of the goddamn advertising I am constantly subjected to these days whether I am watching TV or browsing the Net. The goddamn advertising industry now owns the entertainment industry just as the goddamn pharmaceutical industry owns the American medical profession. FUCK all of them!!!

 

My beliefs are non-traditional and wouldn't be reflected properly on a test like this anyway. I can't prove it at the moment, but I strongly suspect that there is an afterlife of some sort due to my own experiences and those of my family. There must be a God of some sort who started it all since the creation of the universe and the evolution of life otherwise is so exceedingly improbable that it is basically impossible and... I can't honestly believe that the impossible actually happened just because the impossible happening conveniently rules out God. TO ME it makes more sense to believe in God than it does to not believe in him, considering all of the evidence of design that there is in the universe... and the claims of Dawkins and those like him that design isn't actually design just don't work. It takes a lot more faith to be an atheist than it does to just accept the much simpler explanation of a Designer or... God. I am more or less a Deist and a Theistic Evolutionist. That position satisfies both Occam's Razor and the findings of modern science, and it avoids the inherent depressing meaninglessness that is so much a part of Atheism.

 

I agree almost completely, the Belief-o-Matic was never really accurate for me until I left Christianity, that was when I actually started being somewhat Neo-Pagan/UU. The ads on Beliefnet are terrible and slow down my computer, but they re-modeled their site and now it sucks. I like old Bnet better, it's not as slow and full of ads.

 

My beliefs are non-traditional too. I normally take the BoM's results with a grain (or 923) of salt. The answer choices on all of the questions don't cover all possible faiths, some of them in fact only cover Christian views! I don't believe in a creator-god but I do believe in a higher power and that higher power is the natural forces of the universe/Earth that humans will likely never master but simply find away to cope with or escape from. I don't think science has all the answers now, though I don't think religion does either. Religion and science are different means to an end... neither will have all the answers nor will they have the same answers. I think that if there was a creator or deity that existed separately from the universe, that he/she/it would give us definite proof that it was there rather than leaving anyone on Earth to try to come up with the answer. My beliefs are based on what I've learned, and what agrees with reality, some of which (if not nearly all) is backed up by science. Religion and science both evolve. Neither have been perfect at any point in time. What was considered science in the 1800's wouldn't be considered science now. Nobody today would follow any religion EXACTLY how it was practiced 2000 years ago (or really, even in the 1800's). I believe in an afterlife but at the same time, I don't care about the afterlife, this life right now is most important. I don't think atheism has an inherent depressing meaninglessness to it.

[LastKing]

I have taken this test many times and every time the the number one results is the same.

 

 

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%) I always get that one.

2. Neo-Pagan (96%)

3. Liberal Quakers (91%)

4. New Age (81%)

5. Mahayana Buddhism (78%)

6. Reform Judaism (71%)

7. Secular Humanism (71%)

8. Baha'i Faith (68%)

9. Sikhism (68%)

10. Theravada Buddhism (68%)

11. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (64%)

12. Hinduism (62%)

13. Jainism (60%)

14. Taoism (53%)

15. New Thought (49%)

16. Orthodox Judaism (49%)

17. Scientology (48%)

18. Nontheist (45%)

19. Orthodox Quaker (44%)

20. Islam (40%)

21. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (35%)

22. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (25%)

23. Seventh Day Adventist (20%)

24. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (19%)

25. Eastern Orthodox (16%)

26. Roman Catholic (16%)

27. Jehovah's Witness (12%)

[Neon Genesis]

The test is fucked up. After question 6, clicking "Next" just brings up a fucking full-page ad for the new Narnia movie. I HATE all of the goddamn advertising I am constantly subjected to these days whether I am watching TV or browsing the Net. The goddamn advertising industry now owns the entertainment industry just as the goddamn pharmaceutical industry owns the American medical profession. FUCK all of them!!!

Have you tried using the Mozilla Firefox web browser and install a pop-up blocker that blocks all ads? That's what I use and I never have to see another ad on the Internet again.

[SilentLoner]

Man I have taken this more times than I can count. But its fun...

 

1. Secular Humanism (100%)

2. Neo-Pagan (93%)

3. Unitarian Universalism (82%)

4. Liberal Quakers (78%)

5. Nontheist (76%)

6. Theravada Buddhism (71%)

7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (69%)

8. New Age (69%)

9. Taoism (59%)

10. Reform Judaism (59%)

11. Baha'i Faith (48%)

12. Mahayana Buddhism (48%)

13. Scientology (47%)

14. New Thought (45%)

15. Orthodox Quaker (40%)

16. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (39%)

17. Sikhism (39%)

18. Jainism (35%)

19. Islam (28%)

20. Orthodox Judaism (28%)

21. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (28%)

22. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (24%)

23. Eastern Orthodox (18%)

24. Roman Catholic (18%)

25. Hinduism (16%)

26. Seventh Day Adventist (14%)

27. Jehovah's Witness (4%)

[BlueGiant]

I thought that this test normalized the results, so that the one you matched closest was 100% and the others were decreasing fractions of closeness after that? It's why the top one is always 100%.

 

As for non-traditional beliefs being underrepresented as options on the test, well, given the plethora of relatively minor "non-traditional" systems, I can see where it would be prohibitive on a test to get them all on there. They do tend to focus on the most common. Hell, most of the responses are to differentiate what sort of denomination one is, not what religion they are.

 

Not a complaint either way, just an observation.

[AbsurdFreedom]

...and it avoids the inherent depressing meaninglessness that is so much a part of Atheism.

Oh, come on, depressing meaninglessness isn't as bad as all that...

 

One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

[Redbeard]

1. Nontheist (100%)

2. Secular Humanism (100%)

3. Unitarian Universalism (90%)

4. Theravada Buddhism (84%)

5. Neo-Pagan (70%)

6. Liberal Quakers (65%)

7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (56%)

8. Mahayana Buddhism (42%)

9. New Thought (42%)

10. Reform Judaism (42%)

 

 

mmkay

[PiracyOfTheHead]

I came up as Unitarian Universalist, anybody wanna enlighten me?? Next time I take the test I will post the results, but until then....

[HelloWorld]

1. Secular Humanism (100%)

2. Unitarian Universalism (94%)

3. Liberal Quakers (79%)

4. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (75%)

5. Nontheist (72%)

6. Neo-Pagan (66%)

7. Theravada Buddhism (65%)

8. Reform Judaism (61%)

9. New Age (57%)

10. Scientology (50%)

11. Taoism (50%)

12. New Thought (47%)

13. Sikhism (47%)

14. Mahayana Buddhism (43%)

15. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (41%)

16. Baha'i Faith (34%)

17. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (34%)

18. Orthodox Quaker (34%)

19. Hinduism (30%)

20. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (27%)

21. Eastern Orthodox (24%)

22. Islam (24%)

23. Jainism (24%)

24. Orthodox Judaism (24%)

25. Roman Catholic (24%)

26. Seventh Day Adventist (23%)

27. Jehovah's Witness (13%)

[Pandora Moon]

1. Secular Humanism (100%)

2. Unitarian Universalism (92%)

3. Liberal Quakers (75%)

4. Theravada Buddhism (75%)

5. Nontheist (72%)

6. Neo-Pagan (66%)

7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (57%)

8. Taoism (53%)

9. New Age (48%)

10. Mahayana Buddhism (43%)

11. Orthodox Quaker (41%)

12. Reform Judaism (41%)

13. Baha'i Faith (35%)

14. Sikhism (35%)

15. Jainism (34%)

16. Scientology (29%)

17. New Thought (27%)

18. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (24%)

19. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (24%)

20. Hinduism (24%)

21. Seventh Day Adventist (20%)

22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (19%)

23. Eastern Orthodox (17%)

24. Islam (17%)

25. Orthodox Judaism (17%)

26. Roman Catholic (17%)

27. Jehovah's Witness (11%)

 

well here's mine I find it interesting that Jehovah's Witness' ended up at the bottom because I went to their meetings from 2002-2005

[The-Captain]

Didn't see that coming.

 

1. Liberal Quakers (100%)

2. Secular Humanism (98%)

3. Unitarian Universalism (96%)

4. Reform Judaism (90%)

5. Neo-Pagan (82%)

6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (81%)

7. Nontheist (81%)

8. Theravada Buddhism (75%)

9. Sikhism (72%)

10. Taoism (68%)

11. New Age (66%)

12. Mahayana Buddhism (63%)

13. Jainism (62%)

14. Orthodox Quaker (62%)

15. Baha'i Faith (56%)

16. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (54%)

17. Islam (47%)

18. Orthodox Judaism (47%)

19. Seventh Day Adventist (44%)

20. Scientology (43%)

21. New Thought (40%)

22. Hinduism (37%)

23. Jehovah's Witness (36%)

24. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (28%)

25. Eastern Orthodox (23%)

26. Roman Catholic (23%)

27. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (22%)