Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - A Quiz: "Which religion is the right one for you?"

Brain2000 · 06-18-2005, 11:59 PM

The first test put me at agnostic, which I agree with. But the second test I found to be a bit more in-depth. 100% Unitarian Universalism and 97% Secular Humanism. However, I would swap the two positions. I'm definately a secular humanist.

I grew up as a born again Nazarene. Breaking off from that at about age 18, I found too many inconsitancies and unanswered questions in the teachings, plus I was curious as to what could out there besides christianity. After trying LSD to "expand" my mind, I came to the conclusion that I would never find any answers until I could learn how to search for them properly. I concluded that to do this, I had to listen carefully, be empathetic, and then be objective.

Over the years, I finally starting to reach some conclusions (that can still change provided that proof is given). I strived to be a person of science, of intelligence, of reason. I started asking "why" to everything I could think of. One of the biggest discoveries I made was that humans tend to find what they are looking for in randomness. For example, if you travel the country and look at water stains under bridges, if your mind is set on it, eventually you will find the Virgin Mary in one of those water stains. That accounts for why so many different followers from different religions can all "see" the miracles from their respective gods.

As my family is christian, they started to see me as the "black sheep" even though they didn't mention it directly. While growing up, I was taught that christians are persecuted by non-christians. Now having been on both sides of the fence, I find another inconsistancy, as I am now more persecuted for being a non-christian. Ironic, isn't it?

Last year someone turned me on to something called secular humanism. I attended one of their conferences, and thoroughly enjoyed a group of people that were cynical fact finders that believed in self-responsibility. It was a dream turned to reality to finally find a group that matched what I had come up with all by myself. Up until that time, I had no idea what a secular humanist was, or what they stood for. But I was truly excited. Most people find their religion by "shopping". They try a church. They ask questions and are told answers. If they like the answers, they buy into it. In my case, I didn't know what I wanted, except that I wanted to find out the truth. I had to invent my own beliefs as I went along, based on objective thought. And when I finally formed some answers, I felt almost completely alone because they were so radically different than anything out there. Finding secular humanism, to me, was as exciting as an archeologist finding two pyramids on two separate continents made from the same cut of rock!

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2. Secular Humanism (97%)
3. Liberal Quakers (88%)
4. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (80%)
5. Nontheist (76%)
6. Theravada Buddhism (71%)
7. Neo-Pagan (65%)
8. Taoism (52%)
9. Bahá'í Faith (50%)
10. New Age (48%)
11. Mahayana Buddhism (46%)
12. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (38%)
13. Orthodox Quaker (36%)
14. Reform Judaism (36%)
15. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (35%)
16. Jainism (33%)
17. Jehovah's Witness (29%)
18. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (28%)
19. New Thought (27%)
20. Sikhism (27%)
21. Hinduism (21%)
22. Scientology (21%)
23. Seventh Day Adventist (16%)
24. Eastern Orthodox (11%)
25. Islam (11%)
26. Orthodox Judaism (11%)
27. Roman Catholic (11%)

06-18-2005, 11:59 PM	#68 (permalink)
Brain2000 Upright	The first test put me at agnostic, which I agree with. But the second test I found to be a bit more in-depth. 100% Unitarian Universalism and 97% Secular Humanism. However, I would swap the two positions. I'm definately a secular humanist. I grew up as a born again Nazarene. Breaking off from that at about age 18, I found too many inconsitancies and unanswered questions in the teachings, plus I was curious as to what could out there besides christianity. After trying LSD to "expand" my mind, I came to the conclusion that I would never find any answers until I could learn how to search for them properly. I concluded that to do this, I had to listen carefully, be empathetic, and then be objective. Over the years, I finally starting to reach some conclusions (that can still change provided that proof is given). I strived to be a person of science, of intelligence, of reason. I started asking "why" to everything I could think of. One of the biggest discoveries I made was that humans tend to find what they are looking for in randomness. For example, if you travel the country and look at water stains under bridges, if your mind is set on it, eventually you will find the Virgin Mary in one of those water stains. That accounts for why so many different followers from different religions can all "see" the miracles from their respective gods. As my family is christian, they started to see me as the "black sheep" even though they didn't mention it directly. While growing up, I was taught that christians are persecuted by non-christians. Now having been on both sides of the fence, I find another inconsistancy, as I am now more persecuted for being a non-christian. Ironic, isn't it? Last year someone turned me on to something called secular humanism. I attended one of their conferences, and thoroughly enjoyed a group of people that were cynical fact finders that believed in self-responsibility. It was a dream turned to reality to finally find a group that matched what I had come up with all by myself. Up until that time, I had no idea what a secular humanist was, or what they stood for. But I was truly excited. Most people find their religion by "shopping". They try a church. They ask questions and are told answers. If they like the answers, they buy into it. In my case, I didn't know what I wanted, except that I wanted to find out the truth. I had to invent my own beliefs as I went along, based on objective thought. And when I finally formed some answers, I felt almost completely alone because they were so radically different than anything out there. Finding secular humanism, to me, was as exciting as an archeologist finding two pyramids on two separate continents made from the same cut of rock! 1. Unitarian Universalism (100%) 2. Secular Humanism (97%) 3. Liberal Quakers (88%) 4. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (80%) 5. Nontheist (76%) 6. Theravada Buddhism (71%) 7. Neo-Pagan (65%) 8. Taoism (52%) 9. Bahá'í Faith (50%) 10. New Age (48%) 11. Mahayana Buddhism (46%) 12. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (38%) 13. Orthodox Quaker (36%) 14. Reform Judaism (36%) 15. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (35%) 16. Jainism (33%) 17. Jehovah's Witness (29%) 18. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (28%) 19. New Thought (27%) 20. Sikhism (27%) 21. Hinduism (21%) 22. Scientology (21%) 23. Seventh Day Adventist (16%) 24. Eastern Orthodox (11%) 25. Islam (11%) 26. Orthodox Judaism (11%) 27. Roman Catholic (11%) Last edited by Brain2000; 06-19-2005 at 12:02 AM..