At
the beginning of the book, she has a little quiz on a person's
religious standpoints and their degrees of certainty. I'm really curious (insert incredibly nosy) on where people fall. I realize it can be a very private matter(is privacy still a thing?), so don't share if you don't want to(honestly, who doesn't want to tell other people their most deepest held beliefs).
If you do, I would love to see the results, and how many of the people fall where. I also realize certain labels or words mean different
things to different people (though obviously my definitions are the correct ones).
She talks a bit about definitions in the book, and the context she
gives would be helpful, but I really don't expect anyone I know to read
the introduction to the book (passive aggressive way of saying I think I'm better than everyone. I mean, I listened to a whole audio book). I am obviously ripping it out of its context, so if you do decide to go take the quiz, please take it with a grain of salt!(ie please still be my friend if you don't like what this says or implies)The "Scale of Doubt" Quiz:
http://being.publicradio.org/programs/doubt/quiz.shtml
Click on the link for the actual quiz, has a handy button on the bottom where one can 'calculate'
I cut and pasted the quiz for those who don't want to do it, but just want to see it.
Disclosure time, depending how I answer questions two and three, (no or not sure, I'm still debating on which one I think): "You are an agnostic" or "You may still be an atheist or agnostic, though not of the materialist variety" or "You are a hard-core atheist and of a certain variety: a rational materialist".
- Do you believe that a particular religious tradition holds accurate knowledge of the ultimate nature of reality and the purpose of human life?
yesnonot sure- Do you believe that some thinking being consciously made the universe?
yesnonot sure- Is there an identifiable force coursing through the universe, holding it together, or uniting all life-forms?
yesnonot sure- Could prayer be in any way effective, that is, do you believe that such a being or force (as posited above) could ever be responsive to your thoughts or words?
yesnonot sure- Do you believe this being or force can think or speak?
yesnonot sure- Do you believe this being has a memory or can make plans?
yesnonot sure- Does this force sometimes take a human form?
yesnonot sure- Do you believe that the thinking part or animating force of a human being continues to exist after the body has died?
yesnonot sure- Do you believe that any part of a human being survives death, elsewhere or here on earth?
yesnonot sure- Do you believe that feelings about things should be admitted as evidence in establishing reality?
yesnonot sure- Do you believe that love and inner feelings of morality suggest that there is a world beyond that of biology, social patterns, and accident — i.e., a realm of higher meaning?
yesnonot sure- Do you believe that the world is not completely knowable by science?
yesnonot sure- If someone were to say "The universe is nothing but an accidental pile of stuff, jostling around with no rhyme nor reason, and all life on earth is but a tiny, utterly inconsequential speck of nothing, in a corner of space, existing in the blink of an eye never to be judged, noticed, or remembered," would you say, "Now that's going a bit far, that's a bit wrongheaded?"
yesnonot sure
