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
Results: I am a believer. No surprise there especially seeing as how the quiz doesn't really provide any significant ways for a people to express that they may have doubts about some aspects of any of their beliefs. There's plenty of aspects of my beliefs that I'm not sure about, but those thoughts/doubts don't seem to be captured by this survey.
ReplyDeleteHey Jeff,
ReplyDeleteThe book goes through historic doubters of all traditions, east to west. I found the Muslim doubters fascinating. So I think with this survey at the beginning of the book, it's not so much doubt within a persons specific religious tradition, but overall doubt, and being able to find common ground with others. So you and a follower of a different tradition might have doubts about your specific style of faith, but not the basic philosophy that supports it. Make sense? I personally think everyone has to be an agnostic, and then they live on one side or the other, but this quiz doesn't really allow for that sort of subtly either. Thanks for your answer, appreciate it.