Why am I not surprised?

[mijan]

Decided to give this quiz a whirl. Was completely unsurprised by the results. Well, except for Hinduism. I don't know too much about that. But the rest of it? Not surprised.

You scored as Buddhism. Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Buddhism. Do more research on Buddhism and possibly consider becoming Buddhist, if you are not already. In Buddhism, there are Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering. (2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping that result from such ignorance. (3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance and attachment. (4) The path to the suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation. These eight are usually divided into three categories that base the Buddhist faith: morality, wisdom, and samadhi, or concentration. In Buddhism, there is no hierarchy, nor caste system; the Buddha taught that one's spiritual worth is not based on birth. </td> Buddhism 96% Paganism 83% Hinduism 79% Christianity 63% Satanism 54% Islam 50% Judaism 33% agnosticism 33% atheism 29% Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com

Comments

[wordplaywright.livejournal.com]

Wow :) I wonder how this quiz would define the belief systems of ancient Romans and Greeks - they don't seem to fit into any of the above categories. And I wonder where the Potterverse would go - Paganism, agnosticism, atheism or Satanism? ;)

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I don't consider the Potterverse to have anything to do with religion. Seeing as they celebrate Christmas, they are based in a Christian society, but religion hasn't played a direct role in the books.

The belief systems of the ancient Romans and Greeks followed a type of pagan system.

[wordplaywright.livejournal.com]

Hi again :)

It was very interesting to read your answers. It's completely possible that I read you wrong, but you only seem to repeat facts that most HP fans already know. (I apologize if I misunderstood you.) Still, I think these topics deserve more attention - but I didn't mean that we should take the topic too seriously. I just tried to play around with the ideas the questionnaire brought up. Let me show you what exactly I meant:

religion hasn't played a direct role in the books

I'm aware of that. What I meant was that it would be interesting to have some wizards ad witches do this quiz and see their results :) I think the fact that they have magic would have a great impact on their results. I'd really like to see how Harry or Draco or Snape or whoever scores on the quiz :) Would Death Eaters and their affiliates score above 90 percent on more aggressive religions? Would wizards think that the existence of magic rules out the existence of God, etc.? These are the things that come first to my mind. And, being kind of self-centered, I thought other people - people like you, for example - would be interested in the same things :)

The belief systems of the ancient Romans and Greeks followed a type of pagan system.

This is exactly why I asked what I asked - Paganism is a tricky term. It has been used for sor some thousand years pejoratively to mean "anything that's not Judeo-Christian or Islamic". In that sense, not only Greek religion, but Hinduism and Buddhism could also be included in Paganism. There's no clear distinction between these religions if we use the criteria set for Paganism. Take Hinduism and Greek polytheism, for example. Both worship female goddesses, both have a pantheon of gods, both endorse belief in lesser supernatural beings such as demons, and both claim that people are reborn after death. So, I've been wondering on what basis are the distinctions made in the quiz, and I wondered if you wondered about the same thing :) Again, I was just curious what your opinion was. I didn't think you'd take this problem so seriously ;)

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Actually, you seem to be taking this a lot more seriously than I am. I'm too tired to take much of anything seriously except sleep. But... seeing as I can't go to bed yet...

What would you define as an aggressive religion? Throughout the millienia, many different religions have engaged in eras of violence, crusade, jihad, and other efforts of cultural and religious supremacy.

I don't see the Death Eaters as being religious in the "spiritual" sense, but if wizarding culture were to engage in, for example, Christianity, the Malfoys would probably go to church to maintain appearances (like many ultra-conservatives I know).

For many people, their selection of a religion largely stems from the culture to which they belong. Chances are that, living in Britian, the majority of British witches and wizards would belong to some sort of Christian church, if they were religious at all. Selection of religion has more to do with culture than with personality. Of course, wizards may also have less of a tendency to need a god-figure, where magic suffices so well, and they can control it themselves without making mystical rituals out of it. So... they could easily be an atheistic or agnostic society, or one in which religion isn't important.

As for the definition of "pagan", I think that was applied to groups in Europe or the Middle East and Mediteranean areas who were not Judeo-Christian-Islamic in nature. Therefore, the term was never applied to Hinduism. However, Buddhism is not, by any definition, a pagan religion. It's more of a philosophical system, and not a god-worshipping religion. It doesn't even have a god-figure of any type. The first Buddha was a man, and nothing more. Anyone can become a Buddha, which simply means "enlightened one".

Anyway, definitions are always touchy things with religions, so I tend to avoid them. Personally, my philosophy is Buddhist, my practice is Pagan (Druidic, specifically), and my faith is monotheistic.

[ladyphoenixia.livejournal.com]

Agnostic. How unsurprising.

But I don't think I like that quiz, it doesn't have as many alternatives as the other religion-test-thing (wherein I always get Unitarian Universalist). Tries to simplify it too much.

[flayer-of-minds.livejournal.com]

Atheism, with satanism as a close second, Buddhism as a distant third, and the rest <50%.

[colloween.livejournal.com]

Just sayin' hi... :)

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Hi! :)