Sunday 27 January 2008

Belief-O-Matic

This is one of my favorite personality quizzes. I take it every once in while, just to see the latest developments in my religious views.

Basically, you get to answer about 20 questions about various religious and social issues, and the software comes up with a sort of compatibility list, how well your views match with the teachings and precepts of 27 religious denominations.

What I've just realized is that my spirituality is not as chaotic as I tend to think. Each time I take the test, the same four or five faiths appear among the top five. And the first two hardly come as a surprise to me:


1. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
2. Liberal Quakers (79%)
3. Bahá'í Faith (75%)
4. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (74%)
5. Unitarian Universalism (72%)
6. Reform Judaism (69%)
7. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (63%)
8. Jehovah's Witness (62%)
9. Orthodox Quaker (59%)
10. Neo-Pagan (57%)
11. Orthodox Judaism (56%)
12. Sikhism (55%)
13. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (54%)
14. New Age (53%)
15. Mahayana Buddhism (50%)
16. Theravada Buddhism (48%)
17. New Thought (48%)
18. Eastern Orthodox (46%)
19. Roman Catholic (46%)
20. Seventh Day Adventist (45%)
21. Secular Humanism (44%)
22. Islam (41%)
23. Jainism (41%)
24. Scientology (40%)
25. Hinduism (39%)
26. Taoism (34%)
27. Nontheist (21%)

You can take the quiz at the Beliefnet website.

Friday 18 January 2008

Freedom of religion in Serbia

I think it's time to vote these bozos out of office, ASAP.

18 January 2008
SERBIA: LEGAL STATUS POSSIBLE "IN 450-500 YEARS"?
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1072

Serbia continues to deny legal status to religious minority communities
for reasons - if they are given - which are not found in the Religion Law,
Forum 18 News Service has found. The principal person responsible appears
to be former Religion Minister Milan Radulovic, who is now an adviser in
the Ministry. He refuses some registration applications if the community:
refuses to unite with similar communities; is an Orthodox church which is
not viewed as part of the Serbian Orthodox Church; is not monotheist; does
not have a headquarters in another country; or is seen as non-traditional
or philosophical. Speaking to Forum 18, Radulovic has repeatedly said that
communities "who are not monotheistic cannot be registered." Radulovic also
said that "some of these groups might become part of the structure in
450-500 years when they pass historical tests." Current Religion Minister
Radomir Naumov appears to be content to let Radulovic make the decisions.