Recently I took a 20 question quiz on belief.net called the Belief-O-Matic. After taking the quiz, it spits out a list (with percentages) of religions that are well-matched for you and the beliefs you proclaimed in the quiz.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) was 4th on my list at 75%. That surprised me.
The quiz asks some doctrinal questions about how you see your higher power, the purpose of life and the afterlife and it also asks a bunch of questions on social issues. Because of my answers on most of the social issues, I figured Mormonism would come in pretty low on my list. So I re-evaulated the quiz and determined that what made me specifically Mormon was the fact that I believe God has a body.
I think of myself as a Mormon for lots of different reasons but my view on God’s body doesn’t really link me to the community. First off, while I do imagine him with a body, it’s got to be quite different from mine, so basically something pretty much entirely different. I can call it body but it’s not the aging, slightly fatty, but still gorgeous body that I’ve got. Mostly I like to believe that God is like me and so He’s got a body. This of course is linked to Joseph Smith’s teachings about God’s body and that I have imagined Him my whole life in the context of this doctrine. Still it is not what defines me as a Mormon.
Take the quiz. It’s fun. My number one was liberal Protestantism. A little boring I know. 2 and 3 were tied: liberal Quakers and Ba’hai. or Baha’i. or B’ahai. And then my religion came in at number 4.
What beliefs make you Mormon (or not so Mormon for that matter)? What specific beliefs link a person to a specific religious community and should they? And if the belief-o-matic can’t even churn out Mormonism, maybe it’s time for you to repent. Heh. Though it’s very hard work to not get it on your list, even my religion-hating atheist Turkish friend got Mormonism to appear on her list at number 22.
By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog 
I took this once and came out pretty much like you did Amri.
It’s analogous to a party quiz game–entertaining, but not any serious kind of litmus test by any means. I once had a co-worker who’s #1 on her Belief-o-Matic list was Mormonism, even though she thought it was an anti-Christian cult. She was surprised.
My results:
1. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
2. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (83%)
3. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (78%)
4. Baha’i Faith (71%)
5. Liberal Quakers (71%)
6. Unitarian Universalism (69%)
I’ve taken the quiz a few times and the top 6 or so seem to stay the same but change order a bit. I think the order depends on my attitude at the moment and whether I put disagree or not applicable on some of the later questions.
Question 4 is always answered differently (either A. or D.) since I’m kind of ambivalent there anyway (and think it is a little of both)
Check it out! I am apparently more Mormon than the rest of you!
1. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (100%)
2. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (96%)
3. Jehovah’s Witness (90%)
4. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (90%)
5. Baha’i Faith (87%)
As a result, I demand that you send an additional 2% percent of your income directly to me.
Your rewards are in heaven HP/JDC.
Plus, you’re 90% JW!
I know, some I couldn’t quite answer the way that I thought but still. Though you should take it very seriously Mike, I suggest changing religions with the changing results from the Belief-O-Matic.
Ed, this is the best party game EVER. Quiz, God, relgions. I love it.
Holy cow, I’ve got 27 results!
1. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (100%)
2. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (95%)
3. Jehovah’s Witness (95%)
4. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (92%)
5. Baha’i Faith (71%)
6. Orthodox Judaism (71%)
7. Orthodox Quaker (68%)
8. Eastern Orthodox (66%)
9. Roman Catholic (66%)
10. Seventh Day Adventist (62%)
11. Sikhism (59%)
12. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (58%)
13. Liberal Quakers (58%)
14. Islam (53%)
15. Hinduism (50%)
16. Unitarian Universalism (45%)
17. Reform Judaism (45%)
18. Jainism (43%)
19. Mahayana Buddhism (41%)
20. Theravada Buddhism (40%)
21. New Thought (29%)
22. Neo-Pagan (27%)
23. New Age (26%)
24. Scientology (20%)
25. Taoism (19%)
26. Secular Humanism (17%)
27. Nontheist (13%)
I think everyone gets 27 results.
Top 5:
1.Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 100%)
2. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (94%)
3. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (94%)
4. Bahá’à Faith (91%)
5. Jehovah’s Witness (89%)
I was hoping to score a little higher in Scientology (31%).
I think you’re underestimating how extremely Mormon it is to think of God as having a body other than the context of Jesus Christ.
Even more Mormon is the reason: “Mostly I like to believe that God is like me and so He’s got a body.” Very Mormon to identify with God that way.
Oh, and Belief-O-Matic would have me be Sikh.
This is way too much fun!
1. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (100%)
2. Jehovah’s Witness (95%)
3. Bah�’� Faith (83%)
4. Orthodox Judaism (81%)
The funny thing about being 100% Mormon and 90% JW is that I never really enjoyed door approaches.
LDS/JW/HP/JDC maybe because you’re knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s do-o-or.
I get that God having a body is VERY Mormon it’s just a kind of meaningless belief (I mean that in the most respectful way) because we say He has a body but really it’s like a body that we don’t understand at all and can really be in no way like ours except occassionally in appearance. I mean, how can you be omnipresent, scient, potent, eternal etc and have a body just like ours?
I say he’s not omnipresent, if you limit yourself to the person of God the Father, so that’s probably why it seems to me my fellow saints don’t really, really believe that. We just say that because we’re cowed by Protestants or we’re thinking of the person of the Holy Ghost. I may think that atoms hold together and the sun shines because of God’s power and attention and love, but I don’t think that’s where his body is. Unless you do some new-agey thing were our bodies too have quantum bits appearing and disappearing throughout the universe. Ick.
Of course, this could be like trying to pick between man’s Libertarian Free Will and God’s Absolute Knowledge. People favor one end or the other but really just don’t pick, unless they’ve chosen theology over religion.
I have taken this several times, and I always come out 100% Mormon with JW and Ba’hai as close seconds.
Apparently I am a Unitarian Universalist; look away…I’m hideous…
I’ve done this before, and I came out more Mormon (but never 100% or first on the list). This time Mormon was way down the list, number 7 at only 72%. I think I voted for some of the more liberal social categories this time around. But I’m ok with being more liberal than my faith group as a whole.
1. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
2. Bahá’à Faith (87%)
3. Liberal Quakers (80%)
4. Reform Judaism (80%)
5. Unitarian Universalism (80%)
6. Neo-Pagan (77%)
7. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (72%)
8. Sikhism (67%)
9. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (63%)
10. Mahayana Buddhism (61%)
Neo Pagan Kevin? Nice work.
Jared E. I’m mortified!
The Neo-Pagan thing must have come from watching all seven seasons on DVD of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Kevin I’m mortified (that you would devote so much time to watching that show…)
1. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
2. Bah�’� Faith (90%)
3. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (87%)
4. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (81%)
5. Sikhism (79%)
Hey Kevin — our first two look the same but at least I’m 87% Mormon (as they see us at least..)
Kevin, much of my and my family’s religious beliefs are formed by Joss Whedon, Buffy, Angel, Mal. I support your neo-paganism.
Maybe a quarterly test? I just might do that, except that I know I would rig it to end up liberal quaker or unitarian most of the time. (although liberal protestant would show back up whenever the Methodist church in the city is having a good reading group)
I don’t remember where I heard this or read it or who said it or wrote it, but somewhere back along the line someone said something to the effect of: The two beliefs we have that separate us most from other religions is the belief that God has a body, and uh, something else I can’t remember now.
Susan,
Probably that God has a body and that the Godhead is three distinct personages, and not the one in three and three in one Nicean Creed.
Here’s mine:
1. LDS (Mormons) (100%)
2. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (96%)
3. Jehovah’s Witness (93%)
4. Bah�’� Faith (86%)
5. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (82%)
6. Orthodox Quaker (79%)
7. Orthodox Judaism (77%)
8. Seventh Day Adventist (74%)
9. Eastern Orthodox (73%)
10. Roman Catholic (73%)
I’m my dad’s kid alright.
1. Eastern Orthodox (100%)
2. Roman Catholic (100%)
3. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (97%)
4. Orthodox Quaker (97%)
5. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (92%)
6. Seventh Day Adventist (91%)
7. Hinduism (83%)
8. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (73%)
9. Orthodox Judaism (69%)
10. Unitarian Universalism (69%)
11. Liberal Quakers (67%)
Yeah, that is wierd. Last time I took this (a year or so ago), I came out much more Mormon and protestant.
Hey, how did I end up as 100% orthodox Quaker? That MUST be a mistake. My coworker, also active Mormon, turned up as 100% orthodox Jew, and then as Hindu, Sikh, and Jain. How are they weighting the answers?
Looking at the questions some are a bit vague from a Mormon perspective. i.e. do we believe in one corporeal God or “Multiple personal gods (or goddesses) regarded as facets of one God, and/or as separate gods.” I picked the former which is more technically the right answer. But I’d lay good odds the generator of the quiz would pick the latter as representing LDS belief.
That’s the problem with quizes like this.
Problemed but still fun.
J. you’re an Eastern Orthodox/Catholic?? Fantastic.
And Susan #22, that’s the best, most genius comment I’ve ever read!
Thanks Amri. My brain really is that bad, though.
Dan, if that were the second, it’d be rather redundant, since the first implies all that.
1. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
2. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (93%)
3. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (86%)
4. Jehovah’s Witness (85%)
5. Orthodox Quaker (82%)
6. Bahá’à Faith (76%)
7. Liberal Quakers (70%)
When I took this a while back, the LDS church was like number 3 or 4. I guess reading the Bloggernacle more has really improved my testimony. :-)
Iam really interested though, in which answers separate me from being, say, 100% quaker. Interesting.
Clark (#27), I believe the proper answer is we believe in both of those. Our heavenly father does indeed have a glorified corporeal body similar to ours. However the Eternal Father has a body with many members as well, the body of Christ, the same Christ who in the end of time is the Eternal Father – not one person, but many, acting together as one God, with one body, infinite and eternal. The great I AM.
I thought I posted mine results, but I must have forgotten about that pesky “add my comment” button. I’m not taking that test again, but apparently I’m 100% liberal Quaker, and only 80(something)% Mormon. I don’t know that I’ve ever actually met a Quaker. But I do like oatmeal.
Here are my results, if anyone is curious. I was a little surprised:
1. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (100%)
2. Eastern Orthodox (91%)
3. Roman Catholic (91%)
4. Jehovah’s Witness (88%)
5. Orthodox Judaism (87%)
6. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (85%)
7. Bahá’à Faith (79%)
8. Hinduism (76%)
9. Islam (73%)
10. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (67%)
11. Sikhism (67%)
12. Seventh Day Adventist (65%)
13. Jainism (59%)
14. Orthodox Quaker (54%)
15. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (53%)
16. Mahayana Buddhism (48%)
17. Reform Judaism (48%)
18. Neo-Pagan (46%)
19. Liberal Quakers (43%)
20. Unitarian Universalism (39%)
21. Theravada Buddhism (36%)
22. New Thought (32%)
23. Scientology (26%)
24. Nontheist (25%)
25. New Age (24%)
26. Taoism (21%)
27. Secular Humanism (17%)
Sorry, I should have cut that list down to the top ten.
Maybe I should rethink my inactivity…
1. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (100%)
2. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (94%)
3. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (93%)
4. Jehovah’s Witness (83%)
5. Bah�’� Faith (76%)
6. Eastern Orthodox (73%)
7. Roman Catholic (73%)
8. Orthodox Judaism (71%)
9. Orthodox Quaker (68%)
10. Seventh Day Adventist (68%)
I did manage to get all the weird Christian religions in my top ten. Woohoo!
I guess I’m the only Hindu in the bunch.
I wonder how much Social Gospel answers affect the choice of liberal Protestant vs. Mormon. How sad for us if dowplaying the environment and socially responsible behavior results in greater affinity for belief-net Mormonism. I would think it would go the other direction. And ps, my wife gave an academic paper on religious images in Buffy. I was spellbound at the conference. They should add references to the Buffyverse to this beliefnet poll.
1. Liberal Quakers (100%)
2. Reform Judaism (98%)
3. Unitarian Universalism (93%)
4. Bahá’à Faith (89%)
5. Sikhism (85%)
I’m bummed that Orthodox Judaism was all the way down at #9, since I’m Jewish. I wish they’d had Conservative Judaism on the list. LDS came in at #24.
I guess I could have answered the other way (what kind of rational person isn’t an environmentalist of one stripe or another), but I do not think revering nature or the environment is religiously fundamental, though certainly significant in virtually every religion.
Ok, this is me:
1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2. Liberal Quakers (98%)
3. Mahayana Buddhism (94%)
4. Neo-Pagan (92%)
5. Theravada Buddhism (92%)
6. Secular Humanism (81%)
7. New Age (79%)
8. Jainism (76%)
9. Taoism (76%)
10. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (74%)
11. Hinduism (70%)
12. Sikhism (70%)
13. Orthodox Quaker (66%)
14. Bahá’à Faith (64%)
15. Reform Judaism (62%)
16. Scientology (55%)
17. Nontheist (52%)
18. New Thought (49%)
19. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (45%)
20. Orthodox Judaism (38%)
21. Islam (36%)
22. Seventh Day Adventist (35%)
23. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (33%)
24. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (29%)
25. Jehovah’s Witness (21%)
26. Eastern Orthodox (16%)
27. Roman Catholic (16%)
The only one that worries me is the “nontheist.” ;-)
Despite the results, I still have a Priest’s Quorum lesson to prepare on keeping the Sabbath day holy.
Though this probably isn’t the right format for such a discussion, it might be interesting to explore the various Belief-o-Matic questions and answers. I think I recognized the “expected” LDS responses, but I found the wording of many of them so artificially narrow that I couldn’t in good conscience select them.
Either that or I’m really just mostly neo-pagan.
What would a neo-pagan version of a Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy lesson to a Priest’s Quorum look like?
I think it would involve markedly less clothing.
lollollol
Buffy as a spiritual guide and being quite Mormon isn’t at all unheard of.
Janna Riess wrote both What Would Buffy Do and Mormonism For Dummies
Predictably, I’m 100% LDS.
If you click on the link for information on the various results (maybe the link was what others believe or something like that, I read it last night)and read what they say Mormons believe, it is enlightening on how they weight answers. The most egregious statement was about women’s roles… go read for yourselves. YUCK
So many of us are secret Bahai believers…. what is that about????
I was almost neck-and-neck Bahai, LDS, and liberal Protestant. I’m interested in reading more about Bahai to find out how it’s beleifs match my own.
1. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (100%)
2. Jehovah’s Witness (97%)
3. Bahá’à Faith (74%)
4. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (73%)
5. Orthodox Judaism (70%)
6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (61%)
7. Islam (61%)
well I thought it was interesting to see that Islam was on my top 7…
But atually what they said about LDS was pretty close to true… a few things were not clear or a bit misunderstood.