A Critique Of A Religious Quiz

So someone on Facebook posted this quiz which is supposed to determine what your beliefs concerning God are. But I found the test deeply flawed and I thought explaining why would be quite good blog fodder.

The quiz can be found here:

http://www.selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=AAPDP

Here is my critique of some of the questions:

"Do you believe that one God created the Universe?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:"

There is no way I can properly answer this question. Do I believe that one God CREATED the universe? Well, no. I think God is CREATING the universe, and not by Himself. Yet it would be wrong to say I have no preference, nor that this question is a low priority. I find the question of the relationship between God and the universe to be supremely important, and I have a long established and thought out opinion on the matter. This is a supremely important distinction that can't be somehow chopped down to manageable size. There is a huge difference between thinking the universe WAS CREATED and IS BEING CREATED. To say the Universe WAS created is to imply that everything that happens or will happen in the universe is pre-ordained and controlled in detail. As the Universe, and all that was, is, or shall be, is created by God all at once, and we just PERCEIVE things to be 'playing out' over time. To say God IS CREATING the universe, is to imply that openness, novelty, and freedom are genuine. And to say that God CREATES the universe WITH other beings is not to say there is any other God. I believe in ONE God, but that ONE God gives part of His creative control to the rest of creation. There is simply no way I can answer this question as it is presented.

"Do you believe that the Universe exists of itself, without the need for a creator?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:"

 

This is a better question, one I can answer in the negative. But it leaves out something I think it is important. I need another question to follow this one up. I think just as the Universe NEEDS God, God NEEDS the Universe. Not in the same way, not to exist, but to exist AS GOD. If God is creative by nature, then God NEEDS (as a matter of moral necessity rather than metaphysical or logical necessity), a  Universe in order to BE HIMSELF.

 

"Do you believe in two or more gods?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:"

 

This is a much better question, one in which I can easily simply answer in the negative.

" If you believe in a creator God, do you think that this God is directly present in every part of the Universe and in you?[If you don't believe in such a god, choose "No Preference"]

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:

 

This is a problem because it  doesn't specify what it means by 'directly present in'. I believe God is intimately related to every being. But what do relations amount to? This is hard philosophical question with a long history and I have no easy answer to it.

"Do you feel deep reverence or awe for the Universe?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:

Low Priority High Priority

7. Do you have an intense love for Nature?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:

Low Priority High Priority

8. Do you think that humans should live in harmony with Nature?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:

Low Priority High Priority

9. Do you believe that other species have rights?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:"

 

These are all easy questions, which I can answer in the positive.

 

 

"Do you feel that everything that exists is, in some sense, One?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above"

I don't fully know what I am answering here. I think all things are One in the sense that they are all related organically to one another. I don't think all things are One in the sense that you can identify all things which each other, and this is a big difference. I am not my hand, but my hand is a part of me. I guess the qualifier 'in some sense' helps, and so I'd answer in the affirmative, but that leaves a LOT of room for interpretation.

 

"11. Would you like a natural funeral so that your body (or ashes) can be recycled in Nature?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:"

Easy question, easy answer, 'yes'.

 

"Do you believe you have a soul that will survive the death of your body?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:"

This is complicated because I don't believe I 'have' a soul, like my soul exists as something I possess. I don't think some ghost walks around in my body. I believe a soul is being built FOR ME, and that I will inhabit a soul after I die. My philosophy of mind and my beliefs about immortality are complicated.

"Do you believe that events can happen that can defy physical laws?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:"

This is complicated because of the word 'can'. I believe that the laws of nature CAN be violated but ARE NOT. I am a regularist, I think what we call 'laws of nature' are just regularities in the behavior of natural phenomenon. I don't think of them as some kind of external forces that make things behave a certain way. Within those regularities, all kinds of things can happen. 

 

"Do you believe in the efficacy of prayer to directly affect external events?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:"

This is difficult because of the word 'directly' and 'external'. If I change because of prayer, and my change affects the world, how is this not affecting external events? 

 

"Do you believe in the efficacy of magic/magick to directly affect external events?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:"

Same problem as above.

 

"Do you believe in any invisible beings such as spirits, ghosts etc?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:"

I don't believe in spirits and ghosts and I don't believe you can physically perceive spiritual beings. But I believe in angels and demons that work on the mentality of all things.

 

"Do you regularly practice any ceremonies and/or rituals?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:

Low Priority High Priority

18. Do you accept the Darwinian Theory of Evolution?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:

Low Priority High Priority

19. Do you respect science and the scientific method?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:"

 

All easy, all yesses. 

 

". Do you think that the basic stuff of the Universe is entirely physical?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:

Low Priority High Priority

21. Do you believe that physical reality is an illusion or projection of consciousness?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:"

All easy, all 'nos'

 

"22. Do you think that the Universe is made up of both physical stuff and spirit?

Yes No No preference

Prioritize your choice above:"

The problem here is with the word 'stuff'. I don't think of the physical nor the mental as a substance...a 'stuff'. I am not a substance ontologist. I think of reality as dipolar, containing a physical and mental pole. I'm a panpsychist, whereas all that seems to underlie the questions in this test are assumptions about dualism or physicalism. There are other options.