Are your religious beliefs (or lack of them) the same as those of your parents?

I've taken bits & pieces of their beliefs & added my own beliefs to it.

More or less.

Sort of. My parents are both Catholic, and so am I, technically. I don't really know what anyone, including myself, actually believes though.

Pretty much. Both of my parents and I feel closest in our perception of the world and ourselves to Buddhaism. I have freedom to pursue other religious beliefs, especially since one side of my family are devout Jews and the others Methodists, but I was brought up to appreciate how peaceful and thoughtful Buddhists are and I think I'll always continue to do so.

My father is a theist
My mother is an atheist
I'm an atheist.
My beliefs aren't identical to my mother's but for the purpose of this survey I say they are the same.
I think to my atheism as a belief not a lack of.Not believing in God is what I believe in.

No. My parents are members of the United Church of Canada, which is a particularly bland variation of the Protestant Church. Because Canada was so sparsely populated in 1925, three churches joined together; Presbyterian, Methodist, & Congregationalist.

Although I would consider myself to be very religious, I've never been a big fan of organised religion. The http://www.selectsmart.com/RELIGION/ thing identifies me as primarily Hindu.

More or less. We're all atheists, with similar but varying spiritual beliefs.

Yes, pretty much. My dad was a Methodist until right before he married mom. Then he converted to Catholicism, because that is what she practices. She did not ask him to. He chose to. I was raised Catholic, and still am.

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I don't know what my biological parents beliefs were, but I was raised Methodist by my grandparents. I don't believe in organized religion myself, just God.

Very similar. I still argue with my mom, but my beliefs are closer to her's and my step-dad's then the majority of the planet.

I would say no. My parents are both Catholic and technicly I am one too because I still go to church, but in reality, I sort of have my own beliefs. I am headed somewhere in the direction of agnosticism.

But then again, I am not exactly sure of my parents' beliefs. My dad no longer goes to church every Sunday, but instead maybe a few times a year, but yet he doges me out for wearing shorts. My mom gets very upset if I go to church not dressed all that perfectly and she is allways point out other people at how well they are dressed. And she often relates the same standards as for going to work, or some specific public buildings or events. I think she's more concerned with the social, ethique, and dress code aspects of the church than the religious ones.

I am more concerned with the religios, but ironicly I am not religious at all. I don't care about god that much, but I very much wished that I could beleive in a soul, freewill, and an afterlife, but unfortuantlly all the possible evidence points away from it.

Are you hoping to find something pantheistic? Seems your approach is much like believing in family and entrepreneurship, without believing the earth exists.

My mom's are basically the same as mine. My dad's lutheran, or so he says.

pantheistic?

Acctually, I have reasoned some of it out. First off, the existance or lack of God is relatively unimportant to me, and almost totally irrelevent to being an atheist or not. For instance:

It is possible that a "god" has created everthing, but then our thoughts are just nothing more than electronic singnals, and after we die, we just decompose and we become nothing, no soul; just as it is possibe that there is no higher power, but there still is an after life, and its really an Anarchy or the universe has been actually created by us. Regardless, the existence of god is very very very irrelevant to the meaning of us.

Also, I have reasoned that there is at least a possiblity that predestination is correct and that there is no such thing as free will. Everything that we think, do, is just a matter of physics and cause an effects, just a very compicated one. The fact that we "feel" that we are the ones who make our decisions doesn't really mean crap. If you think about it, emotions are just chemicals, procuced by certain parts of our brain. Even if there are people out there (even if everybody in the world) that beleive in free will and forcibly refuse to beleive otherwise, that belief may be in fact part of physics and thus still an inevidible predestination. Even if we cant predict what we or other people will do, that doesn't mean that it won't, it simply is our failure to be able to predict ourselves. I am hoping that thats no so, but there's no proof against it. Then again, there's not proof for it either. THere's no proof one way or the other, so I might as well not beleive that conclusion, but at leanst I AM WILLING TO ACCEPT IT AS A POSSIBLITY.

My parents were not religious at all. I heard once that at least one of them was supposed to be a Methodist. They gave lip service to a "God" but their convictions were not very strong. Because I grew up surrounded by Catholics, I once wondered if I could get into it, cause I kinda liked their rituals at the time -- at least somewhat more than the "white bread" (?) Protestantism that I had also seen a bit of. But I wasn't really serious enough about it, had no strong convictions, so forgot about it. Instead, I became a Buddhist in the late 60s and am one still. To this day, however, I am very interested in what other faiths believe and practice -- including in other countries, like Muslims, for example. I feel strongly that everyone should practice or not practice whatever they want, and that no one has the right to tell anyone what religion they should or should not practice. I sympathize with the Chinese who wish to practice their "Falun Gong" religion or whatever one wishes to call it.

Mine are the same as my mother, but I couldn't tell you what my father's beliefs are.

My religious beliefs are similar to those of my parents. My parents are both born again Christians and so am I. My Dad was Baptist growing up and my Mom was Assembly of God. From the time I was very small until I was about 11 or 12, we attended an Assembly of God church. Then, we quit going there and started going to a Baptist church. I was baptized and joined the Baptist church we went to. When I got pregnant at the age of 16, many people in the Baptist church looked down on me. I was basically an outcast or a black sheep or whatever you want to call it. I got very uncomfortable attending church there, so I quit going. My parents continued to go for a while, but have since stopped attending this church. They now attend a Church of God, but don't go very often because of my Mom's illness. I no longer attend church at all. I consider myself a Christian and always will, but organized religion kind of bothers me. I've always felt like churches you attend want you to believe EVERYTHING they teach you. I am the type that likes to ask questions. I want to know why I should or should not believe in things or what have you. So, now I worship God in my own personal way.

I kind of got off the subject here. (which I'm very good at doing)

My beliefs are different than my mother's, but I'm not sure what my father believes. Maybe I should ask him one of these days. He doesn't seem to like to talk about that sort of thing.

Your theories are bottom up, based on matter. If you start with top down theories you will find you can't even prove that matter is real.
Your belief system is called epiphenomenalism, nothing new. I believe in predestination and free-will at once, but for other reasons. If you have constant foreknowledge of events, or constant success in willing events into manifenstation, what is really the difference? It then comes down to does that which creates our own thoughts have freewill or predestination. I have first hand experience in operating without any intellectual editor / rational mind at all, including doing computer programming on autopilot while my mind is engaged elsewhere in worship. I have seen entire gatherings of people operate in such a harmonious state, so it is much like your epiphenomenalism, except matter is the lowest by-product of the imagining of god, not the foundation of the behaviour. We share the concept of the mind being a by-product along for the ride of whatever creation is though.

I'm not exactly sure if they believe or don't believe, but my family is Lutheran. We're rather secular.

I am the same religion, by birth and baptism, as my parents but we don't share all of the same beliefs.

It would count as 'Yes'; I'm still Jewish, although less religious and more agnostic about it than my parents are.

My parents are devout Christians and so am I.

Thanks for the link, that's really interesting.

Now this is very intriguing. My parents are Roman catholic, and technically so am I, and I attend catholic church every week, but I was never really sure about where my personal beliefs fit. Now, after taking this test thing, it says that I share beliefs 100% with Reform Judaism, 94% with Liberal Quakers, and 89% with Neo-Pagans. Now, those were my top three. However, the Roman Catholic belief system was at the bottom of my list with only 23%. Wow, this is really interesting!

Just thought I'd share....

Generally, we're all atheists in my family. I'm more open to the concept of "God" (not a being, but a feeling or sensation or presence) than anyone else is.

That is really interesting! I'm not surprised about the Quaker thing because you're very opposed to war and fighting. But Reform Judaism, huh? Do you prefer to take Saturday as your day of rest?!

Ok, you've lost me there.

Have you ever heard that annoying "...be carefully little mind what you think" song.

Thats when I first started thinking about this. How do you control what you think: with more thinking? And how do you control that. Its simply a question of.. and boils down to.. What causes our actions, is it "us" or "us". Whatever that means, well you get the point.

wow!, select smart! I've used the site before during the 2000 elections. SOmehow, I got the highest w/ the natural party, 2nd with Nadar, 3rd w/ David McReynolds, and 4th with Howie Brown.

So basicly, I ranked 3rd with the socialists, and 4th with the Libertarians, complete polar opposites. Somehow, I don't trust that site too much. I'd go check it out anyway.

Being adopted I don't know what my parents belief were. My adoptive parents (my grandparents) were Methodists and I consider myself a Christian.

Nice coverage on the options. "I chose My parents' were different," but I don't follow.
It's amazing to me too, how these days it seems there are so many people who describe their beliefs as, "I believe in God but I don't believe in religion," which I thought I was the only one who said that, starting at twelve years old. Now, it seems to be many people's take on "religion".

This survey is one of the most interesting lately, wouldn't you say?
The advanced stats don't really reflect this, because of the way people voted, but when you look through the 24 (original) comments so far:
16 - said, in one way or another, their beliefs are different from parents', while only (4) - are sure their own beliefs are same as their parents, but (2) of those said their beliefs are sort of a variation of their parents together. [And (4) said they're unsure of what their parents believed.]

Another cool thing about this survey is that it enters an area where people are willing to have less conviction or more gentleness when expressing them. I'm sure, as conversations continue, that will change, but, if you take note to people's original answers, the survey is glutting with "more or less", "sort of", "pretty much", "maybe", "generally", "basically"...even of the four who are certain their beliefs match their parents', two of them answer with "I would say" and "this would count as".
The other thing is that two who became Buddhists are still Buddhists. I'm going to look into Buddhism! (It'd be nice to have that "practice" of spirituality, I think.)

Interesting theory. Surely, you expected this question: How is it we 'are all atheists'? Do you mean innately?

Actually, when I read the description of Reform Judaism, it seemed quite similar too everything I feel. I find this really interesting, I like learning about different sets of beliefs. That's sort of what you do in school, right?

Damn good point! Atheists in fact have belief! I like that.
Now that I have your attention, have you accepted Jesus Christ the Lord Our Savior into your heart?
Just kidding. I believe in God, as you have the right to not be haggled for not believing in Him. I grew up half-Catholic, then the other half of my youth, my parents shifted me to Baptist (southern, at that). That was very damaging to my opinion of religions all together.
I know I like my God and He likes me and all. Do I know if He's more than an imaginary friend? Nope. I hope not, but...for all I know, he could be someone I simply believe in, which would be fine with me when I find I've just rotted away instead of meeting him after I die. (Don't think I'd even be able to care, in fact. haha!)

And, your kids? I've always been curious about this. I grew up believing in God only because I was made to attend church. I always wonder what my children would believe about God. Is it up to me to teach them? How often? Do I have to use the bible?
All these questions and more, answered tonight by Rev. James Corrandsworth, from The Church of the Saints of the Practicing Praisers of Jesus Christ the Lord Our Savior Amen...church.

My son pretty much is an atheist. He went to Sunday School and church with friends as a child, but was never forced to do so as I was by my grandmother. I don't believe in forcing religious beliefs on others. He was allowed to come to his own decision about religion as I believe we all must. He was told about God and Jesus as a child by me, but as I said, I didn't ever force the my beliefs on him, but when he asked about my beliefs I shared them with him and let him decide on his own. The reason I don't believe in organized religion is fairly simple...I'm fed up with every church saying it's the right church. I mean...how do they really know for certain?

Many atheists declare they rationally think that God doesn't exist,and religious people is blind and all.My atheism is more a feeling than anything else.I always thought that for me was easier being understood by and connect with believers more than with agnostics.I don't like agnosticism at all and I don't like when people think that atheism and agnosticism are one and the same.

I just meant my parents and I are all atheists. I think my brother is, too.

Neither of my parents had religious beliefs? Why wasn't there an option for that?

That's true!
What does it say about Reform Judaism's beliefs?

I've looked up agnosticism and couldn't find it in the dictionary. "ism" is there though, which says it's 'a distinctive doctrine, system, or theory', and agnostic is defined as
1a: One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God
1b: One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism
2: One who is doubtful or noncommittal about something
Doesn't seem a very just definition.

Seems we need a new -ism. Uh-oh...
...and a survey is born. Be right back!

Oh. Damn. I was ready to have my mind opened to a new theory.
I actually like theories that sound absolute like that, but are proven true. So yours (unintentional as it was) got me thinking. Well, maybe she (?) does mean 'innately'. Which, interestingly enough, I would have to believe we are all born atheists. Ha! Funny way to word it, huh?
So there's your next argument, when the bible-thumpers are coming at you: "Look, it's just not...natural to believe in God, I'm sorry." Haha!
(I do myself, and only hope I'm not wrong. I'd never try to "save" someone else. If my God does exist and he saw me thumping the bible at someone, He'd tell me to mind my own f**king business.)

You handled your kids very much like my mother handled us four kids. In every case she believed we had gained enough age and smarts to, she let us make our own decisions while simply letting us know what her 'take' was on it. That has been her style even in our adulthood, and - damn it - she always turns out to be right.
I suppose that might be the way I'd handle it.
When we lived in Philadelphia, my father's environment, he wanted us to be Catholic but only managed to force us off to church, which was across a large hill behind us, I remember.
Then, we moved to Texas, where my mother said what you said: "It's up to you, kids." Southern Baptists (of this particular church, I'll add) really ruined it for me, all the way down to the idea of a "Holy House". There's so much judgement, damnation, imposition, brainwashing, one-way beliefs goings ons in that "house of Holy" that I sometimes wonder why God doesn't expand tornado alley to cover a new, more-selective boundarylessness. I have liked some churches, but only because they harbor so much collective, wonderful energies - so much that even when empty you can feel it. But those energies come from good church-goers. The structures of the religion itself is all too damning to be any sort of positive. To me, that is.
*trying - pleading - to avoid debates*

Wow, I complimented the creator on the coverage of the options. He gets a B+ now - sorry, Msgman.
Good catch!
So...what's your answer? Are yours the same as your parents, or - have you in fact allowed Jesus Christ the Lord Our Savior into your heart? Fanatic minds want to know.
(Hope I'm not offending. Just jokin' around.)

Each time I hear of Buddhism, I become a little more interested. I had a girlfriend in Korea (Spanish/Korean, gah so beautiful) who was Buddhist. She explained a lot of it to me. By her description, it is very peaceful, and very independent while at the same time very one-with the universe sort of practice.
And that's another thing I respect about it - while I'm at it - it's more a practice of peace and spirituality than it is a religion, wouldn't you say?

Uh...kid (I only have one). One of the reason I stopped going to any type of church is the prevalent anti-gay atmosphere most organized religions have, another was that many seem to think that if you don't interpret the Bible the same as they do, then you are in the wrong. Years ago, before my son was born, I had an acquaintance who asked me to attend church with him...it was a Penecostal denomination and I agreed to attend that once. I reciprocated by inviting him to the Methodist church to which he replied, "I can't...Methodists are true Christians and aren't going to Heaven. Only those who go to my church are going to Heaven." Needless to say I avoided this person after that.
Another off-putting item...having a preacher thunder at you that you are going to Hell if you don't repent. I believe and was raised to believe that God is Love, but apparently not everybody believe that. I wonder myself what will happen upon Judgement Day when all these "we are the right religion/we are the only true religion" believers find out that they weren't.

As far as I know they where both agnostic. They never attended any church or churches that I'm aware of.

I've wondered about Judgement Day too, seriously. I more wonder about today though, and the level-headed, church-going person who can somehow believe that this all-loving God of ours, supposedly, can send people to burn in the fiery pit of hell for all of eternity because they chose to drive to the building on Elm Street, and not Main.
Off-puttings, huh! I've got a million of them!
"Brother" John of our humble little Southern Baptist church would start his service by glaring at the numbers board, which reflected what we had given to the church both last week and this week. He would glare at it! Then, if he wanted you to know if he wasn't satisfied, he would shake his head first, put his glasses on, and begin speaking.
Sometimes, his subject was 'giving to the Lord' (no doubt referential to the amount of money we had paid him that week). But, always, every week, we were a bunch of sinners. We had sinned. Even if we didn't know it, we had sinned since the last time he honored us with his high-n-mighty speech. And we needed forgiveness, didn't we understand that?
It was my sisters and girlfriend who dragged me to church all the time. We were sinners, and we needed forgiveness, see. But it wasn't long before I was dissuaded enough by "Brother" John.
I worked at the town's KFC for years, and we dreaded "Brother" John showing up. In front of his family (and he was known around town for doing this at restaurants), he would place his order, and - watching him, you could see him do this - he would get nastier and nastier with whomever he was talking to, to the point where he was yelling.
His dumb wife would just hold her sinner-children closer to her and bow her head (probably praying that I wasn't going to do something bad into their food - which I never would, by the way).
And I was supposed to pay this man to his dissatisfaction, and have him deliver my idea of God to me, and listen to him tell me how - in his eyes - I "sinned"?
I closed that chapter with a great big ol' Amen! Can I get an "Amayan"?

A-men brother! We have a local youth pastor who is almost as bad, Pastor Aaron. He has his own TV show called Crossfire and puts on a real nice front, but those who have had the misfortune of meeting him outside his church say he's the world's biggest butt-hole! He even rides a Harley so that the kids think he's cool!

It takes years of contemplation to understand this stuff. You're about where you be on laying your foundation.

I've got plenty of ammunition in my arsenal when it comes to confrontational bible-thumpers, believe me!
Although at some level, I do think we are all born as religiously clean slates, as it were. Most people follow the religious beliefs of their parents, or at least get started on the religious track that way, even if they choose some other form of religion later on.

And...you?

Yeah, I guess it wouldn't be a fair statement to say "unnatural", but the argument was fun while it lasted, haha!

Grrr.
A pastor's book of Standard Operating Procedures:
1. Preach the Holy Word of God.
2. Exemplify that "other fella".
Grrr.

Yes, I **would** say it is more of a practice of peace and spirituality than a religion!

What's a person's best resource if they (at first, maybe) just wanted to read about Buddhism, would you know?

Well said!

I'm not sure which means I'm probably agnostic as well.

From where you're coming from, I'd get something by Alan Watts on the buddhist thing. His gig was explaining hindu and buddhist concepts to christians. He doesn't do it any terribly formal layout though. He explains a concept, then illustrates it in various faiths and practical examples. Much of what he says, isn't even spelled out; you get a feeling or sense of what is really meant from the context of the entire presentation. He's the type who could preach to war mongerers in total agreement with him, but leave them thoroughly believing in seeds of contemplation whose inevitable conclusion is peace.
From my brushes with baptists, it seems 'pay-up you sinners, before hell-fires end your opportunity' is the basic sermon. The other one is 'This is hell on earth and you are a sinner. Ask god to take you away from everything including your own self'. It's my opinion that religions are stepping stones; at a certain point in ones development they hold you down more than lift you up. Imagine telling the Angel Gabriel that he is a sinner, must repent, flog himself, and wander the earth as unworthy until judgement (which won't be happening anyhow, because all the horn blowers are busy groveling with salted wounds somewhere). It's a job security thing: 'get partially as close to god as i've gotten. getting closer is bad for the trade.' There is also something to be said about leaders having power because of the collective focus, whethar it be a tv envangelest or hitler. Telling a group of people to pray is a nexus of divine intervention. I venture to say that angels love working in power, and would feel rather amiss if living in mortal constraints. (although there was that episode of touched by an angel where monica was tempted by a mortal life with a home and a husband. (retirement, you could call it) I was meditating on the topic of retirement myself at the time).
What to you mean by '2. Exemplify that "other fella".'?

Well, number (1) of the pastor's SOP was to preach the Holy Word of God. Number (2) was to exemplify that "other fella". Both together suggests that, while they speak of one thing (God), if they lead by example then we're really getting the teachings of another thing ('other fella'=devil).
'Hornblowers are groveling...' I like that!
'Job security' philosophy...like that even more!

Have you seen 'City of Angels' (Meg Ryan, Nicolas Cage)? Very good movie - very entertaining.
My Mom and her husband used to watch 'Touched by an Angel'.

'Telling a group of people to pray...' I like that one!

Hey, I'm a preacher who wants a harley! I'd settle for a moped strong enough to get camping gear to camping and family destinations though. If video is what the kids understand, you preach on video. Who said preachers can't find things 'cool'. {I'll admit though, intentionally manipulating others opinion of one's coolness is not cool though.} {time for self examination - do I do that? in some manners. one shares their love of flowers with flower people, and love of physics with phsyicists. You act serious where that's what respected, and do stand up comedy, when that's what the audience came for}. Ideally the means should mirror the motive. A harley could represent freedom of the open skies and the spirit of the sprezzaturic wanderer in god's graces, a 'do your own repairs' work ethic, being open to communication with people on the street, or a microcosm of celestial mechanics. For all you know, he preaches while volunteering his time and tools to other harley owners. On the other hand, if he's an butt-hole, he's an butt-hole, and a harley won't change that one way or the other. I'm open minded to seeing well intent in some misguided behavior at times though. Like the time my roomate strangled me for 45 minutes because he was pissed that I was letting my wife have an affair. I can imagine him on harley. I'd go for a silent 1965 white and chrome bmw touring bike myself, but price-wise now, the harley is the more humble choice. After restoring show cars for a decade, I've been happy exclusively bicycling these last nine years. I'd like to get a car I bought running so I can visit my mom sometime though without taking an expensive, luggage and schedule limited flight. (she lives in SF,CA, I live in LA,CA).

Not only is he an butt-hole, but a two-faced one. My niece had the misfortune of attending one of his Crossfire shows and the crap such as his yelling to the kids to "shut the fudge up" because the commercial was over and they were getting ready to be back on the air really pissed her off. He makes sure no adults except for the production crew is around when he is cursing or going into a rage about something. Tarah (niece) says she trusts him about as far as she can throw him...and with his girth that's not very far! I've talked to other kids who have attended his show and his behavior off camera is just like my niece described, but on camera it's totally different. Many of the kids are afraid of him because of his behavior. I've always believe in the concept that children and animals can tell what a person is really like. If kids don't like Pastor Aaron then to me that's a warning sign that he's up to no good!

Cringe. ok, point made. sort of like crusty the clown, but worse. I wonder what on earth drives a person to a role like that.

I don't know, but this guy makes Krusty the Klown look like a saint!

Perhaps he's looking for redemption himself. Just after becoming a minister, I ran into two ex-ministers. They quit when they became concerned about convincing others things they were still trying to ascertain themselves. Strange motive, but then knowing or believing the material is not a prerequisite for the job. The ones I've seen preach seemed to deeply understand their material though. 'Saint Krusty' - that would have made a good episode.

Let me know how it goes if you ever try it out on some unwitting bible-thumper!

Reform Judaism (Shares some views with Reconstruction and Renewal Judaism.) -- Jewish law is changeable and symbolic

Movements/Affiliations Selector
Belief in Deity: Beliefs vary among adherents, including that of non-belief or questioning belief, and all are welcome and considered personal, but the official stance is that there is one God Almighty - Creator, all-powerful, ever-present, and all knowing -- formless, incorporeal spirit.
Origin of universe and life: Most believe that Genesis is to be understood symbolically. God created and controls all phenomena revealed by modern science.
After death: Reform Jews believe in the world to come and a messianic age (but no individual Messiah). Personal beliefs in the details of afterlife are diverse as there is no official position. Some believe in heaven and hell but only as states of consciousness, some believe in reincarnation, some believe God is all forgiving, and some may not believe in an actual afterlife. Regardless, Judaism generally focuses on living a virtuous life, rather than working toward reward after death.
Why evil? No original sin. Most often, Satan is interpreted symbolically to represent selfish desires that are inherent within all. God gave people free will, and people are responsible for their actions.
Salvation: The main emphasis is on living the kind of life that God commands which will surely be rewarded if there is an afterlife. Most believe God is forgiving of all; there is no hell to which some are condemned. Salvation is achieved through faith and prayer to God, good works, concern for the earth and humanity, and behavior that does no harm to others. The extent to which one follows Jewish Law is an individual decision.
Undeserved suffering: God gave humans freewill to feel pleasure and pain, and His purpose in allowing deep suffering of the innocent must be good even if mysterious. It is generally believed that God suffers along with the sufferer. More important than knowing why God allows suffering is to work to help those in need.
Contemporary Issues: Judaism holds that human life begins upon first breath, and Jewish law requires abortion if necessary to save the mother’s life prior to birth. Most believe potential human life should never be terminated casually, but it is generally regarded as a personal decision especially within the first 40 days of pregnancy. Homosexuality: Homosexuals are God’s creation, and Jewish instruction is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Reform (and Conservative) Judaism have a long history of support for homosexual rights.

Or maybe Rabbi Krusty.

My mother is Lutheran.
My father took that SelectSmart test and he was "Secucular Humanist", just like me- but our beleifs are quite different.

You're very welcome! I'm somewhat startled you haven't come across it already. It has been posted on a few previous surveys. I see that now someone has made it the focus of another survey.

Yeah, I haven't been too impressed with some of their selectors. I found the guitarist one pretty lame, for example...This one seems authoritative and scholarly. I believe it has even had an upgrade since it first appeared.

I think I've been to the website before quite a while ago, but I couldn't do the quiz since I didn't know most of the answers.

Yes indeed.

Oy Vey!

Since there are SO many different branches and sects of Buddhism, I would not know what to recommend first. The sect I belong to is Nichiren Shoshu or Soka Gakkai. This sect has some good Web sites with plenty of info. For general info, I would just suggest looking up the kind of Buddhism one might be most interested in -- like, for example, Zen -- or else search for "Buddhism" on the Web and click on whatever seems interesting. Ya might also be able to find some simple books on Buddhism in your local library...

You mean the...physical library? The one that's made of bricks, and not a monitor screen? Oh, I don't think I like the sounds of this already!
Just kidding, but isn't there like a 'Buddha for Beginners'? What do you think of Kristal Rose's suggestion, above? She suggests an "Alan Watts"...?

Alan Watts sounds good to me. I tried to read a couple of his books back in the late 60s or early 70s but I couldn't get into him at that time. There certainly should be a kind of "Buddha for Beginners," especially on the Web. Whyncha look up "Alan Watts" on the Web too... Seems to me the Web probably has more on practically any subject than even a city's main library. At least probably easier to find on the Web than in a physical library.

Disgusting, ain't it?
I do like the what Buddhism seems to stand for, like I said, the more I hear about it. When I think Buddhism, I think fluttering butterflies, and the sound effects on Kristal Rose's Website (she's got the most serene sound effect on her site).

Are there "correct" answers?

I was in SGI, the Nichiren group galmorro mentions, so I could go in length about the sort of experiences one could have meditating with them. They are just down the street from you, gigantic SGI friendship center on venice and fairfax. They gather in small groups though.
We are Borg. We have the collective knowledge of thousands of species. I'm almost surprised you don't get nervous the more you get to know me.

Wow! Looks like a whole case of cans of worms was opened up here. I got through a lot of it. May I throw in a couple of thoughts here?
If we have say, six people with six different beliefs and each of those persons sincerely believe their faith is the correct and ONLY faith that will keep him from going to hell, can anyone of us determine which one is really correct? I just can't buy on that. I just cannot believe that my Supreme Being would judge five of those six people to be wrong. I believe my Supreme Being would simply look at them and appraise each one for the strength of their convictions in their faith and if it was sincerely used for the "good" of and to others.

And what of the people that have lived and died without EVER hearing of "God"? Did they just automatically go to hell? How can a "just" and "loving" God determine that? My Supreme Being would NEVER be so unjust or unloving. While I am not Catholic, I do not believe my Catholic friends (and ex-in-laws) will all go to hell. I will admit that I believe I know one or two that will, though. Heh heh Just kidding...almost.

Agree, agree aaaaaand...agree.
Which allows me to freely explore Buddhism, I would say. I've been looking at it a little on the Internet - I think I'm already leaning toward the teachings of Zen.
Peace.

Have you been to the Religious belief identifier yet? There is a new (non-descript) survey here linking to it. I highly recommend it. I've been waiting for your results to show up there.
Shanti.

Well, no. Sometimes I look at opinion and belief questions as not knowing the answer as though I were in math class or something. It's really just a matter of not knowing how I feel.

I know. You're still young. Give it time. You'll probably become just as opinionated as the rest of us...

Haven't you remember anything I thauth you. You remeber my rambling about how philosophicly, it makes no sense to say that a soicalist and a libertarian is on the same side of the political spectrum.


Somehow, I don't competetly trust that sites expertise. Apart from the fact that some of their questions were just awful and some of them weren't even asked. Among vagenes and other things.

I only did this one and the candidates one.

I remember, still back in high school, I had indavertily got my teacher to go to the site and every single one of her students had recieved a print out of that site. All cause of me baby!!!

Indavertily?!!

I'm afraid I don't quite follow you there...It is hard for us old geezers to keep up with all of these neologisms...

Actually, answering survey questions has really helped me to form opinions about things. It really surprises my friends and family; I'm not exactly known for being the most opinionated and socially-concious erson around!

Oh, I had shared the site w/ one of my very close teachers. He shared it with like our school's student class president. He then shared it with my old english teacher. Then she called me to her office, and when I got there (probably wondering what the hell did I do wrong), she asked me for the link. At frist I was confused, but eventually I knew what link she was talking about.

Then two days latter, I saw a bunch of kids running around with an oversized bundle of stappled pappers with the four main candidates stances on issues, for some kind of project. Gee, I thought, I hope no one finds out they have to do this all cause of me.

Yes! It is good for that. I find myself being asked my opinion here on subjects I would be quite unlikely to encounter otherwise. Particularly news stories from the States, that I wouldn't even have heard about if not for Survey Central.

So how would you rate the election selector? Was it okay? I get the impression that you thought it was at least good enough to tell your teacher about, but you seemed to think that the accuracy may have been a little off.

I have Yahoo but I've never used it.& that was several months ago. But not only that, I don't know how to use it yet. My oldest daughter set it up for me & she said that she'll teach me how to use it when she gets here on September 2nd. I think my yahoo name is virgodragon OR dragonvirgo.Please be patient with me I don't know how to access that one yet. But when she gets here in 30 days I'll have it down pact.

Why not just go into chat with me here?

Also My e-mail addy is: dabprovin@msn.com

Did you mean to reply to me? I'm not sure what prompted you to say this. I didn't ask you to take the test. nor do I think that libertarianism and socialism have much at all to do with eachother. Libertarianism is a highly right wing philosophy, though it shares things in common with those so left wing that they would have anarchy.
Who knows how the survey was written. Possibly people who have cats with gemstone collars have a high inexplicable incidence of believing in sufiism (and perhaps there is some undiscovered subconscious reason - people who honor pets so, honor people with a divinity level of devotion).

Yeah, especially since the only 'news' programs I watch are Entertainment Tonight or Access Hollywood, I find it a good way to become aware of certain issues and think about how I feel about them.

I'd say that it was mediocre. I mean it was the best source out there, and I had actually realized that there were more candidates than just Gore, Bush, Nader, & Bucanna. Its amazing how some people who took that test ended up with other alternative candidates, but no one actually voted for them. Its kinnda of funny if you think about it.

But Seriously, I wouldn't take that site too seriously.