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Jetavan
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« on: October 07, 2010, 09:47:48 AM » |
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A new book, America's Four Gods, draws upon research of the past few years, concluding that American's ideas of who God is, can be grouped into 4 different categories. The authors: "show that regardless of religious tradition (or lack thereof), Americans worship four distinct deities: the Authoritative God, who is both engaged with the world and judgmental; the Benevolent God, who loves and aids us in spite of our failings; the Critical God, who catalogs our sins but does not punish them (at least not in this life); and the Distant God, who stands apart from the world He created. The authors show that these four images of God form the basis of our worldviews and are among the most powerful predictors of our feelings on America’s most contentious issues." You can also take the test, and see which God you believe in. For some reason, my God is an Authoritative God.  USAToday has a front page story on the book. |
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If you will, you can become all flame.
Extra caritatem nulla salus.
In order to become whole, take the "I" out of "holiness".
I'm not a witch.
Ἄνω σχῶμεν τὰς καρδίας
"Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is." -- Mohandas Gandhi
Y dduw bo'r diolch.
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genesisone
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« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2010, 10:04:15 AM » |
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Unfortunately, its categories for religious affiliation are: - Protestant
- Catholic
- Other Religion
- Not Religious
We've already had threads on "Which one do I pick?" This in itself is simplistic, as is the categorizing all people into one of four specific groups based on their notion of God. I really don't see the value in it. |
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Jetavan
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« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2010, 10:33:23 AM » |
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Unfortunately, its categories for religious affiliation are: - Protestant
- Catholic
- Other Religion
- Not Religious
We've already had threads on "Which one do I pick?" This in itself is simplistic, as is the categorizing all people into one of four specific groups based on their notion of God. I really don't see the value in it. That's not actually part of the survey. That's just a preliminary question. |
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Logged
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If you will, you can become all flame.
Extra caritatem nulla salus.
In order to become whole, take the "I" out of "holiness".
I'm not a witch.
Ἄνω σχῶμεν τὰς καρδίας
"Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is." -- Mohandas Gandhi
Y dduw bo'r diolch.
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genesisone
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« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2010, 10:58:19 AM » |
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Unfortunately, its categories for religious affiliation are: - Protestant
- Catholic
- Other Religion
- Not Religious
We've already had threads on "Which one do I pick?" This in itself is simplistic, as is the categorizing all people into one of four specific groups based on their notion of God. I really don't see the value in it. That's not actually part of the survey. That's just a preliminary question. Let me clarify: I find that pigeon-holing people into four distinct groups based on their conception of God is not something I see as worthwhile or helpful, in except perhaps the most simplistic way. I apologize for not paragraphing correctly. As far as the preliminary question is concerned, what then is its point? |
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Heorhij
Hoplitarches
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Faith: Orthodox
Jurisdiction: GOA, for now, but my heart belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
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« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2010, 11:16:42 AM » |
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I took the test, and the result was that my God is benevolent.
In the box where I was asked to write, how do I view God, I wrote, "sacrificing Himself for His beloved creature, man."
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Love never fails.
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Jetavan
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« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2010, 11:51:03 AM » |
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Unfortunately, its categories for religious affiliation are: - Protestant
- Catholic
- Other Religion
- Not Religious
We've already had threads on "Which one do I pick?" This in itself is simplistic, as is the categorizing all people into one of four specific groups based on their notion of God. I really don't see the value in it. That's not actually part of the survey. That's just a preliminary question. Let me clarify: I find that pigeon-holing people into four distinct groups based on their conception of God is not something I see as worthwhile or helpful, in except perhaps the most simplistic way. I apologize for not paragraphing correctly. As far as the preliminary question is concerned, what then is its point? One of the preliminary question is about one's gender. I reckon it's just a way to get some general idea of the demographics of the people who answer the survey. You can choose to skip the preliminary questions, and it won't affect your ability to do the survey. I should also say that the survey linked is most likely an abridged version of the fuller survey. |
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« Last Edit: October 07, 2010, 11:51:55 AM by Jetavan »
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Logged
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If you will, you can become all flame.
Extra caritatem nulla salus.
In order to become whole, take the "I" out of "holiness".
I'm not a witch.
Ἄνω σχῶμεν τὰς καρδίας
"Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is." -- Mohandas Gandhi
Y dduw bo'r diolch.
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Asteriktos
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« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2010, 01:05:35 PM » |
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Based on your answers, you view God as being distant.
A distant God is one who is non-judgmental and disengaged from the world.
30.1% of the people who have taken this survey responded with a God type of distant.
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Jetavan
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« Reply #7 on: October 07, 2010, 01:34:35 PM » |
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The four types are associated with all sorts of other social perspectives. Authority and Benevolent types tend, for instance, to be much more suspicious of evolution than the Critical and Distant types, in general. I scored high in "Authority", but am not suspicious of evolutionary theory at all.
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« Last Edit: October 07, 2010, 01:34:55 PM by Jetavan »
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Logged
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If you will, you can become all flame.
Extra caritatem nulla salus.
In order to become whole, take the "I" out of "holiness".
I'm not a witch.
Ἄνω σχῶμεν τὰς καρδίας
"Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is." -- Mohandas Gandhi
Y dduw bo'r diolch.
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GreekChef
Prez
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Faith: Greek Orthodox
Jurisdiction: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America: Metropolis of Atlanta
Posts: 880
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« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2010, 01:58:40 PM » |
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Based on your answers, you view God as being distant.
A distant God is one who is non-judgmental and disengaged from the world.
30.1% of the people who have taken this survey responded with a God type of distant.
This is interesting. Could it maybe be because of the lack of an active prayer life that so many think He is distant? I took it and found God to be benevolent. It's also interesting to me that 3 out of the 4 choices are essentially negative ways of viewing God. Only benevolent views Him in an altogether positive manner. To me, all this whole thing really says is that we're not doing our job very well of evangelizing. The fact that Orthodox aren't even on there, and that God is so widely viewed in the negative, says to me that we have not spread His gospel the way we should... |
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Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.
Matthew 18:5
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Asteriktos
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« Reply #9 on: October 07, 2010, 02:14:45 PM » |
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I tended to answer the questions about God's judgment in such a way that I can understand them saying I saw Him as non-judgmental. However, when it came to questions about God being disengaged, I actually answered in a way that indicated that I thought God was engaged with the world. So, because there were only four types to pin on people, there was a bit of a situation. I don't fit into the distant category as far as the disengaged part goes, but I did fit into that category as far as the non-judgmental part.
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Jetavan
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« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2010, 02:50:22 PM » |
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Based on your answers, you view God as being distant.
A distant God is one who is non-judgmental and disengaged from the world.
30.1% of the people who have taken this survey responded with a God type of distant.
This is interesting. Could it maybe be because of the lack of an active prayer life that so many think He is distant? I took it and found God to be benevolent. It's also interesting to me that 3 out of the 4 choices are essentially negative ways of viewing God. Only benevolent views Him in an altogether positive manner. To me, all this whole thing really says is that we're not doing our job very well of evangelizing. The fact that Orthodox aren't even on there, and that God is so widely viewed in the negative, says to me that we have not spread His gospel the way we should... Among Americans overall, 24% saw God as Distant. The same percent saw him as Benevolent. You can probably find all four types in all churches, but certain types would dominate certain churches: e.g., Benevolent among the Orthodox, or Authoritative among the Calvinists. |
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« Last Edit: October 07, 2010, 03:04:27 PM by Jetavan »
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Logged
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If you will, you can become all flame.
Extra caritatem nulla salus.
In order to become whole, take the "I" out of "holiness".
I'm not a witch.
Ἄνω σχῶμεν τὰς καρδίας
"Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is." -- Mohandas Gandhi
Y dduw bo'r diolch.
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Rosehip
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« Reply #11 on: October 07, 2010, 03:39:26 PM » |
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I viewed God as "critical". I wonder how much our results reflect our views of our human fathers?
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« Last Edit: October 07, 2010, 03:47:28 PM by Rosehip »
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+ Our dear sister Martha (Rosehip) passed away on Dec 20, 2010. May her memory be eternal! +
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Iconodule
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« Reply #12 on: October 07, 2010, 04:30:35 PM » |
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Another dumb book-selling gimmick. *yawn*
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"A Poet a Painter a Musician an Architect: the Man Or Woman who is not one of these is not a Christian." - William Blake
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GreekChef
Prez
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Jurisdiction: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America: Metropolis of Atlanta
Posts: 880
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« Reply #13 on: October 07, 2010, 04:31:04 PM » |
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I viewed God as "critical". I wonder how much our results reflect our views of our human fathers?
Hmmmmm... An interesting question. I know I view my father as benevolent. He's extremely loving and supportive, caring, very much a "daddy." Both my parents are, actually. I could totally see how that would effect my view of God. |
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Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.
Matthew 18:5
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deusveritasest
Toumarches
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« Reply #14 on: October 07, 2010, 04:59:47 PM » |
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I tested as authoritative as well.
But I must say, there are far more than 4 gods in America (though only one of them is God).
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I stopped posting here in August 2011 because of stark disagreement with the policies of the administration and moderating team of the forums. If you desire, feel free to PM me, message me on Facebook (link in profile), or email me: cddombrowski@yahoo.com |
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Asteriktos
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« Reply #15 on: October 07, 2010, 06:16:40 PM » |
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How true. Images of American gods/goddesses can be found, but they do not seem to match the ones mentioned in the OP.  |
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« Last Edit: October 07, 2010, 06:16:57 PM by Asteriktos »
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Papist
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« Reply #16 on: October 07, 2010, 06:38:34 PM » |
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I think that this survey is silly. It creates to many false dilemmas. I mean, God can be both benevolent and authoritative. In fact, God's benevolence might be the source of his authoritativeness.
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"The only-begotten Son of God, wanting us to be partakers of his divinity, assumed our human nature so that, having become man, he might make men gods." - St. Thomas Aquinas
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Aindriú
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« Reply #17 on: October 07, 2010, 06:49:51 PM » |
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It gave me auth...au...authori-ta-ratio-tiv-ness-ous....
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 I'm going to need this. |
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Ortho_cat
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« Reply #18 on: December 26, 2010, 02:26:44 PM » |
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I ended up with 'distant' God. Not that I want Him to be that way, but I just have a hard time believing that he cares or involves himself with our day to day life/routines based on how the world is...
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Dimitrios-Georgios
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Saints Dimitrios and Georgios
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« Reply #19 on: December 26, 2010, 02:36:53 PM » |
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I got Benevolent, like I expected.  |
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Achronos
What's so good about Cincinnati? You like it? You think Cincinnati is cool? I've never heard anyone say, 'I'm going to Cincinnati on vacation.'
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Hoplitarches
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Jurisdiction: Just as little is seen in pure light as in pure darkness.
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And we gave him the Rolling Stone cover?!
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« Reply #20 on: December 26, 2010, 04:59:22 PM » |
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God is God
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“Without music, life would be a mistake.”
“The last capitalist we hang shall be the one who sold us the rope.”
"Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are."
"We see at once that the words absolute, divine, eternal, and so on do not express what is implied in them.
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Achronos
What's so good about Cincinnati? You like it? You think Cincinnati is cool? I've never heard anyone say, 'I'm going to Cincinnati on vacation.'
Site Supporter
Warned
Hoplitarches
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Faith: Building Steam with a Grain of Salt
Jurisdiction: Just as little is seen in pure light as in pure darkness.
Posts: 9,327
And we gave him the Rolling Stone cover?!
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« Reply #22 on: December 26, 2010, 06:58:09 PM » |
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I was waiting for the "Duh"...  |
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“Without music, life would be a mistake.”
“The last capitalist we hang shall be the one who sold us the rope.”
"Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are."
"We see at once that the words absolute, divine, eternal, and so on do not express what is implied in them.
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Thomist
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« Reply #23 on: December 27, 2010, 12:55:15 AM » |
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I got authoritative, but I agree that this test is less than satisfactory, at best.
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"Would heretics dare to come to the very seat of Peter whence apostolic faith is derived and whither no errors can come?" - Saint Cyprian of Carthage
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Iconodule
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« Reply #24 on: December 28, 2010, 12:04:43 AM » |
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"A Poet a Painter a Musician an Architect: the Man Or Woman who is not one of these is not a Christian." - William Blake
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dcommini
Tha mi sgulan na Trianaid
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Beannachd Dia dhuit
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« Reply #25 on: December 28, 2010, 04:20:54 AM » |
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interesting to say the least... |
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Gun cuireadh do chupa thairis le slàinte agus sona - May your cup overflow with health and happiness Check out my blog... |
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Ortho_cat
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« Reply #26 on: December 29, 2010, 03:30:36 AM » |
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