Advice on label for this belief

[cloudyday2]

I've been thinking lately that "agnostic" is no longer the best label for my beliefs, but I don't know what the proper label might be.

It seems to me that a personal benevolent God exists due to apparent guidance as I look back at weird experiences over my life.
- "Agnostic" suggests less certainty than I have.
- "Deist" suggests a distant and indifferent God.
- "Seeker" suggests I am seeking something, and I am not.
- "Theist" is a bit too vague.
- "Other Religion" suggests I have a religion, and I don't.
- "Hindu" suggests that I have read the Vedas and put paint on my forehead LOL.
- "Panentheist/Pantheist" suggest that I see God in creation, but I see Him as separate.

Also, I was thinking about changing my signature to say:
"Religion is like putting clown makeup on the face of God"

Would that offend? I said that once on an atheist forum, and people thought it was funny. IDK

 

[Motherofkittens]

If you are looking for a label for here I'd suggest "theist" and then putting a short description in the status message and/or custom title area. But otherwise labels aren't too important.

What do you think God is like? I'd love to know.

 

[Ancient of Days]

I wouldn't get to hung up on labels. I have always understood "agnostic" to mean that the person just wasn't sure either way. As far as the sig line goes, the old saying is true: "if you have to ask the question" We probably already know the answer. Do things in life on their merit, not on how other people will react to it.

 

[Sarah G]

Have you done the Belief-O-Matic faith quiz maybe it will spit out a satisfying label for you

Belief-O-Matic®

 

[Rajni]

If you are looking for a label for here I'd suggest "theist" and then putting a short description in the status message and/or custom title area. But otherwise labels aren't too important.

I like this idea.
Does CF have a "Theist" option, now?
If so, I might consider this approach as well.


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[cloudyday2]

If you are looking for a label for here I'd suggest "theist" and then putting a short description in the status message and/or custom title area. But otherwise labels aren't too important.

What do you think God is like? I'd love to know.

It seems like the Gods of the various religions must be sock puppets for the true God (this is similar to Hindu beliefs). God seems to be benevolent.

 

[cloudyday2]

Have you done the Belief-O-Matic faith quiz maybe it will spit out a satisfying label for you

Belief-O-Matic®

They seem to want my name and email address LOL. That seems a bit too nosy of them IMO.

 

[Rajni]

They seem to want my name and email address LOL. That seems a bit too nosy of them IMO.

I just took it, as it's Beliefnet-based and I have an account somewhere over there (though I haven't used it in ages).

My results:

Mostly Mahayana Buddhism, followed by:
Neopaganism at 87%
New Age at 85%
Liberal Quakerism at 84%
Unitarian Universalism at 82%
Liberal Christian Protestantism at 73%
And various others, Christian and otherwise, after that...

I probably need to change my label also, lol!!

 

[Sarah G]

I just took it, as it's Beliefnet-based and I have an account somewhere over there (though I haven't used it in ages).

My results:

Mostly Mahayana Buddhism, followed by:
Neopaganism at 87%
New Age at 85%
Liberal Quakerism at 84%
Unitarian Universalism at 82%
Liberal Christian Protestantism at 73%
And various others, Christian and otherwise, after that...

I probably need to change my label also, lol!!

I just re-did it too. Last time I was 'Orthodox Quaker' and this time 'Unitarian Universalist'.
My trouble is that I am a person that needs structure in life but rebels against all structure in life.

 

[Rajni]

I just re-did it too. Last time I was 'Orthodox Quaker' and this time 'Unitarian Universalist'.
My trouble is that I am a person that needs structure in life but rebels against all structure in life.

I have that same trouble, so I can totally relate!
I've gotten the Unitarian Universalist result in the past, as well as Hindu.

 

[Rajni]

- "Theist" is a bit too vague.

Actually, that could work in your favor, because some labels that are too specific seem to make easier targets during discussions.

When I had the Catholic label, people would judge me on that. Also, the Pagan label, when I was going through that phase.

So far, with "Charismatic", no one seems to know how to diss that one, so they stick with addressing the topic rather than the poster (the way it's supposed to be done).

"Theist" is broad enough a term that I think you'd be pretty much untouchable as far as personal attacks based on belief go.

Again, though, is that an option now on CF? If it is, that would be perfect. I'd consider switching to it myself.


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[Zoness]

I've been thinking lately that "agnostic" is no longer the best label for my beliefs, but I don't know what the proper label might be.

It seems to me that a personal benevolent God exists due to apparent guidance as I look back at weird experiences over my life.
- "Agnostic" suggests less certainty than I have.
- "Deist" suggests a distant and indifferent God.
- "Seeker" suggests I am seeking something, and I am not.
- "Theist" is a bit too vague.
- "Other Religion" suggests I have a religion, and I don't.
- "Hindu" suggests that I have read the Vedas and put paint on my forehead LOL.
- "Panentheist/Pantheist" suggest that I see God in creation, but I see Him as separate.

Also, I was thinking about changing my signature to say:
"Religion is like putting clown makeup on the face of God"

Would that offend? I said that once on an atheist forum, and people thought it was funny. IDK

Theist or Spiritual is probably fine, really. Theist might sound vague but I think your description captures something appropriate for that title. A personal, benevolent god without a religion sounds exactly right. This is just my opinion. You don't have to tie yourself to labels, though I enjoy doing it since its how my brain organizes information.

They seem to want my name and email address LOL. That seems a bit too nosy of them IMO.

You can fill in fake data, that's what I did.

I just took it, as it's Beliefnet-based and I have an account somewhere over there (though I haven't used it in ages).

My results:

Mostly Mahayana Buddhism, followed by:
Neopaganism at 87%
New Age at 85%
Liberal Quakerism at 84%
Unitarian Universalism at 82%
Liberal Christian Protestantism at 73%
And various others, Christian and otherwise, after that...

I probably need to change my label also, lol!!

I just retook this quiz since my last time about three years ago:

Neo-Paganism still came in as my top spot, which doesn't come to me as a surprise, though the next five were interesting:

Unitarian Universalism 85%
Taoism 82%
Liberal Quakerism 73%
New Age 73%
Secular Humanism 70%

Notes: Secular Humanism has came into the top-five, showing my general tendency to secularize, though this largely has to do with my political biases more than anything. UU isn't surprising and neither is Taoism, given my affinity for Eastern spiritual thought. I disdain at the New Age label but eh, what can you do? Twenty questions with fixed labels has its limits.

My birth religion, Roman Catholicism, scored 37% which is higher than my previous test assessment.

My lowest score was Jehovah's Witness at 19%, which comes as zero shock.

 

[Rajni]

My birth religion, Roman Catholicism, scored 37% which is higher than my previous test assessment.

My lowest score was Jehovah's Witness at 19%, which comes as zero shock.

Roman Catholicism was my religion of birth as well,
and I scored a paltry 16% on that.

My lowest score was also JW, at 8%!


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[Zoness]

Roman Catholicism was my religion of birth as well,
and I scored a paltry 16% on that.

My lowest score was also JW, at 8%!


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Interesting that my absolute scores came out higher than yours. It might have been the way I answered some of the worship questions. The problem is, the phrasing of the questions still had some bias of Christianity-Atheism dichotomy which changes the results quite a bit if you say "don't know/doesn't matter" to a lot of the questions, which is a totally valid answer in my belief system.

Ah well! Complex quizzes are hard to get perfect.

 

[Rajni]

Regarding the "Theist" label, I didn't see one in the list, so I've asked if there could be one here: "Theist" as a faith label?

 

[cloudyday2]

You can fill in fake data, that's what I did.

Good idea
Reformed Judaism
Islam 84%
Bahai 80%
Liberal Christian Protestant 77%
Liberal Quakerism 73%
Unitarian Universalism 70%
Orthodox Judaism 70%
...

Most of the questions were things I don't care about or there wasn't a selection that matched my ideas.

Also, the quiz should ask you what you actually believe, so it can improve its algorithm IMO

 

[cloudyday2]

Actually, that could work in your favor, because some labels that are too specific seem to make easier targets during discussions.

I definitely noticed that when I labeled as "atheist". That suggests to people that you know for certain that God doesn't exist, and that invites hostility from believers.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

We-ell, I'm a secular humanist, according to this test.
It's not a label I'd necessarily give myself (I'm more of a post-humanist, for starters), buuut there is a lot of common ground. The rest is quite interesting as well:

88% Unitarian Universalist
87% Liberal Quaker
72% Atheism
71% Taoism

And at the very bottom: Roman Catholicism (7%), Eastern Orthodox (7%), Orthodox Judaism (7%) and Jehova's Witnesses (5%).

Interestingly, the label I use on these forums, (neo-)pagan, only ranks at 50%, although it's still above Buddhism, which I'd consider one of my influences as well.

I really need to find a better label for my spirituality. There's lots of secularism in there, to be sure, but also shamanic practices, a reverence for life/nature, a sense of ecological and spiritual interconnectedness, and awareness and appreciation for the unconscious/subconscious/symbolic that's lacking in most offshoots of the Enlightenment.

 

[cloudyday2]

I have been thinking about the story of Abraham in Genesis. He didn't seem to have any rituals or definite beliefs about God, but he believed God cared about humans and gave them guidance sometimes. That's the way I see it.

 

[Silmarien]

It seems to me that a personal benevolent God exists due to apparent guidance as I look back at weird experiences over my life.

Welcome back.

I'd go with Seeker or Pagan, probably. Theist, if it gets added.