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Become happy why not?

An attempt to live happy, really happy not just OK

Saturday, August 27

Which religion is the right one for you?

My friend Dr R sent me a link to a new quiz at the quizfarm, "Which religion is the right one for you?" it was relatively easier than the previous one.

Does it matter what is your religion?

Let me see:

When I was a kid the very first question other kids would ask you is: what is your religion? They might not ask it in a direct way, they might pull up some old tricks to know your religion! What next, nothing, they just want to know, nothing further! I always thought that was weird.
That was not the case in college; it was weirder. I was in a college where most students were Christians, well at least that what it seemed like to me, I can't confirm this until I return to my yearbook and make some statistics. Any way, they would be OK with me (my name has no religious inferences) for the first few days until Oops, she is a Muslim, and it's have a nice time somewhere else! Of course they don't say it directly but I can tell you how many different ways you can get the message of "you are not welcome in this group anymore". Only one deviated, she used to go on and talk to me, exchange notes, ...etc, but then she stopped as she felt/or was told that she was not supposed to do so.
Well of course I found myself another group to hang out with but that was the most extreme thing I have ever seen in my life. For, I had Christian friends from elementary until high school, they never "dumped" someone because he wasn't of the same religion, similarly for Muslim friends at school.

Then I came to USA, I had more experiences with religion.

I was a Muslim in a State that is in the Bible belt. Let me explain to you what the "Bible belt" is: "an area including a number of Midwestern and southern states in the United States in which fervent Evangelical Protestantism is a pervasive part of the culture" (wikipedia) or another definition "The term Bible Belt refers to states in the Deep South plus Texas where fundamentalist and evangelical Christianity is taken very seriously."(life in USA). In simple words, that means, these are religious people that try to follow the Bible as far as possible, with a little bit over doing it (at least in my opinion). For instance, one of the things I noticed is, when you open the TV you have at least four channels (or may be more on Cable TV) talking about Christ, Salvation, Bible stories, Words of God,...... etc. No other religion is on TV; most programs are somehow related to religion. I first thought, "well may be that's normal, I mean I come from a Muslim country, we have religious programs too and some religious channels on Cable". I was surprised as I have been to the other States before (mainly in the North and East coast) and there wasn't much emphasis on religion. So, I talked to an American friend, she's from a Northern state, she said religion is more emphasized here in Tennessee! Even an Egyptian Christian friend of mine, when I was surprised how conservative people are in this state, simply said, "welcome to the Bible belt”. Wow it's not only me noticing. Those people take religion pretty seriously.

Another totally different but really interesting experience was my "no religion" roommates. First I thought they don't believe in God, so what, may be they'll figure it out later. But I was wrong they believe in a Higher Power, and in many different stories that I learn from them gradually day by day. It's amazing; they reject all religions, yet they can take something from each religion. I really admire them. The funny thing is, I heard more than once from different people, "why don't you try to convert them into Islam?" I was shocked, these are human beings with free will, and are all adults, they can choose their own way of living, and above all their religion. You don't recruit people to religion, it's God who will guide them to Himself, or as it's best said in Quran, (translation of the meaning in English: you can try to guide people to God, but it's only God who will help them to follow Him.)

Now, after my long talk, What do you think? Does the religion of other people matters that much to you?

Ps. My quiz results were:
You scored as Islam. Your beliefs are most similar to those of Islam. Do more research on Islam and possibly consider taking the shahadah and officially becoming a Muslim, if you aren't already.

Despite the actions of some - who go against the teachings of Islam - Islam is a religion of peace; the word "islam" means "peace through submission to God." "Muslim" means "one who submits to God." Islam is the third of the three Abrahamic faiths, and it shares much with Judaism in Christianity; its differences are the acceptance of Muhammad as the last and final prophet, and the oneness of God - in other words, that Jesus, though he was a revered prophet, was not in fact God, and only one God exists. Apparently the Taliban could not read (though their name means "students"), because the Qur'an states that men and women are equal as believers, and that all believers should be educated and seek knowledge. Modesty in dress and behavior is required in Islam for both men and women to preserve the values of society and move the emphasis from superificial appearance to intelligence, knowledge, and God.

Islam

88%

Judaism

58%

Buddhism

54%

Paganism

54%

Satanism

42%

agnosticism

33%

Christianity

29%

Hinduism

4%

atheism

4%

Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)
created with QuizFarm.com


You can try for yourself this quiz at the link above.

20 Comments:

At 2:22:00 AM, Blogger Nora said...

I noticed i had 54% for Paganism so i was curious to know what is it?
When i search it seems to be a collection of religions, the common thing is they don't part from nature, or called "natural religion". If someone has better explanation of whom they are, please let me know, as I am confused here!

 
At 3:38:00 AM, Blogger R said...

ُPaganism!@!
It literally means
وثنيّة

There is a flaw in that test that I found out, there is a "linkage disequilibrium" between Islam and Judaism, and there is a "negative linkage" between Islam/Judaism and Christianity. This is because of the the couple of questions about Jesus. If you answer them in a Christian way you score away from Islamic/Judaic thoughts about Jesus and vice versa. This makes all of us more "pagan" than religious.

My results are in the first comment here and I'm going to put it soon on my blog too.

It's a game after all!

 
At 3:50:00 AM, Blogger R said...

A few notes/corrections:

1) "I was in a college where most students were Christians,"
Not even 25%. It's just the impression you get because they're more than the regular % in Egypt. Just put in consideration how many students are called "Mehammad" or "Ahmad"...

2)"I was a Muslim in a State that is in the Bible belt." You still ARE, I guess. 'was' here is so dangerous to use :D

3)"when you open the TV you have at least four channels (or may be more on Cable TV)"

It seems that's because you're rich :)
You can't compare this to Egypt, because in the USA, only one channel is publich, and this one never plays religious preaching: They have actually broadcast a couple of documentaries about Islam and the Prophet. They don't do preaching though.

Even the other non-cable channels play very few religious programs.

In Egypt it's different because the state sponsors religious programming, a thing that can never happen in the USA (because of the constitution).

4) "Of course they don't say it directly but I can tell you how many different ways you can get the message of 'you are not welcome in this group anymore'"
That's a bit surprising, although not impossible. It hasn't been my experience (although our group was strongly criticized by both sides, who then got tired) and it hasn't been many other people's experience.
However, stuff is getting worse in Egypt, mainly for fear of mixed marriages, and as a reaction to the rising of Islamic student groups.

Extra-university church groups makes it even worse.

There is still a "slight" possibility that you were over-sensitive, interpreting these "hidden messages."

Consider the Egyptian community in Memphis as an example... There will be always people who prefer segregation, others who don't mind, and others who insist on being against segregation;
We will prevail :P!
The Shamm el Nessim party was a great example.

 
At 9:18:00 AM, Blogger Christian said...

Very interesting post. Thank you for it. I will keep an eye on further developments on this blog.
I did the test, and the results are weird, and they kinda negate the reverse proportionality between muslim/christian scores.
This is what I got:
agnosticism 67%
Islam 54%
Christianity 54%
Buddhism 50%
Satanism 38%
atheism 38%
Judaism 33%
Paganism 33%
Hinduism 25%

No idea what agnosticism is but I'm gonna research a bit. And interstingly I got 54% in both Islam and Christianity.... Intriguing....

 
At 1:45:00 PM, Blogger Nora said...

Dear Ramy,

you commented:(A flaw in that test that I found out, there is a "linkage disequilibrium" between Islam and Judaism, and there is a "negative linkage" between Islam/Judaism and Christianity. This is because of the the couple of questions about Jesus. If you answer them in a Christian way you score away from Islamic/Judaic thoughts about Jesus and vice versa.)


I actually thought so too, but how did this results happen:
Islam 54%
Christianity 54%
see comment from Christian

 
At 1:51:00 PM, Blogger Nora said...

Dear Ramy,
Thank you my mentor :) for the notes/correction,

1) Correction. I said:
"I was in a college where most students were Christians, well at least that what it seemed like to me, I can't confirm this until I return to my yearbook and make some statistics."

Did you make the statistics to get 25%, or how did you come up with that specific number, or it's a personal estimate?

3) I didn't compare to Egypt, there is radical differences in the constitutions of the two countries.

Yet you can't deny how LOUD the Christian preaching is in Memphis, for God's sake, I was at the hair dresser and a lady there was trying to recruit me to Christianity!!

4) R said:
There is still a "slight" possibility that you were over-sensitive, interpreting these "hidden messages."

When it's only me, I can take that into consideration, but more than one (who have non-religious names) had the exact same experience as mine!

 
At 3:52:00 PM, Blogger R said...

Nour,
54% in this test is almost negative. I'm talking about numbers that rank to 1 or 2/

Christian,
Agnosticism is to say: There may be a God in this universe, so be it, bu tI don't know him and I will never know him. I know nothing (A= no gnosis=knowlege)
يسمونها أحياناً اللاأدريّة

 
At 3:58:00 PM, Blogger R said...

Nour,
of course when I give a number I know what I'm saying.
I said "not even 25%" which means less than or equal 25%.

I have taught in that College and there is a rapid way to do the estimate:
Let's say the whole class is 1000, divided into 20 sections of 50.

If you have two sections of "M7ammads" and one section of "A7mads" here is 150.
Then you can make a rough estimate about the remainig 850 based on you calling the attendance every day. Apart from a section of "Mariannes and Mary's", the ratio would turn around 20%.

You can also look at the top 20 students every year (although there is an undeniable religious-based bias there), you will find a similar ratio.

However, to save you all this fuss that I personally have never done, being not interested, I know some people were interested before the Student Union elections. They have counted every single name to try to expect some votes and they came out of a 20-30% ratio; this was in 1992.
Given a multi-factorial pressure that selects for Muslim students in the more recent years (driven by some Sheikh's call for Muslims to occupy these sensitive professions; and to realize higher presence in syndicates), the number is strongly decreasing/ You can follow the 20 top students between 1995 and 2005 and make the math.

 
At 4:00:00 PM, Blogger R said...

"Yet you can't deny how LOUD the Christian preaching is in Memphis, for God's sake, I was at the hair dresser and a lady there was trying to recruit me to Christianity!"

I was talking about state-sponsored preaching. They try to recruit ME too!!

 
At 10:53:00 PM, Blogger Nora said...

عزيزي رامي بارك لى

اخيرا اكتب باللغة العربية و بالفصحي كمان

 
At 11:01:00 PM, Blogger Nora said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At 11:02:00 PM, Blogger R said...

مبروك...

الهمزة على فكرة:
shift+h
shift+y
shift+b

 
At 11:04:00 PM, Blogger Nora said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At 11:05:00 PM, Blogger Nora said...

Well i was talking about the atmosphere in Memphis, I didn't say it's totally state sponsered (ما توادينيش في داهية)
I said people are taking religion so seriously.

Any way, I guess we deviated alittle from the main subject,

How much does religion matter to you?

 
At 2:22:00 AM, Blogger Delingooo said...

Nour,
I definitely agree with R. Christians never were more than 25% in college. But then I have something else to comment on
"Yet you can't deny how LOUD the Christian preaching is in Memphis, for God's sake, I was at the hair dresser and a lady there was trying to recruit me to Christianity!!"
I will just tell you one thing. Try to close your eyes and imagine being of any other religion in Egypt than Muslim. Try doing this and tell me what you see. Everyday you hear prayers out loud 5 times a day and sometimes they wake you early in the morning from the deepest sleep. You see yourself on Friday afternoon going to get your grocery and you hear elkhotba everywhere you go. You see yourself riding a cab and the radio is tuned to an islamic program. You would be watching your favorite movie and it would be cut in with prayers. You meet someone at work and if they are really religious they will start talking to you about the good things in Islam. I guess what I am trying to say here is what you see and what you feel depends all on prespective. You grow up in an environment where we belonged to the majority. Now you are not and that's why you can see it more pronounced!!!

 
At 10:33:00 AM, Blogger Nora said...

I wasn't comparing to Egypt, it's two totally different situations.

In addition, the American that i met said that it's too much religion, not me.
If you read more carefully, you'll get my point.

 
At 5:16:00 PM, Blogger R said...

" I wasn't comparing to Egypt, it's two totally different situations. "

I agree with Nourtan that she wasn't comparing to Egypt; Delingo's comment carries accurate information but not related to the original post.

I have to explain, though, why I insisted on what I said. Nourtan, I think I totally understand your post; however, knowing who reads it makes me need to make clarifications.

Your post is read by many Egyptians, some of them are already affected by the anti-American porpaganda that's so trendy in Egypt.
Altough I'm not fond of living in the USA, I have to be fair to this country, even to its most conservative and religious part (the Bible Belt, as we all agree).

Here is the point that I've tried to make, and that--it seems--has not yet been clear:
- Yes, these five states (Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Georgia) are full of conservative people, self-declared Christians, and they probably wish to convert the entire world into their form of Christianity because they think this is the only way to save people from hell.
- Yet, the Country (that is ruled mainly by Christian and Jewish people) cannot favor any religion or even facilitate its preaching (they cannot even favor God over Sun-worshipping). The Ten Commandment debate is a good example.
- At the hairdresser in this part of the country, you met a woman who tried to convert you; but, you know what, you can also try to convert her. She cannot force you not to do that. You can invite her to your mosque as she invites you to her church; and I think this is the best way to end such a discussion.
- The TV, as you said, has many independent private religious stations; however, look at the programs in the non-religious TV. Yesterday, I was watching on the MTV-2 a show where they showed a guy (acting as Jesus) in a bathing suit, winnin a swimming race by walking on water and dancing at the end and saying: I won because of ME. Thank ME!! Imagine this running on TV in conservative Muslim Iran, Saudi Arabia, conservative Hindu Nepal, or conservative Christian Greece!!
- Although the "Bible Belt" is so conservative, bookstores are still selling books that categorically attack Christianity; they're still displaying a novel like "The DaVinci code", and the author is so safe to go around and introduce his book personally.
- In this very city of the ultra-conservative south, the TV programs and shows are still controlled by a Jewish-friendly (and sometimes Jewish-owned) TV stations.
- In this very city of the ultra-conservative south, a young Muslim guy can go to his work in the morning after praying the Fajr prayer in the mosque. He then goes to his working place, which he shares with a Hindu, a Catholic, and Orthodox, a Protestant, an atheist, and he still can play Qur'an and Amr Khaled programs on his computer (without needing headphones!). He does the ritual washing (Wudu) and sometimes prays the noon prayer in front of everybody. The place where he works allows him to use a chapel or a special room to pray Jum'aa (Friday) with all Muslims in the place. He also can freely preach saying: "Do not imitate the infidels in celebrating Mother Days and birthdays," obviously referring to the Americans.

Yes, these five states are ultra conservative, but... Isn't the USA a country that really deserves respect??

 
At 5:18:00 PM, Blogger R said...

"How much does religion matter to you?"

I'll answer this in a series of articles; but to give you a primer. Think about which of the following is more important to you:
God/ Faith/ Religion/ Happiness/ Freedom/ Meaning of life/ Piety/ Rituals...

Find the relationsip between them too (Synergistic/ Antagonistic/ Additive/ Unrelated/ etc..)

 
At 2:12:00 AM, Blogger Delingooo said...

Well I wasn't directly comparing anything to Egypt and I definitely wasn't commenting on the original post but more on the comment "Yet you can't deny how "LOUD" the Christian preaching is in Memphis". I was trying to say that "LOUD" is an adjective that totally depends on the person's prespective. What one of us might consider loud others can find normal. It all depends on how we see it. The other point that I was trying to make is; the more different the thing is from us, the more "LOUD" we see it!! For someone who is Muslim all the things I have mentioned in my earlier comment are normal. But for someone who is not, it is "LOUD" and vice versa. Even within the same religion, someone who is so much into religion will view all this preaching as "NORMAL" while someone who is not as much will still view it as "LOUD".

 
At 6:03:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Nourtan

Interesting quiz.

About your question "Does it matter what is your religion?" is very interesting and very difficult to answer. It's clear that it doesn't matter to you. you are a Moslem who have had Christian friends all your life. You also respect oher people's choice of religion which prove that you're open minded and a really enlightened person. I completely agree with you.I also have never cared what religion is my friend's. By sheer coincidence my university best friend was Christian (I am Moslem).
The problem however is that not everyone is like you and me and some people whose comments have appeared here. There are a lot of people who care a lot about other people's religion. The only solution for problems that result from that is 1)no religion should appear on our identity cards 2)religion should be only taught in Mosques and churches not in schools 3) religious programs on TV. should be reduced and eventually excluded to cable channels for only those who want to subscribe to them. In brief,we should become a secular society where religion is a personal affair between a person and his God. If this happen less people will care much about other people's religion. Note that the more emphasis on religion in Egypt, the more polarized and separated people become, Moslems and Christians.

 

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