While I'm on the subject of internet quizes, this political quiz is probably the most interesting thing I've seen on the web in a while. The authors felt that there were more variables in the equation of one's political leanings than just conservative/liberal stance. So they added another axis of measurement: social authoritarian vs. social libertarian. The quiz assigns the taker a position on cartesian coordinates where the x-axis measures economical liberal/conservative, and the y-axis shows social authoritarian/libertarian beliefs. They also show you where a lot of current and historical politicians register on their grid.
Last time I took it--a few weeks ago-- I tested at 1.12 to the economic right, and -2.56 to the libertarian side. There were very few politicians or historical figures in this entire quadrant (the economically conservative, socially libertarian).
This guy named Brannon Howse (who is somehow affiliated with Christian worldview gurus like David Barton, Josh McDowell, and James Nobel) has a worldview test here. It's fairly long test--as far as online tests go--but the payoff is handsome:
"For those of you scoring the highest score possible, Biblical Theism, you will be REWARDED with a beautiful, professional looking certificate. This certificate will certify that you took the test and scored as a Strong Biblical Worldview Thinker. You can print out your certificate at the end of the test, but it will also be emailed to you so you may save it or print it out on beautiful parchiment paper. This certificate would look great on your wall and would also be very rewarding for students who take this test."
I acheived a score of "Strongly Biblical Theism"--but just barely (look at my certificate here, if you don't believe me). I scored 77%. Had I dropped below 75%, I only would have made "Moderately Biblical Theism." But that still would have put me well above the 50% cut-off line and rank "Secular Humanism."
At times during the test I knew what answer I was supposed to give, but I just didn't agree--and not because of any deficiency in the Biblical-ness of my worldview. I think I would have scored a lot higher before I went to Covenant. Which is kind of ironic, since it was largely a worldview camp (Summit) that got me into more serious philosophy and motivated me to go to Covenant and major in philosophy.
I wonder if the difference in my thinking then and now can be traced to a single element of change. Maybe--but I don't know what it is...
Since this is the beginning, I'll go ahead and introduce myself. My name is Paul, and I live and work in Chattanooga, TN. I work in risk management for a insurance agency by day, and by night I read philosophy. And at all times I am husband to my wife and best friend, Beth.
I'm thinking about grad school this Fall, so I suspect that a lot of what I do on this blog will tie into that pursuit. But since I also figure that my family will be reading this, some of what I post will be more personal (more personal than the philosophy stuff, that is. I doubt it will ever be more personal than, say, incontinence problems. Not that I struggle with that.).
Hopefully that'll be the first and last blatantly self-revelatory post.