beliefnet has a quiz that tells you what religion you are (or should be) or at least what your beliefs come closest to. it’s obviously not wholly accurate as they try to squeeze 27 world religions into about 20 questions or so. but fun and interesting anyway, and i’m curious to hear your results as well.

this is what the site says:
The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa. Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.

my results:
1. Orthodox Quaker (100%) <– cool. though i’m sure i’m not all that orthodox.
2. Seventh Day Adventist (85%) <– but i eat a lot of chocolate.
3. Eastern Orthodox (84%) <– didn’t expect that to rank so high.
4. Roman Catholic (84%) <– not that surprising.
5. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (83%) <– i’m not all that conservative.
6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (70%) <– i might be just about that liberal.
7. Liberal Quakers (58%) <– curious.
8. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (54%) <– no.
9. Orthodox Judaism (52%) <– expected this to be higher. i guess my belief in the trinity knocked this one down a bit.
10. Hinduism (50%) <– how’d this make it to the top 10?
11. Islam (49%)
12. Bahá’í Faith (49%)
13. Jehovah’s Witness (46%)
14. Unitarian Universalism (45%)
15. Sikhism (44%)
16. Jainism (38%)
17. Reform Judaism (37%) <– would’ve expected this to be higher, too.
18. Neo-Pagan (31%) <– pagan? not really. heretic? probably.
19. Mahayana Buddhism (30%)
20. Theravada Buddhism (29%)
21. Secular Humanism (26%) <– that’s what i get for not being a strict creationist.
22. New Age (26%)
23. Taoism (22%)
24. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (21%)
25. Nontheist (17%) <– some days this is probably true.
26. Scientology (16%) <– ack. don’t want it on here at all.
27. New Thought (15%) <– what’s this?

okay, so it’s been like three weeks since i last posted. . . if you read this blog, then i’m sorry for your useless visits over that time. i haven’t read much worth writing about recently, and i haven’t really had enough going on to bother writing about either. so i figured i’d just send you all over to play this game instead, it’s for all of us who’ve never learned to like brussel sprouts no matter how hard our moms tried to get us to eat them.

in a post a little while back, i mentioned that i wondered whether i really wanted to have a list of links to sites that i read simply because they make me angry. while i feel it is only fair game to allow an opponent an open hearing in a debate, since those sites were all relating to subjects that i have yet to post about on this blog, it seemed rather random to have them there. plus, in the last few weeks, i have spent more time finding more sites of the same ilk, more that simply rile me up and make me angry. so either the list was going to expand exponentially, or i’d have to remove it. and i figure that until i’m ready to engage in debates on each of those subjects, it’s not worth having them there. (ok, it’s not that i’m not ready to engage in debates i’m just trying not to do so as often.) so if, in the future, for whatever reason i decide to argue against some of what is said on those sorts of websites, i will link to them individually in that particular post rather than simply keeping a list of them on the sidebar.

so, not that you would have noticed if i hadn’t mentioned it, but that segment of the sidebar is now officially deleted.

at church last week we watched a film called Invisible Children. it’s a heartbreaking tale of the situation in Uganda. knowing that i knew nothing about this before, i’ll assume you don’t either (whoever you are that’s reading this).

there’s a rebel resistance group there called the lord’s resistance army (lra) that has been fighting for years. the thing about the lra is that their recruits are forced into service. they do this by invading villages at night, and kidnapping children between the ages of five and twelve – old enough to carry things, yet young enough to be forced into service and brainwashed easily. they immediately subject these children to violence, to scare them into obedience. if a kid resists, they are killed. if they cry, showing fear or homesickness, they are killed. they are beaten, threatened, and the girls are raped and forced to marry older men.

to avoid these kidnappings, children from the villages commute into the larger towns on their own each night. they sleep in overcrowded verandas or hospitals with little to no adult supervision. traveling on their own, and facing such violence, they are forced into early adulthood. the older children experiment sexually, using things like used plastic bags as makeshift condoms. those who are lucky enough to go to school, have to study on their own at night by candlelight.

these kids have seen atrocities we can only imagine. they face risks each day just to survive and experience some sort of freedom.

the film was made by three college grads who just wanted to go out and experience something different, so they went to africa to film a documentary. this turned out to be a life changing experience for them. after seeing these kids and interviewing them, they haven’t been able to leave them. they have formed an organization to help these kids. they offer counseling to those who’ve been forced to fight, education, and other resources. this is their mission statement:

Invisible Children, Inc. changes culture, policy, and lives through collisions of poverty and power.

The Mission is the ultimate goal of Invisible Children—the resources, skills, and funds that hit the ground in Uganda, providing healthcare, safety, employment, and education.

Invisible Children, Inc. believes that changing the lives of people in underprivileged areas is just as important as changing lives in the western world. The only way change can come in Uganda, and other places in need, is to educate and empower the rest of the world to do something. One of the darkest things about Africa is the rest of the world’s ignorance towards it. If you believe in what we’re doing, join us. We are unlike many other nonprofits: We take your donation, make it larger by plugging it into our programs in the United States, and send the greater amount to Uganda. Please visit the “Programs” page of our website for more information on the Invisible Children Bracelet Campaign and the Education Program.

i know there are millions of atrocities taking place around the world each day. i know none of us can solve all of them.

but i urge you to take a few minutes to look at their website, and get an idea of what’s going on. i don’t know, maybe you’ll want to buy the dvd and watch it (and after seeing it, show it to others to expose them to what’s going on as well). maybe you can’t do that, but can give a donation, or buy a bracelet or find some other way to help these invisible children.

i watched the movie nearly a week ago, and those children’s faces keep staring back at me. i don’t know yet what Jak and i can do. but i figure that a first step would be letting other people know, so that maybe these kids wouldn’t be quite so invisible anymore.

i just read this article on the ooze regarding the recent shooting in the amish school. i thought the author had some good points to make about forgiveness, especially about it being something that we have much to learn from the amish about.

though i still wonder what i can do daily to reduce and redeem violence. i mean, it’s one thing to forgive, it’s another to help protect our children from such violence.

this rash of school violence brings me back to p.o.d.’s song, youth of the nation:

Last day of the rest of my life
I wish I would’ve known cause i’d have kissed my momma goodbye.
I didn’t tell her that I loved her or how much I cared
or thank my pops for all the talks and all the wisdom he shared.
Unaware I just did what I always do.
Everyday the same routine before I skate off to school
but who knew that this day wasn’t like the rest,
instead of takin’ the test I took two to the chest.
Call me blind but I didn’t see it comin’
and everybody was runnin’ but I couldn’t hear nothin’,
except gun blast, it happened so fast
I didn’t really know this kid though I sat by him in class.
Maybe this kid was reachin’ out for love
or maybe for a moment he forgot who he was
or maybe this kid just wanted to be hugged,
whatever it was I know its because

We are We are the youth of the nation

Little Suzy she was only twelve
she was given the world with every chance to excel
Hang with the boys and hear the stories they tell
she might act kinda proud but no respect for herself
She finds love in all the wrong places
the same situations but different faces.
Changed up her pace since her daddy left her
too bad he never told her she deserved much better.

Johnny boy always played the fool,
he broke all the rules so you would think he was cool.
He was never really one of the guys no matter how hard he tried,
with the thought of suicide
It’s kinda hard when you ain’t got no friends,
he put his life to an end they might remember him then.
You cross a line and there is no turnin’ back
he told the world how he felt with the sound of a gat.

Who’s to blame for the life that tragedies claim?
No matter what you say it won’t take away the pain
that I feel inside I’m tired of all the lies
don’t nobody know why it’s the blind leadin’ the blind.
Guess that’s the way that the story goes,
will it ever make sense somebody’s gotta know,
there’s gotta be more to life than this,
there’s got to be more to everything I thought exists

i was checking over my links tonight to make sure they were all working, and started wondering if i should even include the set of sites that make me angry. i’d really hate to direct more traffic towards those sites. and there are so many more sites i know of that are so much worse, that i can’t even bring myself to link to those.

if i really wanted to put a site up that makes me angry, then i’d link to something like fred phelps’ site – you know – the crazy preacher who has his church members go around protesting at military funerals to let everyone know that homosexuals are the downfall of our country and that they, and we, are all going to hell. but there’s no way i want another link on the web going to that website. he doesn’t need anymore traffic, i don’t want him thinking people believe his hellish lies.

so if i don’t consider that okay to do, then why do i even include the sites i have listed there? i’d like to think that i believe that they are less harmless than phelps. but is that really true? i mean, these are sites that are all about dissension and focusing on the minor issues instead of on Jesus.

i guess for now i’ll leave them, as i continue to wonder about the wisdom of this decision. maybe i’ll take some time to actually talk about each one and why i have them listed there.

okay, i have to make this comment now: if you’re going to read my blog, you first have to click on the llama link on the right. it’s my blog, i get to make up my own rules, and that’s my rule. so click already! watch the llamas. and make sure not to watch it just once or twice, it’s like a fine wine, it gets better with age. i don’t really care much if you look at anything else, or if you even read other things on my blog, just make sure to check out the llamas.