Haymaking in history

[via Roxanne]

Haymaker

You are one of life’s enjoyers, determined to get the most you can out of your brief spell on Earth. Probably what first attracted you to atheism was the prospect of liberation from the Ten Commandments, few of which are compatible with a life of pleasure. You play hard and work quite hard, have a strong sense of loyalty and a relaxed but consistent approach to your philosophy.

You can’t see the point of abstract principles and probably wouldn’t lay down your life for a concept though you might for a friend. Something of a champagne humanist, you admire George Bernard Shaw for his cheerful agnosticism and pursuit of sensual rewards and your Hollywood hero is Marlon Brando, who was beautiful, irascible and aimed for goodness in his own tortured way.

Sometimes you might be tempted to allow your own pleasures to take precedence over your ethics. But everyone is striving for that elusive balance between the good and the happy life. You’d probably open another bottle and say there’s no contest.

What kind of humanist are you? Click here to find out.

I'd've gauged myself as more easygoing than even this description. For instance, the question about my kid in a nativity play? They didn't include my favored answer - I'd be charmed to see Bunny cast in a nativity play, but I'd devote at least one dinner conversation to the nativity legend throughout history. Also, I'd swap with another parent for sewing duties, because oddly, I don't make clothes - only quilts.

Interesting quiz and not the normal superficial Quizilla variety. But I'm not an atheist. Atheism is as restrictive a box as fundamentalism. Are the terms 'humanist' and 'atheist' interchangable?

Comments

[pops]

My favorite answer came after what you wanted done with your body after you die. The first choice was, "Like Vanessa Feltz, you will have your ashes scattered in the local shopping mall to ensure that your children will visit your grave."

You're right - it was a little too too Madeline Murray O'Hare for taste. Perhaps they should have made room for the Nitzscheans who see the institution of religion as corrupt and sepearte from a belief in God.

And it a huge step up from Quizilla were all you get is "Which Dairy Queen frozen treat are you? You are a Dilly Bar!"

[Anthony]

As the child of an EXTREMELY lapsed Catholic and the only latin-speaking Jewish mother in the Bay Area (ask Pam for verification) I can cheerfully say that I seem to be the last near-leftist in America who doesn't seem to have a problem with holiday pageants and school plays and such. If your home religious environment (or lack thereof) is so shaky that playing a Wiseman or the Ox and/or Lamb in the school X-Mas show destroys your child's faith in whatever than you haven't done a very good job to begin with. I have never celebrated Channukha ever in my life and yet I also am not a member of any deeply right-wing Christian denomination bent on promoting sexism, racism, homophobia, G-Rated movies, Amy Grant or the curent administration. Yet, given the level of hysteria coming from segments of our supposedly "progrssive" political population, you'd think that the mere mentioning of a holiday celebrated by an overwhelming majority of Americans (as opposed to the--at last count--131 people celebrating Kwaanza) is a horribly Eurocentric plot to install Pat Robertson as dictator.
Frankly, if you want your kid to be an atheist, by all means let them play Joseph or the Virgin MAry in the school play. Once they've had that thrill, drag reviews and live sex shows cannot be too far behind!
The truth is: Christmas rocks as a holiday! My advice to very multi-cultural minded folks who feel this is too exclusionary is this: GET BETTER HOLIDAYS! Oh yes, let's stage a Buddhist pageant celebrating his renouncing of samsara and his awakening to the Eight-Fold Path. Sounds like a Robert Wilson piece for gradeschoolers... Ramadan the school play? Have you any idea how cranky children get when they don't get their milk and cookies on an hourly basis, much less half a day? Oh wait, there's an Amazonian Rain Forest Indigenous Peoples Killing Their Enemies In Constant Tribal Warfare Belief that would work beautifully for a bucnh of third-graders armed with arrows and shivs. Christmas on the other hand: cute kid, gifts, some clever animals, a lot of really cheery music, no fasting and candy canes. Can't go wrong with Christmas!!
(Did I even manage to adress the point of the blog this time? Let me know!)

[pam]

Frankly, darling, I zoned out somewhere around "Amy Grant", but I think you did skate fairly close to the subject this time. Congratulations.

[Jo]

Seder dinner is pretty good if you drink enough, though there is no earthly reason I can see to stick with kosher wine. "Why on this night do we drink BAD wine?"