Across families
Agnosticism and Unitarian Universalism
Different families with 11 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.10 (0 would be identical).
A claim about knowledge rather than about God: the question is not settled and the honest response is suspension. Sits mid-scale on the A-group with small dispersions, because being genuinely undecided is a definite position, not a vague one.
A covenant rather than a creed: members hold theist, humanist, pagan and Buddhist positions inside one congregation, bound by shared principles rather than shared beliefs. Has the widest dispersions in the entire matrix, and that is the tradition working as designed.
Where they agree
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at reason and direct experience — a gap of 0.00.
C2 Shape of time
Both sit at leaning one life, then judgment — a gap of 0.00.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at leaning achieved by effort or insight — a gap of 0.00.
E3 Locus of belonging
Both sit at an individual choice — a gap of 0.02.
B3 Institutional authority
Both sit at individual conscience decides — a gap of 0.03.
A3 Plurality
Both sit at leaning strictly one — a gap of 0.05.
C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at between ends at death and continues in some form and leaning ends at death respectively — a gap of 0.05.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Both sit at leaning beginningless or natural — a gap of 0.06.
B2 Reading of sacred text
Both sit at metaphorical, or no text at all — a gap of 0.07.
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at between nothing beyond the natural and a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.07.
D3 The body
Both sit at leaning to be celebrated — a gap of 0.10.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Agnosticism | Unitarian Universalism | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | between nothing beyond the natural and a divine reality certainly exists | between nothing beyond the natural and a divine reality certainly exists | 0.07 |
| A2 Personhood | between impersonal principle or order and a personal being one can address | leaning impersonal principle or order | 0.15 |
| A3 Plurality | leaning strictly one | leaning strictly one | 0.05 |
| A4 Locus | between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it | leaning fully present within it | 0.33 |
| B1 Source of truth | reason and direct experience | reason and direct experience | 0.00 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | metaphorical, or no text at all | metaphorical, or no text at all | 0.07 |
| B3 Institutional authority | individual conscience decides | individual conscience decides | 0.03 |
| C1 Survival of the self | between ends at death and continues in some form | leaning ends at death | 0.05 |
| C2 Shape of time | leaning one life, then judgment | leaning one life, then judgment | 0.00 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.15 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | leaning achieved by effort or insight | leaning achieved by effort or insight | 0.00 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | optional or absent | between essential and prescribed and optional or absent | 0.23 |
| D3 The body | leaning to be celebrated | leaning to be celebrated | 0.10 |
| E1 Exclusivity | leaning many valid paths | many valid paths | 0.16 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | leaning beginningless or natural | leaning beginningless or natural | 0.06 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | an individual choice | an individual choice | 0.02 |
| E4 Standing of nature | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | leaning animate and itself sacred | 0.26 |
Positions for Agnosticism rest principally on Huxley’s 1889 essay on agnosticism and contemporary epistemic treatments; for Unitarian Universalism, on UUA Seven Principles and Six Sources. Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.
The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.