Across families
Anabaptism (Mennonite, Amish, Hutterite) and Twelver Shia Islam
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: 0.14 (0 would be identical).
Faith as a freely chosen adult commitment enacted in a separated community — baptism on confession, not on birth. Discipleship and non-resistance are the substance; the community, not the clergy, discerns.
Shares Sunni tawhid and adds a line of divinely appointed Imams, a living scholarly authority one formally follows, and a devotional life built around lament and intercession. Authority sits markedly more centrally than in Sunni practice.
Where they agree
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.00.
B2 Reading of sacred text
Both sit at leaning literal and binding — a gap of 0.00.
C2 Shape of time
Both sit at one life, then judgment — a gap of 0.00.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Both sit at an intentional act — a gap of 0.00.
A2 Personhood
Both sit at a personal being one can address — a gap of 0.02.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at leaning revealed and fixed — a gap of 0.02.
C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at continues in some form — a gap of 0.02.
A3 Plurality
Both sit at strictly one — a gap of 0.07.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.07.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight — a gap of 0.10.
D3 The body
Both sit at leaning to be disciplined — a gap of 0.10.
Where they part company
E3 Locus of belonging
Anabaptism (Mennonite, Amish, Hutterite): leaning an individual choice. Twelver Shia Islam: leaning a people, inherited. A gap of 0.52 on an axis running from “a people, inherited” to “an individual choice”.
D2 Centrality of ritual
Anabaptism (Mennonite, Amish, Hutterite): between essential and prescribed and optional or absent. Twelver Shia Islam: essential and prescribed. A gap of 0.45 on an axis running from “essential and prescribed” to “optional or absent”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Anabaptism (Mennonite, Amish, Hutterite) | Twelver Shia Islam | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | a divine reality certainly exists | 0.00 |
| A2 Personhood | a personal being one can address | a personal being one can address | 0.02 |
| A3 Plurality | strictly one | strictly one | 0.07 |
| A4 Locus | between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it | leaning wholly beyond the world | 0.18 |
| B1 Source of truth | leaning revealed and fixed | leaning revealed and fixed | 0.02 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | leaning literal and binding | leaning literal and binding | 0.00 |
| B3 Institutional authority | between clergy and tradition decide and individual conscience decides | clergy and tradition decide | 0.33 |
| C1 Survival of the self | continues in some form | continues in some form | 0.02 |
| C2 Shape of time | one life, then judgment | one life, then judgment | 0.00 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning fallen and in need of rescue | between fallen and in need of rescue and ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.37 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight | between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight | 0.10 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | between essential and prescribed and optional or absent | essential and prescribed | 0.45 |
| D3 The body | leaning to be disciplined | leaning to be disciplined | 0.10 |
| E1 Exclusivity | leaning one true path | one true path | 0.20 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | an intentional act | an intentional act | 0.00 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | leaning an individual choice | leaning a people, inherited | 0.52 |
| E4 Standing of nature | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | 0.07 |
Positions for Anabaptism (Mennonite, Amish, Hutterite) rest principally on Schleitheim Confession (1527) and Dordrecht Confession (1632); for Twelver Shia Islam, on Nahj al-Balagha, al-Kafi, and Twelver usul al-din. 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.