Across families
Bahá’í Faith and Conservative (Masorti) Judaism
Different families with 12 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.11 (0 would be identical).
One unknowable God revealed progressively through a succession of messengers, of whom Bahá’u’lláh is the most recent — so the world’s religions are stages of one revelation rather than rivals. Highly inclusive about other paths and highly centralised about its own administration.
Halakhah is binding and also historically developed, so the law changes deliberately and slowly through a scholarly process. Sits between Orthodox and Reform on almost every axis, and does so on purpose.
Where they agree
A2 Personhood
Both sit at leaning a personal being one can address — a gap of 0.00.
A3 Plurality
Both sit at strictly one — a gap of 0.00.
C2 Shape of time
Both sit at one life, then judgment — a gap of 0.00.
E1 Exclusivity
Both sit at leaning many valid paths — a gap of 0.00.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Both sit at an intentional act — a gap of 0.03.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound — a gap of 0.04.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.04.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at leaning revealed and fixed — a gap of 0.05.
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.05.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight — a gap of 0.07.
D3 The body
Both sit at between to be disciplined and to be celebrated — a gap of 0.10.
A4 Locus
Both sit at between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it — a gap of 0.10.
Where they part company
E3 Locus of belonging
Bahá’í Faith: leaning an individual choice. Conservative (Masorti) Judaism: a people, inherited. A gap of 0.53 on an axis running from “a people, inherited” to “an individual choice”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Bahá’í Faith | Conservative (Masorti) Judaism | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | a divine reality certainly exists | 0.05 |
| A2 Personhood | leaning a personal being one can address | leaning a personal being one can address | 0.00 |
| A3 Plurality | strictly one | strictly one | 0.00 |
| A4 Locus | between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it | between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it | 0.10 |
| B1 Source of truth | leaning revealed and fixed | leaning revealed and fixed | 0.05 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | between literal and binding and metaphorical, or no text at all | between literal and binding and metaphorical, or no text at all | 0.15 |
| B3 Institutional authority | clergy and tradition decide | leaning clergy and tradition decide | 0.16 |
| C1 Survival of the self | continues in some form | between ends at death and continues in some form | 0.36 |
| C2 Shape of time | one life, then judgment | one life, then judgment | 0.00 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.04 |
| 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 | 0.07 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | leaning essential and prescribed | essential and prescribed | 0.16 |
| D3 The body | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | 0.10 |
| E1 Exclusivity | leaning many valid paths | leaning many valid paths | 0.00 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | an intentional act | an intentional act | 0.03 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | leaning an individual choice | a people, inherited | 0.53 |
| E4 Standing of nature | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | 0.04 |
Positions for Bahá’í Faith rest principally on Bahaʼuʼllah, Kitab-i-Aqdas and Kitab-i-Iqan; for Conservative (Masorti) Judaism, on Emet Ve-Emunah (1988) and Committee on Jewish Law and Standards responsa. 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.