Across families
Candomblé and Shinto
Different families with 10 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).
West African orixá worship carried to Brazil and preserved through initiation rather than through text — knowledge is transmitted inside a house, in stages, by a hierarchy. The body is where the divine becomes present, not an obstacle to it.
Kami are everywhere — in rivers, mountains, ancestors and the occasional remarkable person — and the religion is what you do rather than what you believe. There is no sin to be saved from, only impurity to be washed off.
Where they agree
D2 Centrality of ritual
Both sit at essential and prescribed — a gap of 0.00.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.03.
A3 Plurality
Both sit at many powers and spirits — a gap of 0.03.
A4 Locus
Both sit at fully present within it — 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 0.05.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound and ignorant but fundamentally sound respectively — a gap of 0.06.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Both sit at leaning an intentional act — a gap of 0.07.
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.08.
E1 Exclusivity
Both sit at leaning many valid paths — a gap of 0.10.
D3 The body
Both sit at leaning to be celebrated and between to be disciplined and to be celebrated respectively — a gap of 0.12.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Candomblé | Shinto | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | a divine reality certainly exists | 0.08 |
| A2 Personhood | leaning a personal being one can address | between impersonal principle or order and a personal being one can address | 0.13 |
| A3 Plurality | many powers and spirits | many powers and spirits | 0.03 |
| A4 Locus | fully present within it | fully present within it | 0.05 |
| B1 Source of truth | between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience | between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience | 0.13 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | metaphorical, or no text at all | leaning metaphorical, or no text at all | 0.13 |
| B3 Institutional authority | clergy and tradition decide | leaning clergy and tradition decide | 0.22 |
| C1 Survival of the self | continues in some form | between ends at death and continues in some form | 0.33 |
| C2 Shape of time | between one life, then judgment and cyclical return | leaning one life, then judgment | 0.20 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.06 |
| 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 | 0.05 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | essential and prescribed | essential and prescribed | 0.00 |
| D3 The body | leaning to be celebrated | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | 0.12 |
| E1 Exclusivity | leaning many valid paths | leaning many valid paths | 0.10 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | leaning an intentional act | leaning an intentional act | 0.07 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | leaning a people, inherited | a people, inherited | 0.15 |
| E4 Standing of nature | animate and itself sacred | animate and itself sacred | 0.03 |
Positions for Candomblé rest principally on Candomblé oral tradition and Bastide, The African Religions of Brazil; for Shinto, on Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, and Jinja Honcho practice guidance. 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.