Across families
Chinese Folk Religion and Yoruba Ifá
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: 0.12 (0 would be identical).
Ancestors, local gods, Buddhist figures and Daoist ritual specialists used together without embarrassment, organised around efficacy rather than around creed. Belonging is to a family and a place, not to a doctrine.
A vast memorised divination corpus, a remote supreme being, hundreds of orisha, and a personal destiny chosen before birth that can be renegotiated. The source tradition for most of the Afro-diasporic religions in this matrix.
Where they agree
A4 Locus
Both sit at fully present within it — a gap of 0.00.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience — a gap of 0.00.
D2 Centrality of ritual
Both sit at essential and prescribed — a gap of 0.00.
A3 Plurality
Both sit at many powers and spirits — a gap of 0.03.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at leaning achieved by effort or insight — a gap of 0.03.
E3 Locus of belonging
Both sit at leaning a people, inherited — a gap of 0.04.
C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at continues in some form — a gap of 0.04.
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.05.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound — a gap of 0.06.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at leaning animate and itself sacred and animate and itself sacred respectively — a gap of 0.06.
D3 The body
Both sit at between to be disciplined and to be celebrated — a gap of 0.07.
Where they part company
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Chinese Folk Religion: between an intentional act and beginningless or natural. Yoruba Ifá: leaning an intentional act. A gap of 0.42 on an axis running from “an intentional act” to “beginningless or natural”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Chinese Folk Religion | Yoruba Ifá | 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 | between impersonal principle or order and a personal being one can address | 0.15 |
| A3 Plurality | many powers and spirits | many powers and spirits | 0.03 |
| A4 Locus | fully present within it | fully present within it | 0.00 |
| B1 Source of truth | between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience | between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience | 0.00 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | leaning metaphorical, or no text at all | leaning literal and binding | 0.37 |
| B3 Institutional authority | between clergy and tradition decide and individual conscience decides | leaning clergy and tradition decide | 0.30 |
| C1 Survival of the self | continues in some form | continues in some form | 0.04 |
| C2 Shape of time | between one life, then judgment and cyclical return | leaning cyclical return | 0.20 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.06 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | leaning achieved by effort or insight | leaning achieved by effort or insight | 0.03 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | essential and prescribed | essential and prescribed | 0.00 |
| D3 The body | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | 0.07 |
| E1 Exclusivity | many valid paths | leaning many valid paths | 0.20 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | between an intentional act and beginningless or natural | leaning an intentional act | 0.42 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | leaning a people, inherited | leaning a people, inherited | 0.04 |
| E4 Standing of nature | leaning animate and itself sacred | animate and itself sacred | 0.06 |
Positions for Chinese Folk Religion rest principally on Ethnographic scholarship on Chinese popular religion (Feuchtwang, Yang); for Yoruba Ifá, on Odu Ifa corpus and Abimbola’s scholarship. 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.