Across families
Pantheism and Secular Humanism
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: 0.21 (0 would be identical).
The universe is the divine — not made by it, not containing it, identical to it. Scores the matrix maximum on immanence and near it on the sacredness of nature, while denying a personal God entirely.
One life, no supervision, and an ethics built from reason and human solidarity rather than received from anywhere. Organised, articulate and explicit that meaning is made rather than found.
Where they agree
E1 Exclusivity
Both sit at many valid paths — a gap of 0.00.
B2 Reading of sacred text
Both sit at metaphorical, or no text at all — a gap of 0.03.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at ignorant but fundamentally sound — a gap of 0.03.
E3 Locus of belonging
Both sit at an individual choice — a gap of 0.04.
B3 Institutional authority
Both sit at individual conscience decides — a gap of 0.05.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at reason and direct experience — a gap of 0.06.
A2 Personhood
Both sit at impersonal principle or order — a gap of 0.06.
D3 The body
Both sit at leaning to be celebrated — a gap of 0.06.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at achieved by effort or insight — a gap of 0.07.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Both sit at beginningless or natural — a gap of 0.08.
A3 Plurality
Both sit at strictly one — a gap of 0.10.
Where they part company
A4 Locus
Pantheism: fully present within it. Secular Humanism: wholly beyond the world. A gap of 0.90 on an axis running from “wholly beyond the world” to “fully present within it”.
A1 Divine reality
Pantheism: a divine reality certainly exists. Secular Humanism: nothing beyond the natural. A gap of 0.86 on an axis running from “nothing beyond the natural” to “a divine reality certainly exists”.
C2 Shape of time
Pantheism: between one life, then judgment and cyclical return. Secular Humanism: one life, then judgment. A gap of 0.50 on an axis running from “one life, then judgment” to “cyclical return”.
E4 Standing of nature
Pantheism: animate and itself sacred. Secular Humanism: between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred. A gap of 0.43 on an axis running from “creation, given for use” to “animate and itself sacred”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Pantheism | Secular Humanism | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | nothing beyond the natural | 0.86 |
| A2 Personhood | impersonal principle or order | impersonal principle or order | 0.06 |
| A3 Plurality | strictly one | strictly one | 0.10 |
| A4 Locus | fully present within it | wholly beyond the world | 0.90 |
| B1 Source of truth | reason and direct experience | reason and direct experience | 0.06 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | metaphorical, or no text at all | metaphorical, or no text at all | 0.03 |
| B3 Institutional authority | individual conscience decides | individual conscience decides | 0.05 |
| C1 Survival of the self | leaning ends at death | ends at death | 0.23 |
| C2 Shape of time | between one life, then judgment and cyclical return | one life, then judgment | 0.50 |
| C3 The human condition | ignorant but fundamentally sound | ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.03 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | achieved by effort or insight | achieved by effort or insight | 0.07 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | leaning optional or absent | optional or absent | 0.14 |
| D3 The body | leaning to be celebrated | leaning to be celebrated | 0.06 |
| E1 Exclusivity | many valid paths | many valid paths | 0.00 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | beginningless or natural | beginningless or natural | 0.08 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | an individual choice | an individual choice | 0.04 |
| E4 Standing of nature | animate and itself sacred | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | 0.43 |
Positions for Pantheism rest principally on Spinoza’s Ethics and the World Pantheist Movement statement; for Secular Humanism, on Humanist Manifesto III (2003) and the Amsterdam Declaration (2002). 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.