Across families
Roman Catholicism and Sunni Islam
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: 0.12 (0 would be identical).
A personal, transcendent God known through revelation and reason together, mediated by a sacramental church with teaching authority. Humanity is wounded and rescued by grace, which reaches people through sacraments rather than around them.
Absolute and undivided oneness, a transcendent God who is nonetheless nearer than the jugular vein, and a revealed text taken as dictated rather than authored. People are born sound and forgetful rather than fallen, which places C3 far from the Christian position despite everything the two share.
Where they agree
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.00.
C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at continues in some form — 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.
D2 Centrality of ritual
Both sit at essential and prescribed — a gap of 0.02.
A2 Personhood
Both sit at a personal being one can address — a gap of 0.03.
E3 Locus of belonging
Both sit at between a people, inherited and an individual choice — a gap of 0.03.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.04.
D3 The body
Both sit at leaning to be disciplined — a gap of 0.07.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at revealed and fixed — a gap of 0.07.
Where they part company
C3 The human condition
Roman Catholicism: fallen and in need of rescue. Sunni Islam: between fallen and in need of rescue and ignorant but fundamentally sound. A gap of 0.43 on an axis running from “fallen and in need of rescue” to “ignorant but fundamentally sound”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Roman Catholicism | Sunni 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 | 0.03 |
| A3 Plurality | leaning strictly one | strictly one | 0.18 |
| A4 Locus | between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it | leaning wholly beyond the world | 0.27 |
| B1 Source of truth | revealed and fixed | revealed and fixed | 0.07 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | leaning literal and binding | literal and binding | 0.25 |
| B3 Institutional authority | clergy and tradition decide | leaning clergy and tradition decide | 0.27 |
| C1 Survival of the self | continues in some form | continues in some form | 0.00 |
| C2 Shape of time | one life, then judgment | one life, then judgment | 0.00 |
| C3 The human condition | fallen and in need of rescue | between fallen and in need of rescue and ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.43 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | leaning given as grace | between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight | 0.25 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | essential and prescribed | essential and prescribed | 0.02 |
| D3 The body | leaning to be disciplined | leaning to be disciplined | 0.07 |
| E1 Exclusivity | leaning one true path | one true path | 0.15 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | an intentional act | an intentional act | 0.00 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | between a people, inherited and an individual choice | between a people, inherited and an individual choice | 0.03 |
| 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 Roman Catholicism rest principally on Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed., 1997); for Sunni Islam, on Qur’an with the Sahih collections and classical Sunni fiqh. 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.