I know NSG can be pretty edgy but don't worry. Zoroastrianism is one of the multichoice options.
Of course, NSG also has to have discussions. I feel this would be easier if I read their report about the survey of Americans they did (oh, yeah, cool feature... compare yourself to the American public... spoiler alert: they're terrible at religion: although they did have to answer more questions than in the quiz) but I haven't. However, some general themes for discussion seem to be:
- is it useful to know about the mythologies and practices of (major) religions and their denominations (e.g. Christianity, Islam)?
- is it sensible to separate the three Abrahamic faiths into three religions?
- would you, personally, rather be/have been raised in a religious or anti-religious household?
To that first question... I think it is useful to know that people who wear turbans probably aren't Muslims... incidentally Sikhs also tend to wear a bracelet known as a kara if you... at least, I've never met any. On the other hand, it's also useful know that Darth Vader is Luke's dad. Cultural literacy is obviously useful but, at the same time, it's a very vocational form of knowledge... more about not being confused than becoming enlightened.
To the second question... it seems silly to me. I mean, if you were reading a book and suddenly realised it featured the same characters, used the same canon and was written later than another book you'd assume it was either a sequel or a fanfic... you wouldn't start calling it a completely new thing, would you? If the fandoms of said books then also did similar things to each other you'd be even more convinced it was really all just the same Thing, right? Well, yeah, that's pretty much exactly what we're talking about. Incidentally, I much prefer Good Omens to Job.
To the third question... for context, my mother is very anti-religion and particularly Catholics. Three guesses for how she grew up. Aside from a slight tendency to treat religions as no different to Star Wars or Harry Potter, I feel like I have a much healthier relationship towards religion than either my mother or my uncritical cousin. By analogy, anti-religion is the way to go.
A note on the last question... as a would you rather game you cannot elect to grow up in a household that is merely non-religious. This would be like saying a valid response to "Would you rather murder your mother or your father?" is "I murder both". You're quite simply not following the rules.
So, what say ye, NSG? Are you better at religion than America?
Poll Joke Explanations for those Seeking the Path of Enlightenment
