# Battleground God - consistency test **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 16, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battleground-god-consistency-test/149048 "2003-01-16T20:16:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battleground-god-consistency-test/149048/21 "2003-01-17T12:37:32Z")
0 hits, 0 bullets, as a whatever-the-heck-I-am-but-it’s-not-as-a-Christian. 🙂 I’m unlabelled, but consistent in my belief. Astonishing. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battleground-god-consistency-test/149048/22 "2003-01-18T05:21:40Z")
> [@](#): > > You have been awarded the TPM medal of honour! This is our highest award for outstanding service on the intellectual battleground. Yee-ha! ---
**Author:** ![NaSultainne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NaSultainne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NaSultainne)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battleground-god-consistency-test/149048/23 "2003-01-18T08:14:38Z")
Another believer here, also 0 hits and 2 bullets. Internally consistent, it says and well thought out. Gee thanks. I feel ever so much better now. I’ll ditto on the scales being tipped against believers. The phrasing of some of the questions seemed intended to trip people up. Take a look at their logic: There is no logical inconsistency in your answers. But, by denying that the _absence of evidence_, even where it has been sought, is enough to justify belief in the non-existence of things, you are _required to countenance possibilities_ that most people would find bizarre. For example, do you really want to claim that it is not _rationally justified_ to believe that intelligent aliens do not live on Mars? [italics mine] First, by defining evidence and quantifying it, you’ve determined the basis of the argument. If I choose not to accord the same weight, or lack of it, to the so-called evidence, it simply does not follow that I then must accept, and give equal credence to, any and all subsequent _possibilities that most people would find bizarre._ What hogwash. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battleground-god-consistency-test/149048/24 "2003-01-18T08:32:53Z")
You took 1 direct hit and you have bitten 1 bullet. No worries. My beliefs, such as they are, are firm. I’m not that worried about it. I think what threw me off is my belief that everyone has the right to their beliefs, even if they go against mine. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battleground-god-consistency-test/149048/25 "2003-01-18T08:39:51Z")
Wow, I expected to be thoroughly inconsistent. But I answered as a believer and got 0 and 0. Clearly the test is biased against me personally. 😃 I answered all question false, except 1, 6, 9, and 10. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battleground-god-consistency-test/149048/26 "2003-01-18T08:47:36Z")
Whoa. I just took it again, and answered the same for everything, except I changed the answer for question 1 from True to False. Still 0/0. I don’t know what to make of that; I guess that not believing in much of anything counts as being consistent. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battleground-god-consistency-test/149048/27 "2003-01-18T09:20:48Z")
0 hits 3 bullets! **NaSultainne** , I also had trouble with this accessment: “…you are required to countenance possibilities that most people would find bizarre.” I think that means that I am consistently crazy. At least I was able to recognize the question that was a reference to Kierkegaard’s theory of the teleological suspension of the ethical. (Sigh…) Actually, I have waited for THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS to be able to use the above underlined phrase in a sentence!!! I am mad with joy!!! \ ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battleground-god-consistency-test/149048/28 "2003-01-18T15:21:45Z")
There are some inherent flaws in the test, particularly if one doesn’t believe in God. Many of the questions are of the “could God do x, y, and z” variety. But if you don’t believe that there is a God, the question makes no sense. If pigs had wings, could they fly? Since pigs don’t have wings, the answer is (null). ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battleground-god-consistency-test/149048/29 "2003-01-18T15:30:33Z")
A big flaw in the test is to equate lack of tangible evidence for the existence of the Loch Ness monster with lack of tangible evidence of the existence of God. I don’t need the Loch Ness monster in the same way I need God. Belief in God is not the same as beleif in the Loch Ness Monster. Nonetheless, I thought it was interesting. I REALLY like the general website. I am an active Episcopalian with a degree in Philosophy. Fun for me! ---
**Author:** ![lynn73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@lynn73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynn73)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battleground-god-consistency-test/149048/30 "2003-01-18T16:15:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Padeye \* > \*\*Interesting test. I fared less consistently than I hoped (though only by one hit) but I disagree with some of the conclusions because of wording and unasked quesionts. Worth a look for anyone. \*\* I took 2 direct hits and bit 1 bullet. I agree with you about the wording and unasked questions. I don’t consider God to be a “she”, either. Some of the questions assume things I don’t agree with and not all can be answered with a true or false. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battleground-god-consistency-test/149048.md?page=1)