Q.1
Hinduism and Christianity make another pairing in which there are both significant similarities, and important differences. From the point of view of the individual believer, which of the following is the most far-reaching difference?
  • Hindus (neatly, for any English-readers who haven't come across it before) envision GOD as standing for 'Generator, Organiser and Destroyer', but they believe in many gods, or God in many forms; meanwhile their faith does not have any one 'founding figure'
  • The Christian Trinity has a broad equivalent in the Hindu understanding of the Trimurti (three complementary representations of the Brahma, or godhead)
  • Hindus believe that the soul of a dead person will enter a period of due reward (good or bad), but its next move will be reincarnation within the cycle of karma
  • Hinduism is the oldest of the Dharmic (Indian subcontinental) faiths, whereas Christianity sits in the middle of the Abrahamic ones (i.e. after Judaism, but before Islam) in terms of development timescales
Q.2
With any potential interplay between Christianity and Buddhism, one is having to look quite hard ... but which one of the following religious features is NOT common to both?
  • Both faiths believe in a creator God
  • Each of these two faiths had a founding spiritual master, but in neither case did this person directly write a scripture of their own
  • Both faiths believe in a virgin birth of their founder
  • Each faith is studied and practised in monasteries and nunneries, as well as privately and collectively in the wider world
Q.3
'There will be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions' ... said who?
  • Dr Hans Küng
  • Rev Dr Martin Luther King
  • Winston Churchill
  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Q.4
Across the range of Christian traditions ~ certainly Catholicism with its monastic orders, and the Protestant churches ~ there is a robust and cherished history of 'singing from the same songsheet' as Judaism, with its ancient and comprehensive anthology of hymns and prayers that Jesus Himself knew, loved and quoted frequently (not least at key moments of His earthly life and ministry). Which 'Old Testament' book do we have in common mind here?
  • Proverbs
  • Psalms
  • Isaiah
  • Song of Solomon
Q.5
Islam honours Jesus in many ways such as the following, but we have put in ONE which is wrong ~ which one?
  • He was the Son of Mary (Isa Ibn Maryam), and Messiah (al-Masih)
  • He was the final prophet sent by God/Allah to the children of Israel, and in turn foretold the coming of Mohammed (somewhat as Christians regard John the Baptist as prefiguring Jesus)
  • In that He submitted to the will of God, He was a Muslim ('Islam' = 'obedience'), but He was never crucified
  • (Click this Answer if you reckon all the above are held to be true in Islam)
Q.6
Sikhs and Christians may appear to have little in common culturally, but Sikhs are keen to be tolerant, and to seek both good and commonality in all people they meet. Here are some observations about their understanding of Christianity: click on any ONE that you believe to be FALSE (or on Answer 4 if you reckon all of them are true for Sikhs)
  • Jesus cannot have been God, because the one God is beyond the mortal realm of birth and death
  • Sikhs believe that Jesus was 'of God' or 'from God', but that Christian scriptures at no point have Him claiming that He actually 'was God'
  • Along with the last of the great gurus, Jesus saw His role as being to point people towards God rather than ever worshipping Himself
  • (Click this Answer if you reckon all the above are held to be true in Sikhism)
Q.7
Of course, there are meanwhile many people who do not positively subscribe to any religious system, yet who do their level best to live helpfully and harmoniously alongside others. Only one of the following labels describes a person who retains an open mind as to whether there may or may not even be a God: which one?
  • Agnostic
  • Atheist
  • Humanist
  • Rationalist
Q.8
One of the most conspicuous and outspoken atheists around the turn of the millennium (!*) has been Richard Dawkins of Oxford. When he suffered a relatively mild stroke in the early weeks of 2016, a group of his Christian opponents ~ from what is sometimes simplistically described as the 'God v. Science' debate, chiefly around creationism ~ posted on the internet to say they were praying for his recovery and wellbeing. What was the response to this from some of Dawkins' own supporters? (* The millennium, of course, was an otherwise arbitrary date reckoned from the birth of Jesus, though more recent thinking suggests it could be 'out' by a few years; it would now be somewhat impractical to change the system!)
  • They thanked the Christians for their concern
  • They assumed the Christians were trying to make fun of Dawkins at an unsuitable moment ~ 'kicking a man while he was down', as it were (not a phrase they used!)
  • They pointed out that Dawkins would not be aware of anyone trying to pray for him, so it could make no difference either way
  • They criticised the Church of England for allowing (or even encouraging) someone to send out a public message in its name about its prayers for him, which might in due course annoy him and disturb his recovery
Q.9
Only weeks before this, Dawkins had (somewhat unlikely, though ever the contrarian) supported the Church of England in another public dispute, over ... what?
  • The assumed cultural right of people to disturb others by ringing bells, and/or carol-singing, for charity in public spaces
  • The potential showing of a 60-second commercial about The Lord's Prayer in public cinemas in Britain, in the weeks approaching Christmas
  • The custom of hearses (funeral cars) causing delays to traffic by being driven respectfully slowly on their way to and from services
  • The singing of 'Jerusalem' (originally a religious poem) at public secular occasions such as the Last Night of the Proms
Q.10
One of the following does NOT reflect traditional mainstream Christian understanding on interfaith marriages ~ which one?
  • Christian marriage is likened in the Bible to the close mystic relationship between Christ and His Church: if the 'other party' were non-believing (or actively of another faith which could not accommodate Christian beliefs), that would clearly be unhelpful ~ and, effectively, an unGodly situation for a believer to get themself into
  • Jesus Himself, on more than one occasion, declared that no follower of His should marry a non-follower and expect His blessing
  • Provided the existing partner of a newly-converted Christian is still happy with them, there is no reason why they should separate
  • If two people were married without any strong personal Christian belief, and one of them later acquires such a belief while the other does not come to share it, then God would understand if the non-believer 'wanted out'
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