Which way is your moral compass pointing?

Take this test to find out.

A common moral framework is essential for a functioning society; without it we would descend into anarchy. If you don’t believe me, try reading The Lord of the Flies, and you’ll see where I’m coming from.

Back in the day, the moral framework was built around the dominant religion, and of course, in some countries it still is. But theological and political changes have meant that many societies, particularly western democracies, have evolved to a more humanist framework, structured around social democratic and political norms. And where religion once provided the glue that held the moral framework together (i.e. with the promise of heaven and the threat of hell), now we have police, courts and prisons in case we step out of line.

But do you believe that only the Christian bible can be the final arbiter of what is good or bad? How we should behave to eachother? Or perhaps you hold to a higher level of humanist morality based on common humanity and empathy?

To help you decide, I thought I would flex my creative muscles and put together a short questionnaire. Answer each question A or B, and then see at the end which way your moral compass is pointing.

THE QUESTIONS

1. You are a famous sculptor. You have spent many days creating a large but very delicate piece. It needs to be taken to the gallery, which is across town from your studio, so you ask your assistants to put it in the lorry and accompany it on the journey. One of the assistants tries to steady it when the lorry hits a bump in the road. A piece of the sculpture snaps.
Do you:
A. Accept the assistant’s apology; he was only trying to protect the piece from greater damage, and anyway, it’s your fault for not insisting it was better boxed up?
B. Take the assistant outside and shoot him?

2. A fight in a pub spills out into the car park; two men are throwing insults and punches. It starts to get very violent, and one man pulls a knife. The wife of the other man joins in, and manages to land a particularly accurate punch to the knife-wielding man’s crotch.
Do you:
A. Offer to take the man to A&E, and accept that the wife was only trying to prevent greater harm to her husband?
B. Ask to borrow the man’s knife, then take the woman to one side and cut off her hand?

3. You are the boss of a warehouse that packs goods. One of the workers refuses to obey an order by a supervisor. The supervisor then beats the worker so hard they have to go to A&E. Fortunately the worker is able to return to work after a few days.
Do you:
A. Fire the supervisor and report him to the police, then give the worker compensation, plus some extra time off to recover fully?
B. Promote the supervisor to a managerial position for using his initiative, and praise him for stopping short of actually killing the worker?

4. You are a lifelong supporter of your local football team and have taken your son to every match since he was a small child. Now he is a teenager, he tells you that he wants to support the city’s rival team, and wants you to come with him every week to their game instead.
Do you:
A. Tell him that you don’t want to change your allegiance, but respect that he is old enough to make his own choices, then wish him and his new team the best of luck.
B. Take him outside and shoot him?

5. You are walking back from the pub one evening, when you hear some cries from an alleyway. You see a young man attacking a girl, and you believe she is being sexually assaulted.
Do you:
A. Pull the young man away, check the girl is OK, then call a policemen to come and arrest the man?
B. Tell the young man that if he pays the girl’s father £50 and promises to marry her, then that will be end of the matter?

6. You come down for breakfast one morning, to find your adult son is holding hands with another young man, and both are only in their dressing gowns. Your son introduces his friend and says that they spent the night together.
Do you:
A. Give your son’s friend a warm welcome and make it clear he can become a valued member of your family?
B. Take both young men outside and shoot them?

YOUR ANSWERS

Let’s start with Bs. Each of the questions illustrates a specific verse in the bible that sets out a scenario and the legal penalty or God’s sanction. So if you answered each question with a B, then you’re a true follower of biblical morality! You are a religious pragmatist, and are not going to be swayed by all these ‘woke’ modern sensibilities – if the bible says it’s OK, then that’s good enough for you.

If you answered As, then your morality is based on common humanity and empathy. You don’t need a bronze-age book to tell you right from wrong. Of course, you might also be a believing Christian – but you are able to pick n’ mix your biblical morality, selecting only the moral laws that align with your values and those of the rest of society. You therefore recognise that this makes the bible effectively irrelevant as a sole guide to morality.

DISCLAIMER & REFERENCES

As I am sure you have spotted, this is not a real quiz and I am not a psychologist, but this is simply an attempt at a (hopefully) amusing way to point out that modern morality must no longer be based on the bible. All the B. answers reflect some of the deeply immoral laws set out in the old testament, or the actions of the vengeful God character. I am sure these were relevant to the bronze-age society of the time, but they are clearly no longer applicable today. So if you claim the bible as a moral authority, you must either accept it in its entirety (answering Bs), or accept that it needs to be viewed through a higher ‘humanist’ filter (answering As).

Finally, a note to all you biblical scholars – can you identify the specific verses I used as a reference for each of the six scenarios? I’d love to see if you agree with the ones I found - let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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My day job is an author of historical action adventure novels set in Tudor England. If you’re looking for a fun read, try my first novel, The Witchfinder’s Well. It is available on Amazon as an eBook, in print and now as an audiobook.
Click the image below for more, or click these links for the audiobook: UK and US.