Religion MCQs
Religion MCQs
The following Religion MCQs have been compiled by our experts through research, in order to test your knowledge of the subject of Religion. We encourage you to answer these # multiple-choice questions to assess your proficiency.
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1: In Trinidad, the traditional belief is that failure to make a sacrifice to the di spirits will result in a______.
A. Stillborn child
B. Poor harvest
C. Witch’s curse
D. Angry ancestors
2: How does religion psychologically serve the poor or powerless?
A. Religion makes everyone equal.
B. Religion provides an escape or comfort.
C. Religions delegitimize the powerful.
D. Religions educate the poor who might not otherwise be educated.
3: The Hopi grow blue corn, a practice that reinforces their idea of how their world was created. What is it about growing blue corn that connects them to their creation myth?
A. Their origin story states that they grew out of the earth like corn does.
B. They believe that all was created to nourish humans, and blue corn is the most nourishing crop.
C. Their origin story is that both humans and corn were created at the same time and have a holy alliance.
D. Their origin story says that all food crops are sacred, but blue corn is all that grows in their region.
4: When followers of a religion believe that an impersonal spiritual force influences the universe it is known as ______.
A. Totemism
B. Animism
C. Mana
D. God
5: Something that is liminal in relation to religion is said to be ______.
A. Relevant to only one religion’s beliefs and practices
B. Connected to the supernatural
C. A practice that is rarely done by believers
D. Existing between clear cut categories
6: Liminal states are most closely associated with which of the following?
A. A short period of equality among equals.
B. A period of celebration a revelry.
C. A time of forgiveness and renewal.
D. An opportunity to invent new traditions.
7: Among Latin American Catholics, the celebration of a quinceañera happens when a young girl turns 15. What sort of ritual would an anthropologist label this as?
A. Rite of passage
B. Rite of intensification
C. Rite of contagious magic
D. Anthropologists would not call this a rite.
8: A rite of passage marks what kind of transition in someone’s life?
A. Death
B. A change in status
C. Religious conversion
D. From non-citizenship to citizenship
9: Totemism is commonly associated with which of the following religious traditions?
A. Native Americans like the Hopi
B. Christianity
C. Australian Aborigines
D. Hinduism in India
10: When an item that has been in contact with a person retains a religious magical connection to that person, anthropologists would call that connection ______.
A. Divination
B. Imitative magic
C. Vitalism
D. Contagious magic
11: What is the distinguishing feature of “prosperity theology” compared to other strands of Christianity?
A. That it exists only among African and Asian Christians
B. That followers believe that by giving money away God will reward you with more money
C. That it seems to have emerged organically as a leaderless movement
D. That followers refuse to use modern technology in pursuit of comfort and happiness
12: ______ is a ritual practice directed toward obtaining information from the supernatural realm.
A. Divination
B. Imitative magic
C. Vitalism
D. Contagious magic
13: Found in many Native American religious traditions, what is the purpose of a vision quest?
A. For a person to develop a special relationship with a spirit
B. For a community to develop a special relationship with a god
C. For a community to sanctify a new totem
D. For a person to bring honor to their kinship relations
14: What happens in syncretism?
A. A religion develops a complex bureaucracy as it organizes.
B. Prayer is used to discover something unknown or hidden from humans.
C. A movement emerges to restore religious practices to a previous tradition.
D. The religious beliefs from two different traditions are merged in practice.
15: Which of the following is an example of communitas?
A. Quinceañeras
B. People who gather on New Year’s Eve to watch the falling of the illuminated ball in the center of Times Square
C. People existing in an intermediate state
D. Trickster spirits
16: Belief in an impersonal spiritual force that infuses the universe is known as_____
A. Animatism
B. Animism
C. Cosmology
D. Divination
17: Animism is the notion that_____, are imbued with spirits.
A. Living objects
B. Non Living objects
C. Both
D. None
18: The socially sanctioned use of behavior that radically follows social norms is known as Antistructure.
A. True
B. False
19: Communitas is a state of perceived _____ among people sharing a religious ritual, often characterized by intense emotion.
A. Solidarity
B. Equality
C. Unity
D. All of these
20: The belief that things once in contact with a person or object retain an invisible connection with that person or object is known as _____
A. Powerful Magic
B. Black Magic
C. Contagious Magic
D. Imitative Magic
21: Cosmology is a system of beliefs that deals with fundamental questions in the _____
A. Religious
B. Social
C. Cultural
D. Both a and b
22: Divination is a religious ritual performed to _____
A. Contact spirits
B. Find hidden objects
C. Find hidden information
D. Both b and c
23: Ghost Dance is a Native _____ religious movement of the late 19th century.
A. American
B. British
C. African
D. Asian
24: God is a named spirit who is believed to_____
A. Have created some aspect of the world
B. Control some aspect of the world
C. Be nonexistent
D. Both a and b
25: The belief that imitating an action in a religious ritual will cause the action to happen in the material world is known as_____
A. Powerful Magic
B. Black Magic
C. Contagious Magic
D. Imitative Magic
26: Liminal refers to objects, places, people, and statuses that are understood as existing in an indeterminate state between clear-cut categories.
A. True
B. False
27: The belief that _____ compel the supernatural to behave in predictable ways is known as Magic.
A. Actions
B. Words
C. States of mind
D. All of these
28: Mana is a _____ power or energy that is concentrated in individuals or objects.
A. Spiritual
B. Religious
C. Social
D. Cultural
29: Messianic means focusing on the coming of an individual who will usher in a _____ world.
A. Utopian
B. African
C. American
D. Any of these
30: Millenarian means focusing on ______
A. A coming catastrophe that will signal the beginning of a new age
B. The eventual establishment of paradise
C. The eventual establishment of hell
D. Both a and b
31: Monotheistic is characterized by belief in _____ god.
A. No
B. One
C. Two
D. Any number
32: Sacred stories or narratives are known as_____
A. Tales
B. Myths
C. Holy stories
D. None of these
33: Focusing on the return of society to an earlier time that believers understand as better and more holy than the current era is known as______
A. Messianic
B. Nativistic
C. Millenarian
D. Both a and b
34: Neopagan is a member of a new religion that claims descent from _____nature worship.
A. Christian
B. Prechristian
C. Muslim
D. Hindu
35: Pharmacopoeia is a collection of preparations used as_____
A. Food
B. Medications
C. Poison
D. All of these
36: _____ is characterized by belief in many gods.
A. Atheist
B. Monotheist
C. Polytheist
D. None of these
37: Prayer is any communication between people and spirits or gods in which people _____ without assurance of results.
A. Praise
B. Plead
C. Request
D. Any of these
38: Priest is the one who is formally elected or appointed to a _____ religious office.
A. Part time
B. One time
C. Full time
D. Any of these
39: Religion is a social institution characterized by_____
A. Sacred Stories
B. The proposed existence of immeasurable beings
C. Means of addressing the supernatural
D. All of these
40: Rituals structured to reinforce the values and norms of a community and to strengthen group identity refer to_____
A. Rites of Strengthening
B. Rites of Intensification
C. Rites of Passage
D. Both a and b
41: A ritual that marks a person’s transition from one status to another is known as_____
A. Rites of Transition
B. Rites of Intensification
C. Rites of Passage
D. Both a and b
42: A patterned act that involves the manipulation of religious symbols is known as_____
A. Worship
B. Ritual
C. Norm
D. Both b and c
43: Stories held to be holy and true by members of a religious tradition are known as_____
A. Sacred Tales
B. Sacred Narratives
C. Myths
D. Both b and c
44: Sacrifice is an offering made to _____
A. Increase the efficacy of a prayer
B. The religious purity of an individual
C. Both
D. None
45: An individual who is socially recognized as having the ability to mediate between the world of humanity and the world of gods or spirits and a recognized official of any religious organization is known as Shaman.
A. True
B. False
46: Sorcery is the _____ use of magic.
A. Conscious and intentional
B. Unconscious and intentional
C. Unconscious and unintentional
D. Both b and c
47: The merging of elements of two or more religious traditions to produce a new religion is known as_____
A. Syncretism
B. Totemism
C. Witchcraft
D. Both a and b
48: Totem is an _____ held to be ancestral or to have other intimate relationships with members of a group.
A. Animal
B. Plant
C. Other aspect of the artificial world
D. Both a and b
49: Religious practices centered on animals, plants, or other aspects of the natural world held to be ancestral or to have other intimate relationships with members of a group refer to_____
A. Syncretism
B. Totemism
C. Witchcraft
D. Both a and b
50: A supernatural entity that does not act in the best interests of humans is known as_____
A. Witchcraft
B. Trickster
C. Wiccan
D. None of these
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