Thankfully agnostics were not tested ... 
The whole article is about our our egocenticity. Quote: New Scientist: Nick Epley at the University of Chicago has been exploring the assumptions that believers make about their god. He asked religious volunteers - mostly Christian and Jewish - to give their views on issues such as the death penalty and abortion, and also to say what they thought God believes on the subject. Sure enough, people tended to assume that the beliefs of their God tallied with their own. What's surprising, though, is Epley's discovery of how easily we shift our perceptions of God to fit our own beliefs.
By simply asking people to either actively or passively express their own beliefs, he was able to manipulate the strength of their convictions. Some volunteers had to take the time to actively shade a square box to show their support or opposition for the death penalty, for example, while others simply had to turn a page to reveal their view. The volunteers then rated the strength of their belief on a sliding scale.
Active expression of their personal beliefs led to a stronger rating, whereas the more passive page-turning served to reduce their conviction. Remarkably, Epley found that the volunteers' assessment of the strength of God's convictions changed to match their own manipulated stance. He concludes that we are even more egocentric in our judgements about what our god believes than we are in our judgement of other people's beliefs.
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There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. ........... Douglas Adams |