September 22, 2009

MOHO Scale

You have all heard of the famous Kinsey scale.


It is a scale of which any human can place their sexual orientation. It was considered ground breaking and is generally accepted by all.

It ranges from a scale of 0-6.

0 being 100% straight, and 6 being 100% gay, with 3 being 50-50 (bisexual).

Well I have tweaked the scale a little bit to fit our unifying trait - The MOHO scale.

Click to see a larger version.

I have found that for myself, to know where I am going in life I must know where I currently am. Hence the MOHO Scale.

So let me explain the scale. In trying to keep this very similar to the Kinsey scale, I only replaced the sexual orientation words with religious affiliation words. I couldn't think of any other words or definitions to use then mormon vs. non mormon, I apologize if that offends anyone to be a non-mormon.

0 - Exclusively Mormon-

People who are tried and true, blue thru and thru mormons. You are sticking to the Gospel 100% and are actively participating in church. You agree 100% with the Prophet and Apostles and are heeding their counsel. You avoid thinking about members of the same sex.

1- Predominantly Mormon, only incidentally Non-Mormon -

You have a strong testimony. You are sticking to the Gospel as best as you can and are actively participating in church. You agree with the Prophet and Apostles and are doing your best to follow the commandments, but you are not perfect. You like to admire members of the same sex, but try to not dwell on those thoughts.

2- Predominantly Mormon, but more than incidentally Non-Mormon -

You have a testimony. You are living the Gospel and are regularly attending church. You believe the Prophet and Apostles for the most part and are trying follow the commandments even if you question some of them. You admire members of the same sex, and often consider dating them.

3- Equally Mormon and Non-Mormon; bimormon.
You go to church and believe its true, but also date members of the same sex. You walk the line keeping a foot on both sides. You don't do anything to be in disciplinary counsel but you might not be worthy to have a temple recommend.

4- Predominantly Non-Mormon, but more than incidentally Mormon

You somewhat question your testimony. You attend church regularly but don't want to be there, or attend periodically. You believe the Prophet and Apostles are wise people but question some of their counsel. You date members of the same sex, but sometimes feel guilty.

5- Predominantly Non-Mormon, only incidentally Mormon

You seriously question the church. You do not attend church regularly but will periodically go. You believe the Prophet and Apostles are nice people but question their counsel. You date members of the same sex, and don't really feel guilty for doing so.
6- Exclusively Non-Mormon

You believe the the church is un-true. You do not attend church (maybe the occasional family baptism, but you really don't want to be there). You believe the Prophet and Apostles are old people and reject their counsel. You date members of the same sex, and have no problem being.
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Feel free to copy and paste the scale to your blog if you like. If you want I can even highlight where you think you are on the scale and send you a highlighted copy to post.

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Like I said, Its important to know where we are, in order to make clear decisions of where we want to go. I often times think, mistakes or regrettable decisions are made because we really didn't know where we were on the path. I hope this is helpful to all of us MOHOs.

It has helped me discover just where I am with the church and Gospel while I created the scale.

Please feel free to leave feedback, negative or positive, or suggestions on how to improve the MOHO Scale.

8 comments:

  1. I'd say I'm a 4.5 on the MoHO scale but your discription doesn't match mine. :) I think this is an interesting idea tho. I like it!

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  2. I like the idea, too. Except it's hard for me to label myself. I'd probably say I'm a cross between 3 and 4 without the dating.

    You're totally right about knowing where we are before making big decisions.

    Nice post, Quinn.

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  3. Very interesting. I'll have to study when I'm more awake!

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  4. It's an interesting idea, but where would you put someone like Gay LDS Actor who attends church every week, participates as much as he is able, but is also excommunicated due to his commitment ceremony.

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  5. Good, question. I suppose it would be based on how he feels about the church. How much of it he believes.

    The scale is not to represent attendance, but more represent testimony and belief.

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  6. I think I am somewhere between 2 and 4, but not really 3. Maybe it just depends on the day :)
    I like this though. It is very interesting! Thanks dude!

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  7. Haha this is beautiful, Quinn. I would say I'm a bi-mormon.

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  8. Yeah, I think the problem with this is that belief and actions don't always (or perhaps even very often) correspond.

    I know plenty of guys who do believe in the Church and the Gospel and would be on the low end of the scale (0-2) from a belief standpoint, but who are also partnered/married or actively dating and trying to find a husband. They obviously differ from the Church in one specific belief, but still have strong testimonies otherwise.

    (And I imagine there are also those who don't believe in the Church at all, but who still do their best to suppress their attractions--though I expect these types are less common).

    The Kinsey scale has its own issues--I'd consider myself a 6 as far as attractions go, but behaviorally I'm a 0 (I've been married 14+ years and have 4 kids, but I've never even held hands with a guy).

    In all, I'd say that both sexuality and spirituality are too complex to be pigeonholed. But it is convenient to be able to have a general idea of where people stand, so scales like this one do have their uses. Thanks for the post!

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