Are the X-men religious? Does your favorite character has a religious practice?

[JustAnotherFan]

First religious X-Men characters that come to mind are some that people already mentioned here like Karma & Nightcrawler (Catholics), Dust (Muslim), Wolfsbane Presbyterian), Magneto & Shadowcat (Jewish). Aside from these only other character whose faith has actually been confirmed on panel is Iceman I think. But he has never been depicted as particularly active practitioner of his faith unlike the other characters mentioned. And as for Indra, he's religious too I believe but I'm not sure if he's a Hindu or a follower of some other faith like Jainism.

Other characters whose faith has really been touched upon on panel are characters like:

-Storm, who apparently worships some sort of Goddess who is also called Bright Lady. Not sure if the identity of this deity has been made explicit on panel but I've always assumed that it refers to Mother Nature/Mother Earth since considering Storm's powers it kind of makes sense. And apparently there are more than one deities in MU that are referred to as Bright Lady/Goddess/Mother Nature/Mother Earth

-Colossus & Wolverine who have both been depicted as agnostics/atheists which makes sense since Colossus grew up in Soviet Union (at least that was the case though it starts to become more and more improbable as the time passes) and Wolverine has had such a long life full of so much crap that it's not surprising that he would be tired of caring about worshiping any sort of god(s).

Only other X-Man whose religion I would dare to guess would be Beast since he's a scientist and I kind of see him as agnostic/atheist and I have this feeling that it might have actually been confirmed on panel at some point that he doesn't hold any specific religious beliefs.

But those are the only characters who I think have actually been shown to have any kind of clear beliefs on religion on panel. With all the other characters it would mostly be guesswork and trying to deduce their faiths from all the stuff they have mentioned over the years and to me that's just too unreliable.

However all this talk about religion and the characters' beliefs has got me wondering how does religion in MU even work. How can you be an atheist in a world where at least some of the gods from all the various religions really exist and when characters have actually met certain gods like Odin & Zeus. And how can you have any sort of faith when you know that gods exist and are real? At that point you wouldn't need to leave your beliefs up to faith, now would you? And if we go outside of X-Men you'd think that appearance of heroes like Thor & Hercules would have increased the number of people who actually worship Odin or Zeus as their deities and might have even led to Odinism or Ancient Greco-Roman Pantheon's worship to become massive religions that rival Christiany, Judaism or Islam in scale.

[Ricochet Rita]

However all this talk about religion and the characters' beliefs has got me wondering how does religion in MU even work. How can you be an atheist in a world where at least some of the gods from all the various religions really exist and when characters have actually met certain gods like Odin & Zeus. And how can you have any sort of faith when you know that gods exist and are real? At that point you wouldn't need to leave your beliefs up to faith, now would you? And if we go outside of X-Men you'd think that appearance of heroes like Thor & Hercules would have increased the number of people who actually worship Odin or Zeus as their deities and might have even led to Odinism or Ancient Greco-Roman Pantheon's worship to become massive religions that rival Christiany, Judaism or Islam in scale.

Very good question. As usual, Nightcrawler is one of the very fews who sits and thinks and wonders:

[Ricochet Rita]

Although Nicieza lately introduced the concept of 'uemeur' as soul or life force in the Wildways, in Longshot's former miniseries and following X-Men issues religion was only used in a critical sarcastic way when related to Mojo, an insane megalomaniac obsessed with himself as an object of worship. In fact, when he first came to Earth he immediately bewitched people in order to build a flamboyant church for his personal cult.

Actually, in X-Men vs. Mephisto it was stated that Longshot hasn't got a soul (although N'Astirh thought different).



On this point, it's funny that Longshot, still very confused and dizzy after crossing for the first time from his dimension to ours, had this thought in his mind:

[cc008]

A big reason why I'm a fan of Nightcrawler (and Daredevil) is because of his Catholic faith and desire to find meaning in it all. It's okay to question religion. It's okay to question the religion you were born into. Speaking for myself and other Catholics respectfully, each individuals relationship with God is different and it could take a really long time to discover that relationship. Maybe there won't even be one at some point. But the search for meaning is one that will always interest me. Especially in comics, where you dont see it all too often. And even more especially in X-Men comics, which should be a melting pot of all types of people and cultures.

I know that's not exactly 100% on topic, but a few comments made me feel as if I should say what I had to.

[Gaelforce]

Okay, folks, some of you need to take a step back.

The discussion is regarding what religion various members of the X-Men hold, not how you personally feel about people of faith. I deleted a bunch of posts and don't want to see this thread stray into personal territory again.

I'd hate to lock a perfectly interesting topic such as this one.

[Ambaryerno]

Actually her ex-husband converted to worshipping her.

I suddenly actually want to see a recurring X-Student start worshipping Storm.

[DiamondQueen]

Emma is def. not religious. I do not know about Polaris. So because Monet is a Muslim does she automatically practice Islam?

I have to say it would be hard to stay super religious when you have been punching god-like beings for decades.

[Silver Fang]

Emma is def. not religious. I do not know about Polaris. So because Monet is a Muslim does she automatically practice Islam?

I have to say it would be hard to stay super religious when you have been punching god-like beings for decades.

Monet seems to respect her mother's Muslim roots. And she does identify as such. But she doesn't seem to practice anything. Her revealing X-Factor uniform, in addition to posing nude for magazine covers. But there's levels. She can be Muslim, and just not very devout with it. Many people are that way.

But after her death experience, she mentions not seeing Heaven -just nothingness & Hell. That experience probably eliminated any faith in any kind of higher power that she ought to be devoted to..Clearly a Hell exists, but nothing that makes any kind of faith or practice worth it if that's all you get when you die.

[DiamondQueen]

Monet seems to respect her mother's Muslim roots. And she does identify as such. But she doesn't seem to practice anything. Her revealing X-Factor uniform, in addition to posing nude for magazine covers. But there's levels. She can be Muslim, and just not very devout with it. Many people are that way.

But after her death experience, she mentions not seeing Heaven, just nothingness & Hell. So that experience probably eliminated any faith in God, Gods, or any kind of higher power that she ought to be devoted to..SO clearly a Hell exists, but nothing that makes any kind of faith or practice worth it if that's all you get when you die.

Thank you.

[WallStreeter]

Dr. Selene Gallio is the head of the faith based initiatives. LOL. Obviously she's got something religious going on.

[Ambaryerno]

Monet seems to respect her mother's Muslim roots. And she does identify as such. But she doesn't seem to practice anything. Her revealing X-Factor uniform, in addition to posing nude for magazine covers. But there's levels. She can be Muslim, and just not very devout with it. Many people are that way.

That doesn't necessarily reflect how devout she is, but could indicate she's simply more liberal.

[Ambaryerno]

Dr. Selene Gallio is the head of the faith based initiatives. LOL. Obviously she's got something religious going on.

I think anyone who's worshiped/view themselves as a deity can be safely considered religious by default.

[Tazirai]

Monet seems to respect her mother's Muslim roots. And she does identify as such. But she doesn't seem to practice anything. Her revealing X-Factor uniform, in addition to posing nude for magazine covers. But there's levels. She can be Muslim, and just not very devout with it. Many people are that way.

But after her death experience, she mentions not seeing Heaven -just nothingness & Hell. That experience probably eliminated any faith in any kind of higher power that she ought to be devoted to..Clearly a Hell exists, but nothing that makes any kind of faith or practice worth it if that's all you get when you die.

One of the reasons Psylocke is so paranoid of dying AGAIN, is seeing a great nothing after she passed. No Heaven No Hell of any faith, just nothing. Honestly, in a Universe like Marvels it's hard to relate to a real-world standard of Religion. Especially when so many "Gods" of other People, and races get punched out regularly. It's just a matter of Degrees. I'd like to think that worship would be again to wanting to believe for the sake of it to some of these characters. It gives them a rock or reason to fight against things like Galactus. While some are literal Gods, just not in the Omnipotent way.

[Gray Lensman]

One of the reasons Psylocke is so paranoid of dying AGAIN, is seeing a great nothing after she passed. No Heaven No Hell of any faith, just nothing. Honestly, in a Universe like Marvels it's hard to relate to a real-world standard of Religion. Especially when so many "Gods" of other People, and races get punched out regularly. It's just a matter of Degrees. I'd like to think that worship would be again to wanting to believe for the sake of it to some of these characters. It gives them a rock or reason to fight against things like Galactus. While some are literal Gods, just not in the Omnipotent way.

Especially when you have panels that depict people in the afterlife.

But I would imagine that outside of a few X-Men and Women, most characters will be of a vague faith so that most of the audience can find themselves in it. There are obviously exceptions to that, of course, but trying to get the reader to identify with the characters means that the faith of many of them will never be tied down to anything specific.