Discussion: Religion

I stumbled across this site the other day (looking up Doc Samson of all people). It's an extremely detailed look at the religions of various superheroes, whether they're stated outright or simply implied (Samson's Jewish, by the way, if anyone cares). I had been meaning to post a discussion of what people think Tony's religion might be, and I figured this was as good an excuse as any to actually do it.

On the site, it seems that the majority of the fandom holds that Tony is atheist, while the maintainers of the site themselves hold that he's a “futurist; technologist; mostly secular.” So let's go from there.

I'll admit, I'm not a very smart person, so I'm not sure on the actual use of the word “futurist.” The Oxford English Dictionary (which my school evidently pays for me to use for the analysis of comic books rather than research papers) defines a futurist as someone who either: “believes that the Scripture prophecies, esp. those in the Book of Revelation, are still to be fulfilled in the future” or “one who has regard to or studies the future; a believer in human progress.” Hmm...I'm assuming Tony's more likely to lean towards the second one when defining himself. Oh, and there's something about an Italian art movement, but I think I can probably toss that one out when we're talking about Stark (unless he's trying to learn up for Steve's inevitable return). I feel like I'm missing on some philosophical side of this however, so if someone would be kind enough to fill me in, I'd love you forever :D I love learning <3

Anyway, I'd agree that Tony is mostly secular. I would not, however, call him an atheist. And here, in my humble opinion, is why:

1. His father. Now, Howard Stark comes off as a skeptic to me, the kind of guy who needs proof before he decides anything for certain. He's shown telling tiny Tony that if God exists, He'll have left a message for them in the numbers. It seems to me that Tony would have a similar approach to life in general, not only because he's scientific-minded, but also because he would probably do anything he could to gain approval from his ever disapproving father (something I've touched on before), including trying to figure out how π = God. Also of note: As far as I know, we're never given any hint of what religion Maria Stark followed. While I think we can say Howard influenced Tony's professional life, I think it could be argued that Maria probably had more of an influence on his personal life.
   


2. He's seen praying and makes reference to prayer on a number of occasions. He's seen praying at Rumiko's casket and before he (we assume) pulled the plug on Happy. He makes reference to praying that everything would work out okay for Bruce Banner when they shot him up into space (though he knew Hulky had landed on the wrong planet). He could all be going through the motions, and I think he certain does do that when it comes to things like social events (the Stark reputation anyone?), but I don't think he would bother faking it with something like this.
   


3. Alcoholics Anonymous. A major part of AA is giving yourself up to a Higher Power and believing that only this Power can restore a your sanity. Now, with that said, there are of course secular AA groups out there, and really, that Higher Power can be whatever you really want it to be, not necessarily God, so long as it's motivation enough to get you clean, so this point is a bit weaker than the others. But, Tony is shown going to AA meetings with Carol Danvers and we've meet his sponsor (Henry Hellrung, for anyone that missed that).


4. He's lived and worked with Thor and Ares. Now, I'm not saying that makes him a believer – after all, didn't he keep a hair of Thor's to DNA test if he was actually a god (which would later lead to Clone-Thor)? I'm just saying, living and employing a god would at the very least make you open to the idea.


5. Tony has been to Hell. Liek srsly yo. Even met his dad there. Mind you, Tony's seen a lot of weird things in his life, but I'm pretty sure that might have traumatized him just a little bit. Fear of God kind of traumatize? Hard to say.

As said, the majority of fans quoted on the site believe that he's atheist, basing this off of the Infinity Crusade limited series during which he tells the Goddess that he puts his faith in science. To me, this means he prefers to have something material to hold onto, but doesn't mean he doesn't believe in something greater (otherwise, why would be bother praying?) Plus there's the fact that this 'Goddess' had just kidnapped a bunch of his friends so they would go make holy war. He was probably not the most open person at the time.

So, I know it's a bit risky to do any sort of religious discussion, but I'm interested in seeing what you all think.

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