Seamus' religion (was Slut!)

[David]

Jeff wrote:

>     Now, is Seamus Catholic or Protestant? There's no mention. He 
> doesn't seem to have any prejudices about anybody prior to OOtP, 
so 
> I'm guessing that even being half n half, he wasn't taught to hate 
> based upon that, which is great. That could explain why he's so 
close 
> to Dean, since he's not really prejudiced against anybody that we 
> know of. Is his village rather isolated, and that's why he's not 
been 
> taught any of those views? I'd like to think so. You can't tell 
from 
> the novel where he's from with his accent, so would he be from a 
> small town or village in the south, far away from the fighting? 
> Guesses?

As you say, it's hard to be certain, but I would associate the name 
Seamus with a Catholic background.  Support for Ireland at the QWC 
would also support that conclusion, though, since the only 
alternative is Bulgaria, one imagines plenty of UK citizens would 
also choose Ireland.  However, his family's allegiance does seem to 
be dyed-in-the-wool.

It is my experience of many people from Ireland, particularly the 
north, that they are very aware of the existence and nature of 
prejudice, and are determined to resist it in their own lives, 
precisely because they see what it does.

Ireland is part of the modern world: I doubt that isolation would be 
a factor.  'Fighting' isn't a very accurate description of the 
situation in Northern Ireland.

It hadn't occurred to me that his being 'half and half' might be a 
sly reference to religion.  Interesting, that.

David