[HPforGrownups] Sirius Black, God father

[Penny & Bryce]

No: HPFGUIDX 32528

Hi --

Laura Hale wrote:


> I know JK Rowlings religious references are usually secular references 
> (Christmas, Easter Break, the Fat Friar) but the God Parent one kinda 
> makes me want to speculate as there is generally some sort of religious 
> accompanient to being made a god parent.  If this was true, than Harry 
> Potter's parents could have indeed been practicing some sort of religion 
> (and it would show kind of obviously that religion and magic are not in 
> conflict.)
> 
> The only two religions I can think of where people get god parents are 
> Judasim (God parents are involved in the circumcision ceremony if I 
> understand correctly) and Catholicism (where god parents are denoted 
> during the baptismal ceremony).    Are there other faiths that have god 
> parents attached to them?

FYI, many Protestant denominations require or permit godparents to be 
named in connection with a baptism or christening ceremony (Lutheran, 
Episcopal, Methodist ... just to name a few).

We've discussed this topic before.  I did a quick search of the Message 
Archives & discovered threads related to this topic on April 17 - 22, 
2001; August 22, 2001; and November 6, 2001.  You might be interested to 
read those past messages, Laura.

To summarize my own thoughts: the term "godparent" in the UK does not 
necessarily denote a religious spiritual guidance role in all cases.  It 
is a term, as I understand it, that can often be used interchangeably 
with "guardian" (as in legal guardian).  It's quite clear from PoA that 
Sirius is Harry's legal guardian per the Potters' wishes.  It is not 
clear that he also holds any sort of spiritual mentor role in the form 
of a godparent.  Since Black is the legal guardian (and unless he was 
married at the time & his wife was also named godmother), it doesn't 
seem terribly likely to me that Harry has a godmother lurking out there 
somewhere.  You wouldn't give 2 unmarried individuals (who didn't 
otherwise have a relationship that is) guardianship rights for your 
child or children without specifying custody arrangements & the like.

I think it's most likely that Black is his "godfather" in a strictly 
legal guardian/secular sense & that there is no godmother.

Penny

> 
> Laura Hale
> http://writersu.s5.com/
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