What religion is the family?

Lozart

New member
Christians probably.

They celebrate Christmas.

But in better guesses, I would say they have no religion and just celebrate all the fun holidays :)

+ I think the are banned from church.
 

NeCoHo

Retired Mod
I remember in the Christmas Tree episode they are doing battle with their former pastor of the Catholic Church, and if memory serves, they also volunteered there, which iirc led to their "excomunication" I'd image they would be Roman Catholics.
 

HSJesus

New member
religion

Lois seems to be an atheist or at least agnostic in some episodes, while in other episodes not so much. Hal at least believes in some sort of God, but his unwillingness to paint over the image of Jesus implies christian. The grandmother is catholic because she refused to give a Christmas gift to a cousin because she married a protestant. My guess would be that the family is non practicing catholic.
 

Somnilocus

New member
They aren't religious. Especially not Christians. I celebrate Christmas but none of my family is Christian - it's just a nice little day where we all get together as a family and celebrate.

They were all completely unaware of any Christian concepts in the Day Care episodes and made it clear that they've never been to church. Dewey believed the cross was a giant "t".

Hal simply believes in an "eternal paradise," not necessarily a god (Tiki Lounge). Him having qualms about painting over Jesus was, in my opinion, just an aspect of his character/personality, almost superstitious.

Also in Tiki Lounge, Lois makes it clear that she doesn't believe in any afterlife.

Ida (Ida's Dance) celebrated a fictional holiday "Saint Grotus' Day" and appears to be Croatian - so Lois' family is not Christian.

In Christmas Trees, Reese says "we're a bunch of godless heathens."

In Shame, Malcolm seeks out various religious leaders for guidance.

I think applying a any religion to their family would have taken away from the show... it was irrelevant. :thumbup1:
 

cadmiumgold

New member
I can't remember in which episode it is but Malcolm describes himself as a hopeful agnostic. I think Lois and theboys are agnostic (Reese probably has not thought about it) but I reckon the others would have put some thought into it and settled on agnosticism. Hal belives in heaven though and I think he might be more religious than the others. Hal and Lois are horrified when the boys steal from the church, obviously because they are stealing from charity but it seems they don't underestimate the importance of the church, but this could still tie in with their agnosticism.
 

Buljko

New member
Ida (Ida's Dance) celebrated a fictional holiday "Saint Grotus' Day" and appears to be Croatian - so Lois' family is not Christian.

Croatians are mostly roman catholics (88%) which is a branch of christianity so in "St. Grotus" episode it's implied that Ida is most likely - christian. You can see crucifix on the wall in couple of shots. But that, of course, doesn't necessary means that Malcolm's family are christians as well.
Btw, altough the "St. Grotus" episode was shot in croatian community center I am not under impression that they are actually croatians. ;)

Cheers!
 

tjpeople

Site Administrator
Staff member
Croatians are mostly roman catholics (88%) which is a branch of christianity so in "St. Grotus" episode it's implied that Ida is most likely - christian. You can see crucifix on the wall in couple of shots. But that, of course, doesn't necessary means that Malcolm's family are christians as well.
Btw, altough the "St. Grotus" episode was shot in croatian community center I am not under impression that they are actually croatians. ;)

Cheers!

Welcome Buljko, we hope you enjoy your stay.

If you need any help you can email me.
 

tjpeople

Site Administrator
Staff member
Thank you :)

Before now i was only reading this forum. I like it. Hope I'll find time to post here more often. :)

Thats great :) I look forward to seeing your posts. If you feel like introducing yourself feel free to do so in the Tiki Lounge.
 

dento

New member
i think in one episode, it was shown that Hal and Lois were married in a church by a pastor.

they're nonpracticing christians i guess.
 

Rumulox

New member
lois is definitely atheist.

hal might believe in a god but probably just as a consequence of his desire for an afterlife.

malcolm says he is a hopeful agnostic but he seems pretty clearly atheist as well, agnosticism is a pretty vague thing anyway so...

reese is apparently atheist according to CHRISTMAS TREES.

dewey it never says, the impression is complete unawareness of a god which would make him atheist by default.

jamie...

the general tone of the show is semi-anti-religion (like in SHAME, mocking (three) religions and putting a hiphop beat behind them and intercutting between them showing the repetition and substitution and making them look silly and arbitrary).

the CHRISTMAS TREES episode definitely has reese saying they are godless heathens, and hal says nothing to contradict him.

also in FUNERAL hal and lois describe what happens after you die to dewey and all they say is that you are a corpse and that's the end.
 

PeterU

Super Moderator
Dewey has a moment where he seems to make up his own mind on the issue -- coming to a unique conclusion to that of many other members of his family. It's almost as if he does believe in a higher being, albeit one that doesn't act with compassion or positively intervene in our lives!

This is in episode 4x22 -- Daycare (the whole episode being quite relevant to the family's relationship with organised religion). Around 14 minutes in, he talks to the leader of one of the church classes that Reese was attending.

"Those ants could have been praying to me all day. I wouldn't have heard 'em! ... Really it's the same with us, there's nothing we can do about anything either, so why worry about it?... I guess all we can do is live our lives with as much kindness and decency as possible, and try not to dwell on God standing over us with that giant shovel [referring to 'smiting' his ants with the shovel]"

While interesting, we must allow that Dewey's ideas might have changed and developed as the character got older later on in the series too.
 

Rumulox

New member
@PeterU
the impression i got from that part of the episode (especially when put in the context of dewey (and his beliefs) from the rest of the series) was that he was just trying to screw with that woman's head/beliefs.

reminiscent of his parts in LONG DRIVE where he keeps ruining everyone's day and self-esteem for his own entertainment.
 

EEL123

New member
In 'Christmas Trees', Reese says that they are 'godless heathens'. It's clear that the family haven't been to church before 'Day Care'. In 'Shame', Malcolm consults a number of religious leaders, and in 'Tiki Lounge', Lois says that she doesn't believe in an afterlife, before changing her mind, while Hal believes in one, but doesn't specify which one. The most likely possibility would be that they are agnostic.
 

frtrd

New member
Hmm although in the Season 1 episode where Malcolm was feeling so bad after beating up a little kid, remember how Lois was cleaning his leg and trying to make him feel better and said something like -- "What you're feeling that hurts is your conscience, and you should be glad that God gave you one." Implies that she believes in some sort of religion.
 

EEL123

New member
More often than not, when someone refers to God, they don't mean it. For example, 'Oh My God!' does not necessarily mean that somebody is attempting to communicated with some deity.
 
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