Cullen Beliefs

[moon sidhe]

The South in the 1800s would have been predominantly protestant denominations. I'm not sure which one was dominant, Baptists maybe...

Alice probably wouldn't have had much religion during her human life. But I agree she did have a zen-like quality about her. Now that I think about it, Emmett is kind of Taoist, much like Winnie the Pooh.

[debussygirl]

Jasper was from Texas, and in history we've been covering some religion stuff. For Americans to come over to Texas when Mexico owned it, they had to convert to Catholic. But not all people did. However, Jasper's parent may have, just to obey the rules, and maybe they did believe, but I'm not sure. The two denominations most popular in the South around the civil war was Baptists and Methodists. So I can see Jasper being any of those three.

[RussetRose♥]

I didn't know that the Cullens followed any religion. At all. I would supect that Carlisle is Catholic because of the time he spent in Italy with the Volutri. But, other than that, I'm clueless. Lol!

[E&BForever]

I think most Southerners are baptists. I'm Christian, but I do believe that it's possible that God gives the gifts of premonition too. Maybe that's what Alice had?
Chantell

[debussygirl]

Alice probably did, because her parents put her in an asylum due to these premonitions. Also, the whole theory of vampire gifts come from their human life supports that theory of Alice having been able to see premonitions.

[Jazz1124]

I would never answer this question with any attempted authority, because only Stephenie can really tell us if the characters were religious in mortality...but I have some ideas:

Alice: She was declared dead and put in a mental hospital with horrible accomodations and shock therapy for a good portion of her life, so I would be inclined to think that she probably would have felt like God had abandoned her or that there wasn't one at all.

Edward: He has convinced himself (at least on the surface) that becoming a vampire took away his soul...so it follows that he believes he did have one and that it was an important part of him...so he seems to have been either Catholic or Christian in mortality.

Carlisle: His father was an Anglican pastor, and Carlisle succeeded him...so Carlisle was Anglican. This is the easiest one to decifer because the book tells you ^.^

For the rest of them it really is hard to tell, there back-stories really don't give a lot of indication, so even guessing I think is just throwing a dart in a pitch-black room...

Personally, though, I have to disagree with Edward. I feel that your soul is a large part of the makeup of your personality, and since the Cullens all have their own distinct personalities even in immortality, I think Vampires do have souls in Stephenie Meyer's universe. An interesting question is, however, what would happen to the vampires if the apocalypse happened. To be immortal means to never be able to die...so would they live beyond the apocalypse, or would they "die" and go to hell? If this fictional story were reality, would God still save the souls of what are typically evil beings? I have to say that I think the same rules would apply to vampires as humans...putting faith in Jesus Christ as savior and living life following God would be enough even for a vampire, or a Cullen at the very least.

[E&BForever]

I would never answer this question with any attempted authority, because only Stephenie can really tell us if the characters were religious in mortality...but I have some ideas:

Alice: She was declared dead and put in a mental hospital with horrible accomodations and shock therapy for a good portion of her life, so I would be inclined to think that she probably would have felt like God had abandoned her or that there wasn't one at all.

Edward: He has convinced himself (at least on the surface) that becoming a vampire took away his soul...so it follows that he believes he did have one and that it was an important part of him...so he seems to have been either Catholic or Christian in mortality.

Carlisle: His father was an Anglican pastor, and Carlisle succeeded him...so Carlisle was Anglican. This is the easiest one to decifer because the book tells you ^.^

For the rest of them it really is hard to tell, there back-stories really don't give a lot of indication, so even guessing I think is just throwing a dart in a pitch-black room...

Personally, though, I have to disagree with Edward. I feel that your soul is a large part of the makeup of your personality, and since the Cullens all have their own distinct personalities even in immortality, I think Vampires do have souls in Stephenie Meyer's universe. An interesting question is, however, what would happen to the vampires if the apocalypse happened. To be immortal means to never be able to die...so would they live beyond the apocalypse, or would they "die" and go to hell? If this fictional story were reality, would God still save the souls of what are typically evil beings? I have to say that I think the same rules would apply to vampires as humans...putting faith in Jesus Christ as savior and living life following God would be enough even for a vampire, or a Cullen at the very least.

I think for Edward feeling this way, has a lot to do with guilt. I think he's afraid that he has done too many bad things as a vampire, to have a soul.
Chantell

[CrazilyObsessed024]

I would never answer this question with any attempted authority, because only Stephenie can really tell us if the characters were religious in mortality...but I have some ideas:

Alice: She was declared dead and put in a mental hospital with horrible accomodations and shock therapy for a good portion of her life, so I would be inclined to think that she probably would have felt like God had abandoned her or that there wasn't one at all.

Edward: He has convinced himself (at least on the surface) that becoming a vampire took away his soul...so it follows that he believes he did have one and that it was an important part of him...so he seems to have been either Catholic or Christian in mortality.

Carlisle: His father was an Anglican pastor, and Carlisle succeeded him...so Carlisle was Anglican. This is the easiest one to decifer because the book tells you ^.^

For the rest of them it really is hard to tell, there back-stories really don't give a lot of indication, so even guessing I think is just throwing a dart in a pitch-black room...

Personally, though, I have to disagree with Edward. I feel that your soul is a large part of the makeup of your personality, and since the Cullens all have their own distinct personalities even in immortality, I think Vampires do have souls in Stephenie Meyer's universe. An interesting question is, however, what would happen to the vampires if the apocalypse happened. To be immortal means to never be able to die...so would they live beyond the apocalypse, or would they "die" and go to hell? If this fictional story were reality, would God still save the souls of what are typically evil beings? I have to say that I think the same rules would apply to vampires as humans...putting faith in Jesus Christ as savior and living life following God would be enough even for a vampire, or a Cullen at the very least.

I agree. The Cullens have to have souls. In my mind anyways.

[ReneeJ]

All the speculation about the various Cullens' beliefs is interesting and sounds like it's on target, but has anyone discussed the influence of religion on the family as a whole?

I find it fascinating how grace seems to permeate the Cullen family. The source is obviously the faith-filled Carlisle, but they are all imbued with it, even Rosalie and Emmett. Can you image those two without Carlisle's love and moral direction? They would be among the worst sort of vamps.

[Lightwish]

To answer the OP's questions here is what I think:

Dr. Cullen - Christian
Esme - Christian
Bella - Christian
Edward - Atheist
Alice - Christian
Rosalee - Atheist
Emmet - Atheist