Any thoughts on the probable religion-related responses of my characters?
I'm working on a potential script that involves several characters of religious backgrounds I don't share responding to a monster attack. I figured I'd sound out Little Details for potentially more accurate religious responses for my characters. (I'm not 100% sure this question fits within community rules, but I think it's close?) I didn't really research it, other than asking a similar question on Yahoo Answers, mostly because I have no flipping idea *how* to research it. So relevant sources would be welcome, though I suspect a first-person perspective would be better.
The characters:
Mags, a neopagan Hispanic girl (possibly Wiccan, possibly just neopagan) with a thing for Athena (she's very snarky/sarcastic, if that's relevant)
Trevon, a black Pentecostal (or similar) boy
Kelly, an Irish Catholic girl (edit: just to clarify, Irish as in "most of her ancestors are from Ireland", not Irish as in "ever lived in Ireland herself")
Maria, a hardcore atheist (antitheist--the kind who makes snarky remarks about "god-botherers" or "invisible sky-daddy")
Aaron, a not-very-devout Jewish boy
(and several others of currently unspecified religious background)
The situation:
Some high school students are on a field trip in a swamp or the like (likely in Georgia, modern day give or take a few years) when they are attacked by monsters, who eat several of them. Our Heroes, as they run away, soon find out that the monsters (actually demons) are hurt by blessed weapons, though the nature/source of the blessing doesn't seem to matter (Mags calling on Athena does just as much as Trevon invoking Jesus) so long as it's sincere. (edit: while I talk about "blessed weapons", I mean either an actual object that someone blessed, or using an object while praying/invoking God. Sorry I was unclear on that. The "blessed weapons" was just to make it clear that praying *itself* didn't do much, you also had to hit them with something)
If you share a religious background with one of my characters, or at least are pretty solidly familiar with someone of that background, I'd like to know how you think they might react, in a religious sense, both before and after they learn of the demons' weakness to blessings. Specific wording of prayers, things they might say as oaths/exclamations, et cetera would all be helpful and appreciated.
(My general thoughts on Maria is that, once she notices the whole "blessings" thing, since she doesn't believe in any deities, she starts invoking famous scientists and the like (eg "Nobel, bless this Molotov cocktail" or whatever). It... more or less works, though not quite as well as actual religious blessings. But I'm not sure if that just strikes people as silly...)
Also, I'm not of that *regional* background, either, so if you can think of any likely details I might not know that would be pertinent to the situation (eg swear words that typical high school students would/wouldn't say), I wouldn't turn those down, either
edit:
Minor possibly relevant detail: it's entirely likely/possible that at least some fraction of these people (and the rest of the cast, 12 in all) are military brats of whatever flavor has a geographically appropriate base. That's part of why there's such a diverse group in an area not generally known for its cosmopolitan nature.
edit: I wanted to thank anyone I did not already explicitly thank (except for the spammer).
The characters:
Mags, a neopagan Hispanic girl (possibly Wiccan, possibly just neopagan) with a thing for Athena (she's very snarky/sarcastic, if that's relevant)
Trevon, a black Pentecostal (or similar) boy
Kelly, an Irish Catholic girl (edit: just to clarify, Irish as in "most of her ancestors are from Ireland", not Irish as in "ever lived in Ireland herself")
Maria, a hardcore atheist (antitheist--the kind who makes snarky remarks about "god-botherers" or "invisible sky-daddy")
Aaron, a not-very-devout Jewish boy
(and several others of currently unspecified religious background)
The situation:
Some high school students are on a field trip in a swamp or the like (likely in Georgia, modern day give or take a few years) when they are attacked by monsters, who eat several of them. Our Heroes, as they run away, soon find out that the monsters (actually demons) are hurt by blessed weapons, though the nature/source of the blessing doesn't seem to matter (Mags calling on Athena does just as much as Trevon invoking Jesus) so long as it's sincere. (edit: while I talk about "blessed weapons", I mean either an actual object that someone blessed, or using an object while praying/invoking God. Sorry I was unclear on that. The "blessed weapons" was just to make it clear that praying *itself* didn't do much, you also had to hit them with something)
If you share a religious background with one of my characters, or at least are pretty solidly familiar with someone of that background, I'd like to know how you think they might react, in a religious sense, both before and after they learn of the demons' weakness to blessings. Specific wording of prayers, things they might say as oaths/exclamations, et cetera would all be helpful and appreciated.
(My general thoughts on Maria is that, once she notices the whole "blessings" thing, since she doesn't believe in any deities, she starts invoking famous scientists and the like (eg "Nobel, bless this Molotov cocktail" or whatever). It... more or less works, though not quite as well as actual religious blessings. But I'm not sure if that just strikes people as silly...)
Also, I'm not of that *regional* background, either, so if you can think of any likely details I might not know that would be pertinent to the situation (eg swear words that typical high school students would/wouldn't say), I wouldn't turn those down, either
edit:
Minor possibly relevant detail: it's entirely likely/possible that at least some fraction of these people (and the rest of the cast, 12 in all) are military brats of whatever flavor has a geographically appropriate base. That's part of why there's such a diverse group in an area not generally known for its cosmopolitan nature.
edit: I wanted to thank anyone I did not already explicitly thank (except for the spammer).