The Irish immigrants who came to America during the Irish Potato Famine and particularly those who came to Hell's Kitchen were predominantly Catholic because the poorest citizens in Ireland at the time were Catholics and the poor relied on the potato the most for their food. Hell's Kitchen up through the nineties before its gentrification was a working class Irish neighborhood (+Puerto Ricans but they came along a bit later). Foggy and Matt's families are both working class because Irish Catholics in particular in New York struggles to assimilate due to anti Irish and anti Catholic sentiment up until very recently. 'It's not every day a Nelson comes out of the land of hardware stores and cured meats." or something to that effect. Likewise Irish Catholics because of such strong prejudice would have been unwilling to convert - their churches got burned down etc. by Protestants which wouldn't exactly have given them the highest incentive to want to assimilate if they even would have been allowed. Added evidence includes his big family "the whole Nelson brood."
If he wasn't raised Catholic his family is probably secular. The people labeling him Jewish have not done their homework because unless he is a convert he would not be.
Sources below my iPad is being a pain in the ass and has erased this post like four times to my irritation.
To be fair, you are assuming all of this based on his father's last name.
Keeping in mind that I am not Jewish, wikipedia advises me that:
"In general, Orthodox Judaism considers individuals born of Jewish mothers to be Jewish, even if they convert to or are raised in another religion. Reform Judaism views Jews who convert to or are raised in another religion as non-Jews."
In New York City with it's large Jewish population, it's incredibly possible that even if his father's background is Irish Catholic, he could have a Jewish mother and have been raised Jewish or be considered Jewish. We know nothing about his mother's background except that she wanted him to be a butcher, and kosher butcher shops are a thing.
So maybe leave the Jewish people embracing that headcanon in peace and let them have it if they want it.
Without knowing anything about his parents (or Matt's mother too), I would also encourage against rejecting biracial or other multi-ethnic Foggy or Matt headcanons. Assuming that something will never be canon (which tells you something about the state of Hollywood, really) is not the same as it not being canon.
I'm not assuming anything on Foggy's last name. I'm assuming it based on his self identifying as Irish in canon, Hell's Kitchen being historically an Irish Catholic neighborhood, and his references to being working class with a big family. Most people who are 'Hell's Kitchen born and raised' are not Jewish by demographic and while he could be multiethnic in that area and other ethnic areas in New York, marrying within your own ethnicity and religious background is very common.
Nor am I not letting anyone not have peace? I don't have a namespace account anywhere except ao3 and I am merely expressing my knowledge of the area because I have been very curious about Hell's Kitchen since reading and watching Daredevil.
Again I stress that I really wasn't trying to be bitchy. I can 100% see where you're coming from based on the history and the area. I didn't mean "leave in peace" in the sense that anyone is harassing or giving anyone that hard a time really, just that it shouldn't be assumed that someone hasn't done their homework who has that headcanon, because there are ways to explore it that do make sense.
Sorry if it came across as combative. I didn't mean for it to be. I just feel like if someone has that headcanon, it may be for a personal reason as well, and they shouldn't have to go to great lengths to justify it or have the default assumption be that they're wrong by other fans.
It's ok. Personally I just know a lot of Irish Catholics in New York are still struggling with the aftermath of anti Irish and anti Catholic sentiment and I know in fandom a lot of people don't do their homework and might not know this? And in general I was just trying to answer a question - in my opinion, he probably isn't but I don't like have full say obviously on who headcanons what.
I am also very protective of Catholic characters in fandom in general. In a lot of ways growing up Catholic is a cultural thing much like growing up Mormon or Jewish so I want characters to be Catholic like me. I apologize for being defensive.
Hey, anon, I appreciate you speaking up on this. Foggy's family has often seemed to come across as Jewish in the comic canon though he doesn't seem to practice anything. And since the very Jewish Ben Urich and his wife were altered to being Catholic to the point of using Matt Murdock's priest in order to accentuate the Irish-American Catholic culture of Hell's Kitchen, it's started getting annoying.
Re: Is Foggy Jewish?
(Anonymous) 2015-10-08 07:11 pm (UTC)(link)If he wasn't raised Catholic his family is probably secular. The people labeling him Jewish have not done their homework because unless he is a convert he would not be.
Sources below my iPad is being a pain in the ass and has erased this post like four times to my irritation.
Re: Is Foggy Jewish?
(Anonymous) 2015-10-08 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/america.htm
Re: Is Foggy Jewish?
(Anonymous) 2015-10-08 07:18 pm (UTC)(link)https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell%27s_Kitchen
Other sources: I grew up Catholic (Italian family from New Jersey) and I have a friend from agricultural upstate New York who is Irish Catholic.
Re: Is Foggy Jewish?
(Anonymous) 2015-10-08 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)Keeping in mind that I am not Jewish, wikipedia advises me that:
"In general, Orthodox Judaism considers individuals born of Jewish mothers to be Jewish, even if they convert to or are raised in another religion. Reform Judaism views Jews who convert to or are raised in another religion as non-Jews."
In New York City with it's large Jewish population, it's incredibly possible that even if his father's background is Irish Catholic, he could have a Jewish mother and have been raised Jewish or be considered Jewish. We know nothing about his mother's background except that she wanted him to be a butcher, and kosher butcher shops are a thing.
So maybe leave the Jewish people embracing that headcanon in peace and let them have it if they want it.
Without knowing anything about his parents (or Matt's mother too), I would also encourage against rejecting biracial or other multi-ethnic Foggy or Matt headcanons. Assuming that something will never be canon (which tells you something about the state of Hollywood, really) is not the same as it not being canon.
Re: Is Foggy Jewish?
(Anonymous) 2015-10-08 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)Re: Is Foggy Jewish?
(Anonymous) 2015-10-08 08:13 pm (UTC)(link)Nor am I not letting anyone not have peace? I don't have a namespace account anywhere except ao3 and I am merely expressing my knowledge of the area because I have been very curious about Hell's Kitchen since reading and watching Daredevil.
Re: Is Foggy Jewish?
(Anonymous) 2015-10-08 08:33 pm (UTC)(link)Sorry if it came across as combative. I didn't mean for it to be. I just feel like if someone has that headcanon, it may be for a personal reason as well, and they shouldn't have to go to great lengths to justify it or have the default assumption be that they're wrong by other fans.
Re: Is Foggy Jewish?
(Anonymous) 2015-10-08 08:45 pm (UTC)(link)I am also very protective of Catholic characters in fandom in general. In a lot of ways growing up Catholic is a cultural thing much like growing up Mormon or Jewish so I want characters to be Catholic like me. I apologize for being defensive.
Re: Is Foggy Jewish?
(Anonymous) 2015-10-13 09:07 pm (UTC)(link)