The Bible

We find several allusions to the Bible in the stories about life in Duckburg. In "The Talking Dog" (WDC 152) Donald does all he can to participate in a quiz show. The problem, however, is that he has to do something unique to get his name i the papers. During one of his attempts, Donald is eaten by a whale. One might think that this is enough, but according to the host of the quiz show a guy called Jonah perfomed a similar trick a couple of thousand years ago.
Jonah spent three days inside the whale (Jonah 2:1-11) and that God lets Jonah escape. In "The Talking Dog" God is replaced by an orange.

The story about Jonah is an important part of life in Duckburg. There is even a story named after the prophet - "Jonah Gyro" (W US 48-03). Gyro has made a fish that attracts other fish. The fishing friends does not like this, and forces him to throw away the fish. The fish attracts heaps of fish - and a whale that swallows Gyro. "Land of the Pygmy Indians" alludes to Jesus. We see Donald running on water just before he is eaten by the fish. You can read about Jesus' walk on water in Matthew 14:22-33 and Mark 6:47-52.

Samson is another popular person from the Old Testament. In "Biceps Blues" (WDC 69-02) we find several references to the story about Samson and Delilah. Huey, Dewey and Louie makes Donald believe that he is as strong as one of the big, strong men in Duckburg (he happens to be the boyfriend of one of Daisy's friends). They convince Daisy that he really is strong by wrecking her piano. Daisy tries to impress her friend by jumping off a cliff to land in Donald's arms saying: "Gjør deg klar Samson! Her kommer din lille Dalila!" And just as Dalilah removed Samson's strength, Donald is as weak as always when she lands ontop of him. This is, btw, probably the closest we get to sexual intercourse in Duckburg.
We find the last refernce to Samson in Don Rosa's The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, chapter 8 (D 92514). Scrooge is tied to the smokestacks at Soapy Slick's floating casino. When Soapy makes fun of the death of Scrooge's mother, he tears the smokestacks down and sinks the riverboat. Samson was captured by the Philistines, and killed many of their nobles when tearing down the pillars he was tied to. Don Rosa claims that this did not happen in reality, but the symbolism is still there. (You can read the story about Samson and Delilah in Judges 16:24-30.

Another popular old testament character is Noah (Genesis 6:9-8:17). The Junior Woodchucks helps the women in A.R.K. saving "the doomed wildlife of mistyvale forest" in "Hark the Ark" (JW 23-01). They don't save just one male and one female of each species as Noah did, they save all animals - not only the deers, hedgehogs and squirrels. They even save the grasshoppers, and woodticks. I honestly do not know what elephants and lions are doing in a Duckburg forrest, but I guess there is a reason. Well, in the end the brave woodchucks get the animals onboard their ark, and bring the ship to Wildwood Island after much ado.
Scrooge owns a very old zoo. The last time he bought a new animal, he says in "The Billion Dollar Safari" (US 54-01), was "when Noah had his end-of-the-flood sale" There is a referance to Noah's ark in "The Snow Chaser" (OS 1073-04). Huey, Dewey and Louie take cover in grandma's storm cellar when one of Gyro's inventions makes lightnings. Louie says: "Ugh! This storm cellar is more like an overloaded Noah's ark!"

"Omelet" (WDC 146-01) has a reference to Israel's exodus from Egypt. As The Ducks takes thier 10 000 chicken to town to sell them, an old lady says "Is it a plague of locusts?"

The only reference have found to the prophets is in "The Village Blacksmith" (WDC 239-01). In this story Duckburg celebrates its 100 years of peace by pounding a cannon to plowshares, a reference to Isaiah 2:4 where God promises that "and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." (The cannon fires because Donald failed to remove the cannon ball before heating it, btw.)

The only woman from biblical times mentioned, is the queen of Sheba. Scrooge brings the ducks to her country in "McDuck av Arabia" (US 55-01). The queen visited king Solomon (see 1 Kings 9:1-12). King Solomon is also mentioned in "The Mines of King Solomon" (US 19-02). In this story Scrooge discovers a mine given to Solomon by his father-in-law, the Pharaoh (see 1. Kings 8:8, 9:24, 11:1, 2. Chronicles 8:11). The pharao's daughter made Solomon turn away from God (1 Kings 11:1ff. And in "Limber W Dude Ranch" (WDC 35-01) Donald rides a rather old horse called Methuselah).

Satan in Duckburg

God is not mentioned often in the stories about Duckburg, but the Satan is. In "Trick or Treat" (DD 26-02) we meet Witch Hazel with her broom Beelzebub. Beelsebub is one of the names used for the Satan in the Bible. The name is used in Matthew 10:25, 12:24, 27, Mark 2:2, Luke 11:15, 18 19.
Then, in The Master Rainmaker (WDC 156-01) we see a devilish figure encouraging Donald's jealousy. The result of this is that Donald makes the clouds freeze and ruins lots of cars. In "The Golden Christmas Tree" (OS 203-02) the evil witch is making a brew to destroy all the christmas trees. I guess Satan would like to ruin the Christmas, we can at least see him going for a swin in the evil brew.
We see a different kind of satan in "Big-top Bedlam" (OS 300-02). Donald has lost a brooch he should look after for Daisy, and discovers that it in a circus. The man in possession of the brooch dresses as a monkey, a fireman, and later as Satan. Donald rips Satan off the the man and later he recovers the brooch. I shall not comment on any thelogical implications of Donald's ripping off Satan The inhabitants of Duckburg do believe in Satan's existence. In "The Wax Museum " (WDC 231-01) we can see a him on display.

The saints

Now and then we find references to the saints. The saints are not religious icons in Duckburg, one example is St. Nicholas He is portrayed more as the Coca Cola kind of Santaclaus than as the bishop of Myra. St. Mark is mentioned twice. In "A Duck's Eye View Of Europe" (WDC 273-01) Donald has a few seconds to see the St. Marco cathedral, and in "Monkey Business" (W WDC 297-01) he is asked to fix the churchbells in the church. In "A Duck's Eye View Of Europe" we do, btw., see a St. Bernard dog with carrying gas (not alcohol). The religious aspect of this is about as strong as the religious aspect of Valentine. We do not know what St. Valentine is the saint of this tradition, but in "Ten-Cent Valentine" (WDC 258-01) Magica de Spell sends Scrooge a Valentine. This does not, however, lead to any kisses or marriage.
Donald is a bit more heroic in "Knight in Shining Armor" (WDC 198-02) Donald arrives at a costume ball as a knight - being a knight is his secret dream. Donald is scorned for this dream, but later he saves the people who laughed at him when a lion escapes. Donald fights the lion carrying a shield with the image of St. George on it and a rubber sword.

The Ducks' relationship to churchgoing and prayer

The Ducks go to church or pray in several stories, but it seems to be more ad hoc than regular activities at least for Donald. Prayer is usually used in desperation like it is in "Volcano Valley" (OS 147-02). The Ducks pray that the plane should not crash while the pilote is taking his siesta. Knowing all the dangers the Ducks are exposed to, one should not wonder that they resort to prayer in such situations from time to time.
Huey, Dewey and Louie on the other hand are known to say their evening prayers. In a newspaper daily (YD 38-10-09) they pray God to "help unca Donald to keep his temper". Donald does not take the prayer well. In "The Hard Loser" (OS 29-02) the ducklings say "You cheat! You swindler! We won't ever mention you in our prayers again!"

What the Ducks do not do, is to give money to the church. Huey, Dewey and Louie may help collecting money, but only for icecream and candies Usually it is Donald who steals from his nephews to buy whatever he needs the money for, but stealing from the church like Hueym Dewey and Louie does in (1938). Donald on the other hand does not steal money from the church, but he pretends to have broken both his arms when going to church.

All this goes on early in the Ducks' carreer, the closest we get to churchgoing later is (except the visit in "The Phantom of Notre Duck", (US 60-01) is Donald fighting a (false) nun in Don Rosa's "The Last Lords of El Dorado" (D 96066). In "Old California" (OS 328-02) we see a munk, and the Duck's drive past an abandoned monastery. The question is: Is Donald an apostate, and if so: Is this due to presure from Disney censorship? It is hard to tell, but when we know the kind of censorship done by the E*** Empire has done, we might suspect that the answer is yes. What is for sure, is that the christian festivals are pretty secularized. Easter is the easter bunnies in easter parades ("The Easter Election", WDC 151-01), christmas is usually gifts and Santa Claus. Christmas is christmas carols ("Silent Night", CS WDC 64) and a witch trying to spoil christmas in "The Golden Christmas Tree" (OS 203-02) The most daring religious drawings in a christmas story is probably the drawing in "A Christmas For Shacktown" (OS 367-02, to the right) and a similar drawing in "A Letter To Santa" (CP 1-01).

Halloween is celebrated with witches and magic. This is hardly a surprise as long as Duckburg is in the USA. You can read about Huey, Dewey and Louie's involvement with witches on Halloween on the pages about witches

Scrooge McDuck - the mammonite

There is no doubt Scrooge is religious, but he does not go to church to often - I know of one two instances. The first time is in "The Phantom of Notre Duck" (US 60-01). In this story the Duckburg minster is more of a museum than a church. Scrooge also "visits" a churck in part two of "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" (D 91411. On the image to the left you can see how much religion was involved in this visit.

Scrooge's religion is Mammon (the money), and especially a certain dime from 1875. Although he appears to view himself as a christian in "Deep Down Doings" (US 37-05) - saying "those old heathen skippers always kept their valuables in a cranny under a carved demon!" The thought that you cannot serv God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24) has never occured to Scrooge. His service is to "dive into the money like porpoises or burrow through them like gophers or toss 'em up in the air and let 'em hit them on the head." Still, his religion is not without compassion, as we see in "Back to the Klondike" (OS 456-02). In this story Scrooge lets Glittering Goldie "find" his gold. And in "Horseradish Treasure" (OS 495-02) he saves the life of the fraud who wants to steal his fortune. The picture is, however, not all bright. In "Voodoo Hoodoo" (OS 238-02) and part 11 of "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" (D 93288) Scrooge drives a tribe away from its land. A second dark aspect of Scrooge's mammonism is his cold-heartedness when recovering money lent to others. This should demonstrate the dangers in having Mammon as God.

Nils Lid Hjort og Øystein Sørensen compares Scrooge to Max Weber's theory about protestant ethics in their article "Verdier og verdisyn i Andeby" (Values and value systems in Duckburg, ARR 1/98). Weber's theory is disputed, but a securalized kind of the protestant ethics does fit Scrooge.
For Scrooge's belief in charms, see the page on good and bad luck, and see the page about spirits for his belief in ghosts and other spirits. When we look at these beliefs and his mammonism, the conclusion has to be that Scrooge's relationship to christianity is that of a spectator's. His religion is the Almighty Dollar.