Welcome to my website!

Religion in Dexter

About James Noftall, the website creator!

I am a 4th year Bachelor of Commerce student at Memorial University of Newfoundland from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. This website is part of the Religion and Pop Culture 2812 course at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

(Noftall, 2024)

My topic, "Religion in Dexter", came from my enjoyment of the show. Dexter is a crime series drama (2006-2013) and with its new beginning in 2021 called Dexter: New Blood. It follows Dexter Morgan, a forensic blood spatter analyst for the Miami Metro Police who secretly lives as a vigilante serial killer, targeting criminals who escape justice. When I started the course and was thinking of a topic, this was the first thing that came to mind! It made me think about how there is religion in the show and how many of the concepts and themes within the show have a deeper meaning.

(Stole, 2023)

This website is part of the Religion and Pop Culture 2812 course at Memorial University of Newfoundland. This website will dive deeper into the topics in Dexter, and will hopefully make others appreciate the show on another level.

Introduction

The vision of this website is to explore Dexter through the lens of religion and its themes in popular culture. My intention is to examine the show's use of religious symbolism, rituals, and moral dilemmas. Does Dexter engage with religious themes? Can Dexter be considered a story about faith, redemption, and sin?

According to Pittman, Dexter portrays a form of secular religion through his moral code (Pittman, 2015). This view may make people question whether or not this view is appropriate, as Dexter is a serial killer in the show and does some gruesome things. In an article by Everyday Christian, it was said that despite Dexters actions, his adherence to a moral code reflects religious ethics in some ways (Everyday Christian). Even though his moral code involves a sin such as killing, it is important to recognize how Hansen pointed out that Dexter's interactions with Brother Sam in season had introduced him to the possibility of redemption (Hansen, 2011).

Argument

The argument in this website will be how Dexter challenges traditional religious notions of morality, sin, and justice, by presenting Dexter as someone who operates outside of religion and the legal system. This show uses religious symbolism and themes to explore if morality is definitive and relative, to question if redemption is possible for someone like Dexter. Some religious figures in the show offer forgiveness and some paths to salvation, but Dexter suggests that faith and morality are not consistently aligned. This leaves us as an audience, questioning these ethical dilemmas.