Morrissey, whose first name is Steven, was born and raised in Manchester, England.
Morrissey grew up Catholic, but he doesn't have particularly wonderful things to say about the church. When asked if he's ever turned to religion in his life he said,
At no time. I am a seriously lapsed Catholic. . . . [A]fter being forced to go to church and never understanding why and never enjoying it, seeing so many negative things, and realizing it somehow wasn't for me. I can only have faith in things I see.[1]
And he didn't just move away from the church quietly, he seems to vehemently loathe it. He called the Pope a hypocrite, said if Jesus could see what the Catholics were up to he wouldn't approve, and called the whole religion a ploy to keep working class Brits scared and poor.[2]
That doesn't mean he's an atheist. He said he was never able to "shed" his Catholic upbringing, but stopped short of saying he believed in God. When asked if he talks to God he said,
Well, we all do. Which is a form of prayer in itself. The most common phrase bandied about these days is 'Oh my God'. People say it automatically all the time – not realizing that that's a form of prayer.[3]
The ambiguity there sounds agnostic to me.
Morrissey's voting for the animals
Morrissey is all over the board with his political criticisms. He's ready to lay into pretty much any politician on any side (except of course Obama in 2008[4] ). And some of his stunts seem more sensationalist than sincere. Perhaps this quote will help sum things up:
Good people do not succeed in politics–it's impossible.[5]
Starting with the conservatives, he wrote the song "Margaret On The Guillotine" about Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher:
The kind people/ Have a wonderful dream/ Margaret on the guillotine/ . . . When will you die?/ When will you die?/ When will you die? . . .[6]
You get the point. He wasn't a fan. And Tony Blair, on the side of Labour, fared no better. Speaking about Blair's cozy relationship with George W. Bush, he said,
I see no difference between Blair or Bush and Saddam Hussein–all egotistical dictators. Perhaps the only difference is that Blair and Bush do it with a smile.[7]
And even though he supported Obama initially, by 2012 he was calling the President "simply a set of teeth, and useless in every other regard."[8]
As would be expected, the Royal family doesn't get any special treatment. To put it succinctly, Morrissey said,
I think they're absolutely horrible people. I think they're arrogant, horrible dictators.[9]
Morrissey's real passion however seems to lay with animals–and in fact he seems to like them more than people. He's been a vegetarian since 11-years-old; he's an avid supporter of PETA;[10] and he wrote a song called "Meat is Murder."[11] After the tragic shooting in Norway in 2011 in which 77 people were killed, Morrissey stated,
We all live in a murderous world, as the events in Norway have shown. . . . Though that is nothing compared to what happens in McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Shit every day.[12]
He caught some hell for that one. In the end, Morrissey seems to dislike everything about politics, unless it's animals.
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