Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Religious Music & Entertainment
Faith, Doubt and Batman

Faith, Doubt and Batman

Last updated on: August 23, 2018 at 3:44 pm by Paul Asay

Faith, Doubt and Batman 2018-08-23T15:44:11-06:00 Paul Asay

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Bruce Wayne makes his atheistic declaration in the context of a jury trial for Mr. Freeze—a perennial Gotham City villain who Batman beat the chilly tar out of a while ago. Bruce feels bad about the whole thing now, believing that Batman—his own mirror image—went way farther than he should’ve.

King’s Bruce Wayne lost faith in God a long time ago (which contradicts Batman’s 1939 origin story, which is repeated by others, where he actually commits to crimefighting through prayer). But he found faith in Batman—Gotham’s very own savior king. And he came to believe that the hero was infallible.

The Mr. Freeze thing proved to Bruce that Batman’s very fallible indeed. “He’s not God,” he says to the jurors. “God blesses your soul with grace. … Batman punches people in the face.”

Whatever Batman’s relationship is with God these days—and whatever it’ll be at the end of King’s expected 100-issue story arc—is pretty secondary to No. 53’s real crisis of faith: Batman’s doubt in Batman.

I’ve done a lot of radio interviews recently about the conditional nature of heroes. The instigator: Chris Pratt, a funny, down-to-earth actor who’s been saying some awfully great things about Christianity lately. Should we embrace Pratt as a role model? I’m asked.

We Christians are often starved for heroes, it seems, and we look for them wherever we can. And when we find them, we sometimes make the same mistake that everyone else does: We assume that because they’re doing some great things in this area, they’re doing great things in every other area of their lives, too. We want to believe in them, even though we know full well how flawed and fallible we all are. And so when our heroes and role models prove as fallible as anyone else, we rip them from the pillars we’ve placed them on and cast them down.

Pratt himself addressed the fallibility of man in an acceptance speech for the MTV Movie Awards:

Nobody is perfect. People will tell you that you are perfect just the way that you are, you’re not! You’re imperfect. You always will be, but there is a powerful force that designed you that way, and if you are willing to accept that, you will have grace. And grace is a gift. Like the freedom that we enjoy in this country, that grace was paid for with somebody else’s blood. Do not forget it. Don’t take it for granted.

Grace, that word again—the word that Bruce invoked in the jury room, the word that Batman has always had an imperfect understanding of.

How much we all need grace. Even Batman.

We’ve all heroes aplenty fall over the years. Christian heroes, sadly, seem especially susceptible. When I was a kid, religious leaders like Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker were all over the news for their moral failings. Now, it’s Bill Hybels. Leaders who claim and aim to point us to a better way find themselves in more obvious need of redemption themselves.

We see it in our own lives, too. We’re painfully aware of how often we screw up. Bruce Wayne has learned something that many of us have learned, and re-learned, again and again. We’re broken.

“I’m lost,” Batman tells Alfred at the end of Batman #53. “I need to remember who I am.”

Go back Continue Reading

Previous Post

August 16, 2018

Aretha Franklin, 'A Gift From God,' Goes Home

Next Post

August 31, 2018 Wrestling with Evil in Operation Finale (and in Real Life, Too)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books celebrities Editor's Choice games movies music news sports superheroes television Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 December 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 September 2023 March 2023 February 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 December 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What ritual involved ashes of a red heifer?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Inheritance Purification Marriage Harvest

Books by This Author Books by Paul Asay

See All Titles »