Is Superman an Atheist? Is Batman?

[Jolly_Penguin]

Superman isn't from earth.. it would be fascinating to discuss religion with him. He grew up under what was certainly a Christian family, right? But he also knows we are not alone in the universe and Krypton probably had other views on religion. The whole God seeing humans a his central concern is bound to fall apart within the mind of Clark Kent, yes?

And Batman.... Despite his obsession with everything gothic, I'm pretty sure he's an atheist. He never mentions religion and seems to have a skeptical mind.

Thoughts?

 

[none]

He-man believed in the power of gray skull

 

[Underseer]

Superman isn't from earth.. it would be fascinating to discuss religion with him. He grew up under what was certainly a Christian family, right? But he also knows we are not alone in the universe and Krypton probably had other views on religion. The whole God seeing humans a his central concern is bound to fall apart within the mind of Clark Kent, yes?

And Batman.... Despite his obsession with everything gothic, I'm pretty sure he's an atheist. He never mentions religion and seems to have a skeptical mind.

Thoughts?

Superman and Batman are close friends with Wonder Woman, who personally knows most of the Greek gods. In order to be atheists, they would have to decide that Diana is insane. Even if neither Batman nor Superman are Christian, then at the very least they have to acknowledge that gods do in fact exist in their universe. They might not choose to worship any of them, but they have to acknowledge that they exist, don't they?

And frankly, I would expect Batman to be Christian.

Bruce Wayne spends millions of dollars on Arkham Asylum trying to redeem the irredeemable. What makes this interesting is that as a successful businessman, he must have the skill of knowing a losing proposition when he sees one and cutting his losses as early as possible once he figures out something won't produce results. If he did not have that skill, he would have lost his fortune and driven Wayne Inudstries into bankruptcy a long time ago.

Yet in spite of this, he will not give up on trying to reform and redeem the clinically insane supervillains at Arkham. No matter how many times he fails to rehabilitate any of them, he keeps on trying.

So he is willing to ignore his own good sense and the evidence and just keeps bashing his head against the wall over and over again out of a desperate desire to believe that everyone can be redeemed. That sounds very Christian to me.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Batman first -- he's really "Bruce", a rich guy who keeps his twink ward, "Robin," in his mansion. At night, they dress up in tights. I harrrrrdly think they're reading the Bible a lot in that mansion.
Superman apparently flew backwards in time to save Lois Lane -- could he not then fly back in time and take JC off the cross? But then, no martyr, no potluck suppers.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Job 1
⁶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.
⁷ And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

---

Are the sons of God also Gods? Is Satan?

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Superman and Batman are close friends with Wonder Woman, who personally knows most of the Greek gods. In order to be atheists, they would have to decide that Diana is insane. Even if neither Batman nor Superman are Christian, then at the very least they have to acknowledge that gods do in fact exist in their universe. They might not choose to worship any of them, but they have to acknowledge that they exist, don't they?

Good point. I also wonder if Superman himself would qualify as a God by the same standards in their universe.

 

[none]

I know this is DC topic but Marvel had the beyonder
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyonder

The Beyonder is a fictional cosmic entity appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Jim Shooter[1] and artist Mike Zeck, the Beyonder first appeared in Secret Wars #1 (May 1984) as an unseen, omnipotent being who kidnapped the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe and had them do battle on another planet called Battleworld.
...

 

[zorq]

It's not just Greek gods in the DC universe.

In the DC comic universe magic is very real (Zatana). The dead have souls (Deadman). They can go to Hell which is a physical place where demons live (Etrigan). Heaven is a physical place too where Angels live and fallen angels (Asmodel) visit Earth. The Specter is a character who along with the angels in Heaven obeys the "Omnipotent Presence."

I assume that Batman knows all of these things. I think if the word "theist" has a practical meaning then Batman is definitely a theist, but I doubt that he worships any of the gods he knows about. Does Superman? I don't know.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Don't forget Stanley and his monster, the monster being the demon The Beast With No Name, banished to Earth for disappointing Lucifer.

In the DC universe, 'theist' probably is defined as 'one who has been paying attention.'

 

[Angra Mainyu]

Superman and Batman are close friends with Wonder Woman, who personally knows most of the Greek gods. In order to be atheists, they would have to decide that Diana is insane. Even if neither Batman nor Superman are Christian, then at the very least they have to acknowledge that gods do in fact exist in their universe. They might not choose to worship any of them, but they have to acknowledge that they exist, don't they?

I suppose they might go the way of Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: he acknowledges of course that Thor and Loki exist, but denies they're gods. In fact, he claims there is only one god ("The Avengers").
I guess a question then is: "what's a god?"

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Superman and Batman are close friends with Wonder Woman, who personally knows most of the Greek gods. In order to be atheists, they would have to decide that Diana is insane. Even if neither Batman nor Superman are Christian, then at the very least they have to acknowledge that gods do in fact exist in their universe. They might not choose to worship any of them, but they have to acknowledge that they exist, don't they?

I suppose they might go the way of Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: he acknowledges of course that Thor and Loki exist, but denies they're gods. In fact, he claims there is only one god ("The Avengers").
I guess a question then is: "what's a god?"

Captain America of all people is an atheist? Never saw that coming.

 

[Angra Mainyu]

I suppose they might go the way of Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: he acknowledges of course that Thor and Loki exist, but denies they're gods. In fact, he claims there is only one god ("The Avengers").
I guess a question then is: "what's a god?"

Captain America of all people is an atheist? Never saw that coming.

No, he isn't. As I mentioned, he claims there is only one god. He's probably a Christian.
What I was saying is that Batman and Superman might believe about Zeus, etc., what Captain America believes about to Thor, Loki, etc. In other words, even if Batman and Superman believe that Zeus, Athena, etc., exist, they might believe that they are not gods. Whether they're atheists is another matter, but their believe in the existence of Zeus and company does not seem to preclude that...assuming we have a concept of "atheist" that doesn't preclude that, that is.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

When gods are wandering around on the streets and you know people who've died and had their souls continue to exist in other realms, you would need to be particularly stupid or particularly obstinate to be an atheist.

If either of them have metaphysical questions about the nature of the supernatural, they can just ask around and get straightforward answers instead of staring at their belly buttons and philosophizing about it. Which itself raises an interesting question - does Superman have a belly button?

 

[Underseer]

I know this is DC topic but Marvel had the beyonder
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyonder

The Beyonder is a fictional cosmic entity appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Jim Shooter[1] and artist Mike Zeck, the Beyonder first appeared in Secret Wars #1 (May 1984) as an unseen, omnipotent being who kidnapped the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe and had them do battle on another planet called Battleworld.
...

Both Marvel and DC have analogs to the Abrahamic god. The one in the Marvel universe is called the One Above All (Howard the Duck gets into arguments with Him). I don't recall the name of the DC version.

- - - Updated - - -

Captain America of all people is an atheist? Never saw that coming.

No, he isn't. As I mentioned, he claims there is only one god. He's probably a Christian.
What I was saying is that Batman and Superman might believe about Zeus, etc., what Captain America believes about to Thor, Loki, etc. In other words, even if Batman and Superman believe that Zeus, Athena, etc., exist, they might believe that they are not gods. Whether they're atheists is another matter, but their believe in the existence of Zeus and company does not seem to preclude that...assuming we have a concept of "atheist" that doesn't preclude that, that is.

That is just quibbling over the definition of god.

Almost any god from any pantheon you can think of exists somewhere in the Marvel universe, and it seems like most of them have tried to destroy New York city at one time or another. I just don't see how anyone in that universe could be an atheist seeing as how so many gods have been in the news and on TV.

 

[Keith&Co.]

I just don't see how anyone in that universe could be an atheist seeing as how so many gods have been in the news and on TV.

The same way so many apologists try to create god in this universe... Simply define it away.

They do this all the fucking time in Star Trek. They've met Apollo, Satan, Quezacoatl. They've met omnipotent/omniscient beings, such as Q, Kevin, Trelane (or Trelane's Parents). They've met beings which have existed since the universe formed such as Q. And Q. And, of course, Q & Q.

And yet various captains still feel comfortable telling one or more omniwowsie beings "You're no god!"

They never quite explain the discrete qualities that separate, say, Q from what makes 'A god,' but they're certainly insistent upon this fact. Somewhere in the Directives following the Prime Directive must be a definition of what makes A God, so they'll know the distinction.

I'm guessing it's revealed in Command School.

 

[DBT]

With godlike powers and abilities, apparently just as powerful as the Greek or Norse gods, or arguably more so, couldn't Superman be defined as a god?

 

[Atheos]

Yes. I think Superman is a modern day god myth similar to Hercules. Replace Mt. Olympus with Krypton and bear in mind that the original Superman was not "invulnerable," could not fly and didn't have heat/xray vision or "super breath." He was fast, could jump over buildings and more powerful than a locomotive.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Superman and Batman are close friends with Wonder Woman, who personally knows most of the Greek gods.

Wait, the Greek gods are part of the Superman mythology?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Ya, Zeus is Wonder Woman's dad and she hangs out in Olympus all the time. I'm sure Superman has been there at least a few times.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Yes. I think Superman is a modern day god myth similar to Hercules. Replace Mt. Olympus with Krypton and bear in mind that the original Superman was not "invulnerable," could not fly and didn't have heat/xray vision or "super breath." He was fast, could jump over buildings and more powerful than a locomotive.

The reason that he can fly us that the whoosh sound to have him flying sounded better on the radio program than some kind of hopping sound, so they had him do that instead.