If you could be any superhero, you should always choose Batman. It is a basic law of comic book geekery. In a fight between Batman and pretty anyone, Batman always wins. Batman is a detective who researches his adversary, finds their weakness, and figures out how to exploit it. While he cannot fly, doesn’t have heat vision, can’t command the fish with telepathy, or have any other supernatural abilities, he does have the super power of logic.
Batman is the ultimate skeptic. With the power of critical thinking and strategic planning no supernatural or super-powered hero or villain is a match for him. The following is a short clip from the animated film, “World’s Finest.” It is the first scene encounter between Batman and Superman:
My point here is to show that the super power that Batman has is a super power that we all can have. As skeptics, we understand that value of critical thinking and strategic planning. We have shown that we have the ability to break away from the indoctrination of religious ideas and that is no easy feat.
We all have the potential to be a Batman to some extent – to use the power of logic to save lives. Being an atheist activist is just that. We are saving lives. Every time we interact with religious believers we are modeling a life without supernatural beliefs. We are pulling them out of their dogmatic bubble just by being open about our lack of belief.
But it doesn’t end there. When we are able to show them a world outside of the supernatural and pointing out the flaws in their thinking, we are helping them to deal with reality. But it isn’t just about them. It is also about us and the human race. Religious beliefs are dangerous. They are a threat to human happiness, human survival, and human potential.
Religious beliefs twist people’s view of morality and blind them to scientific understanding. When it comes to major ethical issues, religious beliefs often get in the way of progressive change. The Bible advocates for slavery and those who supported slavery during the Civil War definitely had the Biblical high ground even though there were some religious believers who were abolitionists. Those religious abolitionists opposed slavery despite their religious beliefs; not because of them. The same is true with the suffrage movement, the civil rights movement, and the gay rights movement of today. At every turn, religious believers were the main opposition, while secular humanists, atheists, and skeptics lead the fight for more rights for more people.
Today, we still lead the fight for equality toward others. By using the power of logic we are making the world a better place. If you could be any superhero, always be Batman. Always use your superpower. Use the superpower of logic to make the world a better place.
Our adversary is a world gone mad with ridiculous supernatural beliefs. We need to think about this. When we meet a religious believer, we need to understand why they believe what they believe and then find the weakness in their beliefs, and figure out how to exploit that weakness the way Batman would. Christians often ask, “What Would Jesus Do?” I think atheists should be asking, “What Would Batman Do?”
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