Chapter Text
Bruce had never thought of himself as a religious person, but both his parents had been. His mother, even though he had been eight when she died, had made sure to instill a sense of Jewish pride in him. She had attended temple regularly, kept Sabbath, celebrated the high holidays, wrapped her hair as a married woman, and cursed out those who questioned her faith because of her husband, those who demanded women pray in separate spaces, and those who threw pennies at them as they crossed the street. She had hated that more than the paparazzi’s, but she taught him to keep his head held high, no matter what, and that he was a force of nature to be reckoned with.
His father had been Episcopalian. He had slipped off to worship every Sunday and again for a Bible study every Thursday. He had volunteered at a shelter for the unhoused people of Gotham and said that was the most faithful part of his week. He was the one who made sure that the money was going to the right places when they sent it off to charities. He too, kept his head held high, took communion, and told his pastor queer people, “their strangeness,” was God given a natural, even as members of his congregation gave him disparaging looks when he brought his family to church.
Bruce was always confused when people wondered where his sense of social justice had come from. To him it was quite clear he had inherited both the best and worst of his parents. As a child, he had attended both Jewish and Christian services, but at around six, he decided that the candles and fire in Jewish worship made for a more interesting prayer and stopped attending church regularly.
As an adult, Bruce was mostly a lapsed Jew. He might light the candles and do a little something for the high holidays, but he had no one to do it with. He had not consistently gone to a temple since his teens, when he had stormed out after someone had told him he tied tefillin like his mother, and had not kept kosher in just as long. He had been too embarrassed to go back the following Friday, having cursed in a holy space in front of everyone and ignored emails asking after his well being every month since.
Although memories of Christmas morning were some of the fondest he had with his father, Bruce hadn’t felt a connection to that faith since he was maybe seven and had not been celebrating Christmas for nearly as long.
Then, in his late 20s, Bruce met his first and oldest son. Somehow, his son belongs to an even smaller, ethno-religion and would sooner master English before he taught Bruce a word of Romani. He would later learn that protection and knowledge of the language was one of the only protections the Roma community had.
Thankfully, Alfred found out that there was a small Roma community in Bludhaven. This excited all of them, so three days a week Bruce or Alfred would drive Dick over to the community centre (which suddenly got a large donation that Bruce would never admit to). They researched what they could, which wasn’t much, and learned slightly more from Dick and a handful of community elders.
Bruce could respect it, but Barbara’s faith was much easier to understand. She was United as Alfred was Anglican, which was to say very. It was easier to understand in equal parts because he had grown up around Christianity and because he was allowed to.
Then there was Jason, who would admit to going mass occasionally as a young child. Once he had hesitantly accepted Bruce’s offer of a ride to mass, but had been in the service for no longer than 20 minutes before storming back out into the car. Bruce didn’t push it or mention it again. Regardless of if memories were good or bad the past could be painful. Bruce learned this lesson once again after Jason’s death.
It was only after Tim spent his first night in the manner that either of them learned of the others observance. Bruce was stunned when he learned about the amount of belief in the young teen. He had known that the Drakes were Jewish, but thought that with Tim’s love of computers and science, and perhaps his own bias, that the Drakes were mostly non-observant like he was.
At least with Tim, that was a lie. The boy spoke English, Hebrew, and Yiddish fluently. Tim also went to temple regularly and suddenly it made sense why he had never spotted the young boy taking photographs on a Saturday. Alfred was thrilled he now had a reason to keep a kosher kitchen again. Once Tim was formally adopted, and even before, they spent the high holidays together. It was nice, to practice with somebody again and to lead prayers for the household with someone in the household who also believed. In a lot of different ways Tim strengthened his sense of self.
He was surprised when Tim asked to have a friend over, but happily agreed on the condition that he meet her. Bruce just come up from the cave (upon Alfred's summons for dinner), having spent the fast few hours wrapped up in the Clue Master case. The last dangling thread was the identity of Spoiler. When he walked into his dining room Bruce’s jaw fell open to find the answer with her feet up on his table.
He didn’t say anything to her; however, he did tell Dick and Barbara (who had also been looking into her identity). It was the two of them who convinced him to give her proper equipment and training rather than shut her down. In the end, Bruce thinks it was the promise of a fully functional Kirpan that won her over. It was Dick who made the connection and offer.
It left Bruce scrambling; Dick could apparently read and write Gurmukhi while Bruce knew next to nothing about Sikhism. The shared visibility as minority religions was apparently how Tim Drake and Stephanie Kaur became friends. So Bruce learned, about this new hero and her civilian side, about her faith and the ferocity with which she served. If many of the Gotham Gurdwara’s got sudden, anonymous donations they kept quiet about it just like the Roma group in Bludhaven did.
They had guarded over religious buildings before, for religious leaders brave enough to ask, but it was around the time that Stephanie officially joined the team that they not yet dubbed Night Vigils became common. Since 15 Dick had done them routinely at the community center, and whoever was available guarded large, and public religious events. Bruce and Tim had a patrol route that let them hit every temple in the city and when Barbara had patrolled she had one for each district of the city that took her past most of their churches. It was Stephanie who asked him, on the anniversary of 9/11, to safeguard the other Gurdwara in the city. It was Dick, who asked what about the mosques? They guarded them too. It was after that night, with photos of their guarding and five arrests of attempted vandalism going viral the next day that the Bats became someone a religious person or organization could ask for help.
It was at this point that people noticed the Star of David in the bottom right corner of Batman‘s cape, the script running down Nightwing’s leg, the cameras with green crosses sprinkled around the city, the United Church logo on Red Hood‘s lapel, the Star of David on the new Robins, and Spoilers Kirpan. The Bats became a safe space for religious Gothamites, but a bat might be particularly safe for a member of their own faith. The city knew a camera with a cross meant help.
The city, however, did not know what to think of their new Batgirl. The previous one had yellow crosses on her legs, this one seemingly had no religious adherence. It made them wary. The other Bats did not feel the same way. Bruce loved his new and first official daughter, supporting her decision to learn about all sorts of faith until one spoke to her and believing that if none spoke to her, there was nothing wrong with disbelief either unless it was done disrespectfully. He thought it was a fascinating process to watch and help Cass sift through Gotham’s many faith communities to find one that fit her. She had attended a wide variety of churches, temples, mosques, and Satsangs among others.
It wasn’t until Cass, on live television as Batgirl, single-handedly protected a group of first nations from the police (the best part about working outside of the law) that Gotham warmed up to her. It helped that later a picture of the girl at a Powwow went semi viral. All of a sudden, Bruce was learning about all sorts of Indigenous rights issues, and many of the government's historical wrongs. He spent a few months throwing so much money at so many different things that he should have known existed.
Cass (and Batgirl) became his point of contact. Bruce was yet to figure out if she had told them her identity or had let them stumble across it. He was, however, more surprised when an eagle feather got mailed to the Batcave from the Lenape for his daughter. He raised his brows farther at the note that came with it, then read it aloud to Cass. They compromised, and he put the image of the eagle feather down her leg, the real one was too precious for nightly outings.
Damien’s faith made the most and the least sense. In theory, the League of Assassin’s religion was Ra’s A Ghul, but Damien’s clear request to attend worship at a mosque two weeks after his arrival made it clear this was not the League of Assassin’s actual religion. The bigger issue with Damien was his opinion of other religions. He considered Cass the biggest offender as she “didn’t truly belong to any religion“ and the spirituality she had largely been adopted into had an energy God, not a deity. Dick received similar pushback, Damien questioning if he even had a religion as it was so esoteric.
Sikhism, Judaism, and Christianity were more fine, but still inferior. Damien could not wrap his head around liberation over heaven, that the religion should be questioned, or a core principle of unconditional love (although Bruse thinks this is more a LoA problem than an Islamic one). It was the main reason Damian had yet to become Robin (since his arrival Tim had been drafting new suit designs). The Bats kept people of all faiths safe and respected. They did so with great care and respect. If one of their number could not be respectful, they did not get to fly.