It's not just bats. Plenty of wild animals carry rabies and other diseases. Bats are incredibly vital to their ecosystems and shouldn't be vilified. It's generally a good idea not to touch any wild animal or its droppings.

As someone else pointed out, bats eat mosquitos and other insects that transmit disease at much, much higher rates.

Then again bats also eat many many many bugs that carry disease. All things considered I'd rather have the bats then the bugs.

When I was living in San Francisco, I had bats take nest between my (rented) house and the place directly next door. It was just a few inches gap and perfect for them to build a nest in. I could hear them through the wall. Called the city to do something about it and since the bats were protected, there was nothing they could or would do about it.

I knew it was just full of poop in there...

One of the day trips on a Vietnam visit was swimming/wading deep into a bat cave. I wonder now what viruses we dodged and if they are still taking tourists in there?