> In Texas, it is found every 12 centimeters. Heck, the individual light bulbs have those little fish things on them.

[minor rant]

I'm alternately amused and irked by the escalating "fish symbol war" being waged on automotive posteriors here in North Carolina, if not nationwide.

When the original fish symbol got popular, I thought it was kind of neat, but didn't feel any compulsion to run out and buy one and affix it to my car to advertise my Jesusness.

When the "Darwin" fish came out as a parody to the original, I was amused at its cleverness, but put off by the other "foaming-at-the-mouth-over-stupid-fundamentalists" bumper stickers that so often accompanied it. The Darwin fish was a sly poke at the increasingly ubiquitous original, but it got appropriated as polemic against the Christian element in right-wing politics.

When the "TRUTH-swallowing-Darwin" fish came out, I groaned. Whatever element of humor the whole parody had was now out the window. Now things have escalated to the point where putting a simple Christian fish-symbol on the back of your car is like wearing gang colors, propelling you into the midst of a fruitless, invective-filled political tussle.

Recently I saw a new flavor of the symbol: a "Science" fish with a small jet of flame behind it, making the torpedo-shaped fish resemble a rocket ship from a low-budget 50's sci-fi movie. Once again, I laughed at the ingenuity of the parody, but the humor will be lost on most folks.

I don't dispute that religious truth is worth battling over, but there are better arenas.

Iss "floundering" achar


For the curious, the early Christians took the fish as their symbol because "ichthus", the Greek word for "fish", lent itself to a convenient acronym:

Iesous
CHristos
THeou
Uios
Soter

...which means "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior."