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Fishy
By Scott Harrup | April 4, 2008
Los Angeles Times columnist Jonah Goldberg’s April 1 subject struck me at first glance as a possible April Fools’ joke. The column, “Evolution of religious bigotry,” considered “the cowardice and intolerance of slapping a Darwin fish on your car bumper.”
I had already been taken in by a local Christian radio station’s April Fools’ plea for 99 cent donations for every song I chose to listen to that day. I didn’t donate, but I switched stations in a huff before it dawned on me they weren’t serious.
Goldberg’s subject is serious. He considers the latest uproar in the religious world over an Internet film critical of one of the planet’s major faiths. He then brings the subject of intolerance closer to home by examining the phenomenon of competing fish symbols—the traditional Christian variety, and the more recent Darwinian knock-off.
“I find Darwin fish offensive,” Goldberg writes. “First, there’s the smugness. The undeniable message: Those Jesus fish people are less evolved, less sophisticated than we Darwin fishers.
“The hypocrisy is even more glaring. Darwin fish are often stuck next to bumper stickers promoting tolerance or admonishing random motorists that ‘hate is not a family value.’ But the whole point of the Darwin fish is intolerance; similar mockery of a cherished symbol would rightly be condemned as bigoted if aimed at blacks or women.”
Goldberg’s column has me doing some personal pondering. I’ve observed the interplay of bumper-mounted piscine silhouettes for a number of years. The Jesus fish. The original Darwin fish. The bigger Jesus fish, usually with “truth” emblazoned in it, swallowing a Darwin fish. I guess the series could be expanded ad infinitum.
I appreciate Goldberg’s defense of the traditional message of the fish symbol, but I also wonder how many Christians share some of the attitudes Goldberg attributes to the “Darwin fishers.” As I examine my own heart, I have to be honest and say the Darwin fishers are far from cornering the market on intolerance and smug hypocrisy.
I don’t have a fish silhouette on my car, nor do I wear any fish jewelry. For that matter, I’ve rarely worn a cross or any other external symbol of my faith. But if I ever decide to announce my commitment to Christ with a bumper sticker or item of personal attire, I’ll have to really examine my motivation.
Would such an act honestly convey to others my deepest religious convictions in a manner that invites them to examine the claims of Christ for themselves? Or, if I were not careful, could a fish or cross end up proclaiming a radical disconnect between my profession of Christianity and my everyday life?
