Fish Sign Not For Elvises, Bobs Or Smart Alec Atheists

I peered so intensely at the bumper sticker on the back of the car in front of me that I nearly rear-ended it. What the heck was that, I wondered. It was a weird emblem that I couldn’t quite make out.

Fortunately, the traffic on Interstate 90 that day was heavy and eventually slowed to a steady crawl, just in time for me to get another good look at the mystery bumper sticker. I could see that it was a fish symbol, the kind that symbolizes Christianity. But what was that word inside? And why did it have legs? I was half tempted to try and get the driver’s attention to ask him. But at the last second, the car changed lanes and off it went.

Ironically, that night at dinner, my husband told me about a weird symbol he had seen on a car that same afternoon.

The word inside, he said, was “Darwin.” And the legs. “Isn’t Charles Darwin the guy who discovered the theory of evolution? I asked him. “You know, how we all first were ocean dwellers, sprouted legs, crawled onto land and evolved? Survival of the fittest?”

A light bulb went on over both our heads at the same time. Ahhhh, the creation-vs.-evolution debate, right there on the back of a Toyota. I actually don’t have too much trouble with the theory of evolution. I respect the beliefs of others even though I don’t subscribe to them myself. Besides, if you really think about it, the fact that we can’t stop child abusers, cure cancer or even stop humanity from ruining its own planet by polluting the environment greatly diminishes the chance that any human being really knows how this planet and the life on it came to be. Charles Darwin or Charlie Brown - all the same to me.

It wasn’t too long after I saw my first Darwin fish that other versions of the mutated fish emblem began appearing on cars all over. There is the Alien fish, which I really didn’t understand, the Elvis fish, which makes more sense, since a lot of people worship a dead rock star more than they do Jesus, and even one that simply said “Bob.” Whatever.

But the worst I think I had ever seen was a fish symbol, with a shark fin on the top that declared, “Bite Me.” Imagine how I tried to explain that one to my 8-year-old son.

“I thought that was a God thing,” he said. I told him that it was and that for some reason, people had decided to change it for their own reasons. Honestly, even though I myself had a fish symbol on my car, I really didn’t even know what it meant, except that it symbolized the Christian faith. Ironically, again, my son brought home a little card he had gotten at school that explained it.

The first fish symbols had inside of them the Greek initials of “Jesus Christ, God’s Son Savior.” These initials made up the Greek word for fish.

Early Christians, I found out, were persecuted for wearing any mark of faith. The fish became that mark of faith when even wearing a cross could get them killed.

How weird was that, I thought, a symbol born of persecution, now being persecuted itself.

And why not? We, meaning all those who believe in Jesus Christ, are easy targets. The man himself told us to turn the other cheek.

Some authority-hating, religion-avoiding, rebellious atheist who happened to be studying Darwin at the time decided to take a Christian symbol and make it his own. And no one has really said more than boo about the whole thing.

What if a business displayed a menorah in its window during Hanukkah but then strung Christmas lights around it? Or if someone painted a picture of the pope bowing to Buddha? Shocking? Yes. Unacceptable? Yes. Some things are sacred and are to be revered - no matter what you happen to believe.

Even more contradictory is that the law protects copyrighted symbols - the Golden Arches, the Mercedes symbol, the Nike swoosh. But a symbol of faith, displayed by millions and millions of Christians, that’s fair game? Hmmm. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

It doesn’t matter to me how Darwinism or Elvis fanatics, alien followers or even Bob promote their beliefs.

But I’ve got news for them: Find your own damn symbol. The fish is taken.