Jesus Fish vs. Darwin Fish in the US
by The Monkey on 06/19/08 filed under Evolution vs. Creation
America Isn’t Shy About Displaying Christian Faith on Cars
During a recent cross country trip from Arizona to New York, we took note of every ‘religious fish’ car magnet we saw and about where in the country we saw it. Somewhat expectedly, it went something like this:
We saw most of these on others highway cars traveling in our direction. As a side note, we also saw quite a few “It’s a child, not a choice” bumper stickers on 18-wheelers, and a large number of Indiana motorists opted for the “In God We Trust” license plate. Well, at least we didn’t see signs this bad!
But enough of that! On to the Jesus vs. Darwin fish count!
Jesus Fish
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Darwin Fish
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| Total: 10 | Total: 2 |
We’re not drawing any conclusions. This is a truly random, unverifiable, unbalanced, unscientific, bad, whatever-you-want-to-call-it experiment.
Comment and draw your own conclusion as you see fit.
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You may also find enjoy reading this background on evolution (with video), how Christianity believes it’s right and all other religions are wrong, and this sad account of one person’s childhood experience with creation and ID education.
James
Jun 20th, 2008
Do you have a Darwin fish on your car? What do you think about public displays of atheism?
The Monkey
Jun 20th, 2008
Hi James. I currently do not have a Darwin fish on my car. I am not sure how I feel about public displays of atheism, though I try not to be confrontational when it comes to this subject.
vjack
Jun 20th, 2008
I think the important question to ask many atheists is why they do not have Darwin fish or more blatantly atheist symbols on their cars. I expect many will answer as I do – I don’t want my car vandalized by rabid Christians. Now how many Christians avoid putting Jesus stuff on their car for the same reason? And what does this tell us?
James
Jun 20th, 2008
Neither do I. For whatever reason, it just isn’t something I feel like I need to promote on the back of my car.
the chaplain
Jun 22nd, 2008
No, I don’t have a Darwin fish on my car. And I never had any Christian crap on when I was a believer either. As a practical matter, I hate defacing my car with junk. As a personal matter, my atheism is not something that I need to proclaim to any who may cross my path for a moment on the highway, nor was my religious faith when I held it.
These are my preferences. Others, Christians and atheists alike, disagree with me and have stuff all over their cars. So what? They’re all free to plaster their cars with whatever junk they like. I’d rather see it on their cars than find it hanging on my doorknobs, or being pushed into my hands at the mall.
Ed
Jun 27th, 2008
I have the FSM on my car. Religion is most useful for the parody factor. Nobody has keyed my car yet probably because most people probably have no idea what it means.
(((Billy))) The Atheist
Jul 8th, 2008
When my mom had a bumper sticker which read “The Moral Majority is Neither” on her Ford Fairmont station wagon, the tires were slashed multiple times. One of the times, the Sheriff’s Deputy who took the report suggested, after looking at the bumper sticker, that she had invited the act by trying to offend the real Americans. A shouting match ensued. This is why I do not have atheist or evolution symbols on my car — I don’t want my insurance rates to go up.
Rudy Quiroga
Jul 28th, 2008
Have you noticed that these brave and noble Christians seem to strike only when there is no one around to see their acts of faith? Tires are slashed, Darwin stickers defaced, nasty notes…….Why is it that these brave souls will never confront me directly?
Sam Hall
Mar 1st, 2009
Any way I could get a custom job at the sites that sell these fish; say, a back to basics version with “Goddess” reading vertically down the axis of an oval?
featheredfrog
Apr 12th, 2009
did you count FSM stickers and magnets? since this forum doesn’t allow embedded images, find it at http://www.evolvefish.com/fish/media/E-FlyingSpaghettiEmblem.gif
In fact, that site has a LOT of emblems you could count in the “darwin fish” category, IMHO
Ted
Apr 12th, 2009
Ha, you know I can probably count the number of FSM stickers I have ever seen on one hand, though (of all places) Microsoft has an FSM sculpture on campus.
However, getting back to your question we did not see any FSM merchandise on our trip… Oh well!
PurgaTory
May 13th, 2009
I have a new fish, the Careface Fish. Much better then both of those — fishsticks!
The Monkey
May 14th, 2009
Wow! That makes absolutely no sense. Congrats PurgaTory!
Evolve Fish - Atheism and Agnosticism - Page 2 - City-Data Forum
May 19th, 2009
[...] being vandalized courtesy of "Loving Theists". What’s in a Fish? – The New York Times Skeptical Monkey
{+S+}
Aug 10th, 2009
My conclusions on the matter:
> More christian believers feel the need to advertise the fact that they believe than non-believers feel the need to advertise the fact that they don’t
> There’s an odd amount of decorations to prove how proud people are to be in a religion that counts pride as a sin
Maxthewoodman
Aug 11th, 2009
Thankfully the UK isnt quite so inundated with such aggressive Christians. Yet.
Personally, I wear my Darwin badge with pride, and enjoy parking in my local church carpark.
Dan Pelletier
Aug 11th, 2009
Atheists and fundamentalists do have one thing in common — they both take the Bible literally — doesn’t leave much room for thought…or theology…or grace…or the author’s intentions. It’s one extreme or the other. Often, they’re both way to judgmental and unselfish love never is. As far as Darwin goes, I think he was brilliant. If anyone needed an explanation of Original Sin, evolution through “survival of the fittest” certainly does it for me. If that’s the background from which ______ calls us, well then — WoW! I like just the plain fish. I like the Greek word for fish – Ichthus (ΙΧΘΥΣ) – and I like the reason why __________ chose it and why they had to use it.
Pace e bene,
Dan
Sara
Aug 11th, 2009
Dan, if I may respond, I must say that in my case, I don’t take the bible literally–I take it as fiction. However, when Christians take the bible literally, and approach me with that viewpoint, I respond in kind. If a Christian claims, for example, that genesis is LITERAL HISTORY, then I will point out what I see as aspects of the story that, when taken literally, don’t make much sense.
If someone tells me that the bible is just a collection of stories written years ago, some of it wonderful, some of it not, and we should learn from the parts that speak of peace and love–fine. I won’t argue with that, but that, that viewpoint isn’t trying to get creationism taught in science class.
Lawrence Weir
Sep 17th, 2009
I saw a funny version of the fish in a gift store in Nevada City Northern CA. It was the usual Fish with”n chips” inside. I would have bought it except that I am surrounded by fundamentallist nut jobs here that are likely to vandalize my car. Before I moved here I thought California was an enlightened place but it’s worse here than Utah.
From a Monkey
Oct 21st, 2009
What I find sad is the fact that Christians are more comfortable expressing thier veiws than most athiests. That’s sad. I see it as strength of conviction. I don’t believe and I am more than willing to let anyone know why. Go Darwin fish, rather Go Evolve fish (like that one, it has a tool.)
Roc
Nov 5th, 2009
Jesus/God is the greatest lie ever told. He is among the most recent of the Solar Messiahs and was completely fabricated. Glad I am not wasting my time going to Church and reading scripture on someone who never existed. He is as fake as Santa Claus. “Oooops!” Did I just let some big cat out of the bag there too? I hope I didn’t upset too many people on the Santa issue too now. “Boo Hoo!”
CC
Dec 4th, 2009
Roc, that was a little offensive to some people. (not me)
people have a right to their beleif.
And that goes the same way with the darwin fish. I beleive in evilution, the adaptation of species and organisms over time to fit their ecosystem. And I find it sad that we are slowly going back to the middle ages where a christian can walk outside wearing crosses and rosaries, but a jew or pagan can’t display their symbol without being ridiculed.
Also fun to note is that most christians today don’t even know what the fish actually stands for. no Jesus was not a fisherman. back a long while, christianity was a “radical” cult group and if you were to make a line in fornt of a person, and if that person made the same line (resulting in a fish shape) they knew it was safe to talk.
cachcoco
Feb 6th, 2010
Living in a predominately Christian society, i’ve learned NOT to display adverse opinions. I had a bumper sticker “Militant Agnostic: I dont know and you don’t either.” Not only was the sticker constantly torn at and disfigured, but there were key marks around the sticker as well. Yay for Christians, eh? I’m tempted to get the T-rex eating the jesus fish, but my wife is concerned that this will only invite more vandalism from the christian populace….