the place on the fish icon usually reserved
for Christ, the Icthus symbol is ritually profaned," said Lessl, "which is to
say, emptied of its religious meaning. By putting Darwin's name where Christ's
would traditionally go, the Darwin fish does not assert, as one might think,
that science is salvation and that Darwin is its prophet. For the majority of
those who display this emblem, Darwin's role seems to be that of anti-Messiah.
This is more like the inversion rituals of carnival, where some drunken peasant
is dressed up as the king. Its purpose is not to elevate the peasant but to make
fun of the king."
Lessl found, by looking at the symbols on the cars, that having Darwin's name on
the fish was a major factor. The "fish with legs" symbol with the word
"evolution" in the middle was far less common than the ones with the name
"Darwin."
A large number of respondents did mention humor as the reason for displaying the
Darwin fish, though it is humor with an edge, Lessl said.
"I am not trying to attack any other religious groups," said one respondent. "I
believe that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, and I don't want to
impose mine on anyone; however, I can see how some people might feel hurt by the
obvious play on the traditional fish logo. I can't speak for everyone, but I
don't see it as anything but light-hearted." Another respondent said pointedly
that "the last thing I would ever want to do is purposefully insult or hurt
another human."
But many of those answering the surveys had no trouble at all with being blunt.
"It is my way of saying, 'Creationists are [expletive] idiots. Get a [expletive]
education. Humans are no better than chickens, redwoods, fireflies, earthworms,
goldfish, algae or infectious salmonella, just because we walk upright and have
opposable thumbs.'"
The issues involved in religion and evolution are clearly not going away any
time soon. And those sending messages by bumper might sometimes realize that
maybe
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Contact: Tom Lessl
tlessl@arches.uga.edu
706-542-3263
University of Georgia
21-Sep-1999
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