Darwin vs. Jesus? Something Fishy’s Going On…
You’ve seen them on the backsides of motor vehicles across America: those little fish symbols. Often you see Jesus’ name lettered inside the fish. But sometimes you see the name “Darwin” — and you notice that the fish has sprouted tiny legs.
The Christian image is called the ichthus, the Greek word for fish. It has five Greek letters (i-ch-th-u-s) which happen to make a neat acronym for this Greek phrase: Iesus Christos theou uios soter. In English that’s “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.” The fish, with that confession of faith hidden in its name, is an ancient and enduring Christian symbol, recorded from the earliest days of the Church.
Now, Darwinism has been around for only a century or so, but it has thriven, and it apparently has begun to feel the need for a corporate logo of its own. One would expect the Darwinists to come up with a trademark as unique and innovative as their theory, and to pass up — to disdain, even — those symbols already identified with other users. Jesus has the fish, France has the fleur-de-lis, Standard Oil has the chevron, Budweiser beer has the draft-horses, Microsoft has the flying-window thingy — but so much remains! Darwinists might use the profile of a winged beagle (in honor of Darwin’s book The Voyage of the Beagle). Or an ape and tree motif, showing the moment at which the tree-dwelling primates gave up brachiating. Or maybe a globe with RM (for Random Mutation) lettered inside it.
You May Also Enjoy
A reader, responding to my slap at Karl Marx and Adam Smith (Jan.-Feb.), has sent…
The NEW OXFORD REVIEW was launched in February 1977. In February 1996, the NOR will…
Who knows what experiences help make people one kind of person or another, and what little change might have made the villain a hero or the hero a villain.