Reading Vicar Dave’s blog a few days ago, I read about the BushFish –
Yes, that’s right, the Icthus fish, a symbol that derived its name from the Greek word for “fish,” Icthus, which was also an acronym used by early Christians meaning “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the Savior”, now has the word ‘Bush’ emblazoned across it. So, to believe in Jesus is to believe in Bush is to believe in Jesus and so on. Bollocks. This kind of misappropriation of religious symbolism for political gain is really really twisted, ESPECIALLY given the profoundly un-christian actions of the present US administration, who seem to think that it’s enough to claim to be ‘born again’ and talk weird christianese once in a while, and then people will overlook you crapping on the poor, handing more wealth and power to the already wealthy and powerful, and then head overseas and bomb foreigners in your own little jihad.
Somethings make me profoundly uncomfortable with the label ‘christian’ – I’ve been trying to come up with an alternative for years. Messianic Taoist is as close as I’ve got so far, but there’s still a brand of christianity that I’m more than happy to align myself with. It’s just the wholesale takeover of christian terminology and imagery by the insane right wing in the US that I want to run screaming from. Often when in the states, I feel a greater affinity with the honest and open spiritual search of pagans, hippies, new agers, buddhists, and just about anyone but those who claim to believe the same thing as me.
There’s a particularly antagonistic part of me that wants to see someone stick a Darwin Fish on any car with a Bush Fish –
…there’s a fascinating range of different kinds of fish badge at darwinfish.com – amazing!
Grrrr
Soundtrack – Seven and Seven Is, ‘Fun With Sound’; Michael Roe, ‘Say Your Prayers’; Jeff Buckley, ‘Grace’.