![Ichthus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Ichthus.svg)
The
Ichthys symbol (or "Jesus fish") is a sign typically used to proclaim an affiliation with or affinity for
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
. The fish was originally adopted by
early Christians
Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish d ...
as a secret symbol, but the many variations known today first appeared in the 1980s. Some of these are made by Christians in order to promote a specific doctrine or theological perspective, such as
evolutionary creation. Other variations are intended for the purpose of
satire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...
by non-Christian groups.
Both the traditional
ichthys
The ichthys or ichthus (), from the Koine Greek, Greek (, 1st cent. AD Koine Greek pronunciation: , "fish") is (in its modern rendition) a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point ...
fish as well as its variations, are often seen adorning the
bumpers or
trunks of
automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
s mainly in the United States, often in the form of adhesive badges made of
chrome-colored plastic.
Ichthys symbol
An ancient
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
Christian slogan espoused the Greek
acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
/
acrostic
An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the Fre ...
() for "" (""), which translates into English as '
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...
,
Son of God,
Saviour'; the Greek word translating to 'fish' in English. The first appearances of fish symbols as adopted in Christian art and literature date to the 2nd century CE. Some modern fish symbol variations, called the ''Jesus fish'', contain the English word ''Jesus'' in the center, or are empty entirely.
[
]
Parodies
Jeroen Temperman states that there are "variations on this Ichthys symbol. Some variations add feet to the fish and inscribe ''Darwin'' in the body. Others make reference to sushi, sharks, the food chain, fast food, the devil or death. How are we to interpret these variations? These adaptations are themselves susceptible to multiple interpretations, ranging from humour to critique, to mocking derision, to blasphemy." Among such parodies are the ''Darwin fish'', often displayed by atheists
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...
in the United States, and the ''Fish-hungry shark'', displayed by Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
in Egypt.
Responses
Another variation has been offered by people who see no conflict between Christian belief and the evidence of science regarding evolution: a depiction of the Jesus fish and the Darwin fish kissing. Such images have been sold as bumper stickers and have also been improvised. The writer Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd (born November 19, 1958) is an American progressive Christian minister, author, and eco-theologian known as an advocate of Big History, religious naturalism, sustainability, climate activism, and the epic of evolution.
His evangel ...
, author of the book ''Thank God for Evolution
''Thank God for Evolution'' is a book by Michael Dowd that argues for a marriage of science and religion within an evolutionary paradigm.
It was published by Council Oak Books in November 2006 and acquired in spring 2007 by Viking Penguin. In th ...
'', has been among the more prominent promoters of this image.
Criticism
Rhetorical scholar Thomas Lessl conducted a survey of users of the Darwin fish emblem. Based on their responses, he interprets the symbol as scientific "blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person.
In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...
", a parody that is one part mockery and one part imitation. Lessl suggests that the "various ideas that users plainly compress into this emblem are suggestive of scientism
Scientism is the opinion that science and the scientific method are the best or only way to render truth about the world and reality.
While the term was defined originally to mean "methods and attitudes typical of or attributed to natural scientis ...
", and adds that the Darwin fish is an advertisement for the conflict thesis
The conflict thesis is a historiographical approach in the history of science that originated in the 19th century with John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White. It maintains that there is an intrinsic intellectual conflict between religion an ...
, an idea, which according to Lessl, is "now thoroughly discredited by historians".
Jonah Goldberg
Jonah Jacob Goldberg (born March 21, 1969) is an American conservative syndicated columnist, author, political analyst, and commentator. The founding editor of ''National Review Online'', from 1998 until 2019 he was an editor at ''National Revie ...
, in the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' criticized the Darwin fish, stating that:
In the ''National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
'', Goldberg further stated that "one of the problems with the Darwin Fish is that it assumes all Jesus Fishers are Creationists. And I agree that this is one of the problems. But it is not the only one. The 'evolve' fish, I think has a double-meaning in that it suggests Christians should evolve from Christianity. I also think mucking about with the symbol of the fish is itself offensive because the symbol is sacred and has no secular counterpart."
''Artgemeinschaft''
The German ''Artgemeinschaft
The Artgemeinschaft Germanic Faith Community (german: Artgemeinschaft Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft; abbreviated AG GGG) is a German NeopaganStefanie von Schnurbein: ''Göttertrost in Wendezeiten. Neugermanisches Heidentum zwischen New Age un ...
'' group, promoting racist
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
neopaganism
Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various Paganism, historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of No ...
, uses a registered symbol showing an eagle catching an ichthys fish. This symbol, known as " Eagle catching Fish" (German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
: ''Adler fängt Fisch'') was later used by other racist groups such as neo-Nazis
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...
in Germany. While the symbol was created and used by far-right pagan circles, not all groups that use it have far-right tendencies or are racist, though many do promote anti-Christian sentiment. In 2012, a coat of arms for the new district of was proposed including among things the depiction of the eagle catching a fish that was previously used in the coat of arms of the former district of Müritz
The Müritz (; from Slavic "little sea") is a lake in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, northern Germany. Its area is , which makes it the second largest lake in Germany (after Lake Constance) and the largest lake located entirely within German territory ...
which was one of the districts merged to create Mecklenburgische Seenplatte. The coat of arms was rejected for use after discovery of the fact that the "Eagle catching Fish" symbol was used by neo-Nazis as they are treated with distain in German public opinion with its symbols subsequently stigmatized ( and for some symbols, banned altogether).
Fish-hungry sharks
In Egypt, many Coptic Orthodox Christians display the fish symbol on their vehicles as a sign of their faith, and Islamic fundamentalists responded with "fish-hungry sharks", some including the phrase "no god but Allah" within the body of the shark.[ One Egyptian Muslim was quoted in ''The Day'' as saying "The Christians had the fish so we responded with the shark. If they want to portray themselves as weak fishes, OK. We are the strongest."][
]
References
{{Reflist, 30em
Ichthys, Variations
Ichthys, Variations
Ichthys, Variations
Lists of symbols
de:Fisch (Christentum)#Parodien und Polemik