A "Jesus Fish" Question

[stepnw1f]

are those displaying the "Jesus Fish" on their cars, generally right wingers?

It's a disgrace if they are all right wingers.

[lonestarnot]

1. I would say that most are politically brainwashed yes.

[eccles12]

37. Wrong! My fish stands for "peace" "love" and "forgiveness."

I am not a RWinger nor an evangelical. I am a followers of Jesus Christ and his teachings. I read his teachings with the understanding of the social-politica-religious environment of times in which he lived.

[Dhalgren]

2. I saw a FSM outline on a car the other day!

It was great and I want one. And this is in Alabama, no less!

[ThatsMyBarack]

40. What is that?

What's an FSM outlike look like?

[Dhalgren]

43. The "Flying Spaghetti Monster". It is the one popular religion

that I find I have a "taste" for. "May you be touched by His noodly appendage. Ramen."

[valerief]

50. I'd be an FSMer if it wasn't for the high sodium content. n/t

[Warpy]

3. I know too many liberal Christians to think that

Churchgoers are no longer a guaranteed vote for the GOP. Most Christians realize this administration's policies are distinctly unchristian.

[stepnw1f]

9. Let Me Clarify

Those placing Jesus Fish on their car. I know there are plenty of Liberal Christians... but the ones that exhibiting their faith all from my experience have been right wingers. I am hoping Liberal Christians do as well. It would give me some comfort.

[Midlodemocrat]

28. I have one on my car. I'm not a right winger by any stretch.

I'm a person of faith and to me it conveys the same type of message my DU bumpersticker does.

[lonestarnot]

15. Do they have fishes on their cars?

[Warpy]

20. Some do, as a matter of fact

My Democrat pop had a plastic Jesus.

You can't judge political affiliation by religious tchotchkes.

[stepnw1f]

21. good... I'm Glad (nt)

[lonestarnot]

25. I said that?

Those that wear Jesus on their sleeves and bumpers are in line for subjugation.

[TheFriedPiper]

4. It does indicate a level of gullibility

[Gidney N Cloyd]

5. Mostly it indicates they are bad drivers.

Given the choice, I'd rather get stuck behind a Navigator with a W 04 sticker on it than a fish.

[mwb970]

6. Here's some info about the Fish Symbol.

http://www.nisbett.com/symbols/fish.htm

[populistdriven]

7. Revised version of the Jesus Fish on my car:

Learn more about FSM: http://www.venganza.org/

[Double T]

8. No, just as the 'Fish with Feet and 'DARWIN' in the middle' are.......

probably NOT ALL left wingers.

[stepnw1f]

10. Do You Know any Liberals with the fish symbol

on their car?

[Ravenseye]

38. I do

liberal, catholic, schoolteacher. little vw bug with a fish on it.

[Double T]

51. Just saw a Buick Rendezvous SUV with a 'Fish with a Cross'.......

on their tailgate ALONG with a bumper sticker for a local Liberal Democrat running for Congress, SO YES!!

[valerief]

11. Why do you ask? n/t

[stepnw1f]

23. Just Curious (nt)

[Coventina]

12. I've heard that some people put them on their cars to avoid being pulled

over for drunk driving.

Don't know if it's true. It's just what I heard.

[bryant69]

13. Are you arguing that left wing christians need to put the Jesus fish

on their cars?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[stepnw1f]

22. no argument.... just a question out of sincere curiosity (nt)

[bryant69]

34. I'll say that I don't have one - my particular faith doesn't use it

I guess the larger question is whether we are going to cede the terrain of religion to the Republicans or fight for it.

My personal feeling is that one should bring religion in to conversations where it appropriate and leave it out of conversations where it adds little (and I don't feel that it adds much to 99% of political discussions).

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[lectrobyte]

14. Generally, yes. At least from my experience here in the Bible

Belt. But it's not always an absolute thing.

[Spearman87]

16. *(All are former boyfriends of Elaine Bennis)*

**

[Horse with no Name]

17. Unless there has been an underground movement

I don't think so.
I know Christians who have these fish on their cars and do it simply to show their faith in Jesus and they aren't political at all.
Many cars in this part of the world display the fish. In fact, the used car that I purchased for my daughter has one. We haven't removed it yet because we don't want to leave the holes because of rust issues.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Horse with no Name]

29. Then you obviously

have never had a vehicle with a rust problem.

[TheFriedPiper]

31. O yes I have. But a vehicle with a religious problem is MUCH worse

[Horse with no Name]

33. Different strokes I suppose.

However, I don't give a little plastic fish that much power over me.:shrug:

[bperci108]

48. Don't mind him...

...you know how those fundamentalists are: Intolerant of those with whom they disagree.

:hide:

:popcorn:

[stepnw1f]

26. Thank You....

my mind has been opened... and I feel better knowing that Jesus has not been hijacked by right wingers. That there are those who truly believe in him and what he had to say.

[TheFriedPiper]

30. I believe he existed and follow most of his teachings

It's a huge stretch to think he was the son of some god, though.

[Horse with no Name]

32. Not for lack of trying

There are plenty of good and faithful people out there.
Just like the good and faithful Republicans who are trying to take their party back from these neocons, there are good and faithful Christians who want to take Jesus back from the Falwell's, et al.

[lectrobyte]

42. Underground movement? Hardly. Around here, the churches

have sermons praising the Iraq invasion, and hand out "voting guides" around election time -- centered around politicians stands on abortion and gay marriage. If I could figure out where to store pictures online, I'd get some shots of my neighborhood Baptist church. In March/April of 2003, the letter sign read "With God Behind Us, Who can Stand Up To Us?" and similar since then. I'm not saying all churches are like this, but there's a lot more political stuff going on than you may be aware of.

[Horse with no Name]

44. That is some churches

not all churches.

[lectrobyte]

45. Right. I said: I'm not saying all churches are like this.

[Arkansas Granny]

18. I don't know if they are generally right wingers or not. The fish

symbol has been quite common where I live for many years and wasn't intended to be a political statement at all, at least in the beginning. It used to be placed a lot more inconspicuously in their advertising and on vehicles than it is commonly used today.

[davekriss]

24. I display, I am not right wing

I display the Jesus Fish on my car. I self-identify as a anarcho-syndicalist-neo-Buddhist-charismatic-Christian (no conflicts there, huh?). My politics, which are founded on my ethics, are way left of most of us here. On political compass org I score around -9/-9, which puts me slightly left of Noam Chomsky.

[stepnw1f]

27. cool

I'm glad... honestly.

[davekriss]

35. If it helps...

...here's a repost, my standard reply to those who would be dismissive of Christian spirituality:

Just as Chomsky says there is a "language organ" in the brain, I think there is also a "spiritual organ" -- i.e., we are perhaps preprogrammed by countless generations of natural selection to pursue spiritual "truth", "salvation", "peace", and "meaning". To deny that pursuit with "zeal or conscientious devotion" is equally an expression of that preprogrammed given in our natures, albeit in disguised form.

Joseph Campbell describes 4 major cultural functions for religion (IIRC): (i) to engender sustaining and grounding "mystical" experience in a few (the founding roots of religions), (ii) to provide order and meaning that allows a political/economic system to florish, (iii) to establish and justify a ruling priestly class that benefits a few and maintains the general order, (iv) to function as a screening myth that keeps system-contrarian truths from the minds of the non-privileged classes. There is nothing wrong with item one; it all goes downhill with the latter three. That preprogrammed pursuit of the spiritual gets hijacked again and again for sociopolitical purposes that maintain, sustain, and benefit selfish hierarchy -- and at complete variance (usually) from the "mystical" experiences that served to found the religious order in the first place -- steers us into discussions of our natures that spill far beyond just the "religious" in us.

Having said that, my wife (Kriss) is a serious Christian. I can say unequivocally that her church (a small charismatic church) is filled with men and women of good spirit who turn to Sundays for nourishment, comfort, and community. The values and ideals upheld are positive and healing. During the rest of the week many do much community work to alleviate the suffering of others. In and of itself there is nothing negative with this at all; on the contrary, this is a beautiful thing.

If I can wax metaphorically here I think there are levels to consciousness, spheres turning slowly within spheres. Up above are the spheres of transpersonal (mystical, spiritual, revelatory) experience. Down below are the spheres of the wounded child, the detritus of our tragic personal histories. In between are the spheres of the everyday self that balances the checkbook and clocks in at work. A retreat into any one at the cost of the others is disorder, disease.

The transpersonal in flight from the weight of the everyday or acknowledgement of our woundings can lead to imbalance and fanaticism; a retreat below can lead to depression, emotional chaos, continuance and increase of pain. And a retreat into the everyday in denial of the above/below can lead to ennui, emptiness, and meaninglessness. What's called for, and the words of the many spiritual leaders across time have called for this, is balance and integration of all spheres.

To the extent that religion orders and integrates it can be tolerated (by me). I understand that many of us are strong enough to stand alone, separate from the ordering community of religions (Tillich's the courage to stand apart vs. the courage to participate, two poles of the courage to be in a world where God can seem very absent -- the many of us fall at various points along this valid continuum). But I am also fully aware how the sensitive spheres can be hijacked for banal (even evil) purposes. And I am aware how the screening myths of religions can distract from and postpone the fight for corrective social justice and equality. On this contradiction I don't pretend to have answers, but unlike some I neither embrace naively nor reject wholly the fundamental drives that lead men and women to bond together in intended good will under the banners of various religions.

But, hey, that's just me <---- lost in Samsarra, swimming in our Ocean of Tears...

[xchrom]

36. while i don't display anythiing --

there's a lot of us subversive types out there -- as you have described your self.

[RebelOne]

39. Where I live in North Georgia, just about 1 out of every 5 cars

has a fish and I live in an almost 100% red area.

[Ezlivin]

41. If the fish points right, they're right-wingers; if left, they are liberal

If it's pointing straight up they're spawning. Be careful.

[Vidar]

46. Deosn't it also depend on what color gel bracelet the fish is wearing?

[OregonDem]

47. My favorite fish symbol I've seen

[Secular Agent Man]

49. Now that's funny as hell!

:rofl:

[warrens]

52. I like the fish with the four little feet

DARWIN

[PresidentWar]

53. It's basically an advertisement "I am Christian"

And I don't think it has any party boundaries, although studies have shown that Christians who go to church once or more times a week are most likely to be Republicans.