- Wearing Our Faith: the Purpose and Effectiveness of Bumper Stickers and Christian Clothes - Alan Noble
Not only is “promoting” Christianity theologically problematic (at best), it is ineffective. When choosing a candidate, brand, or sports team, popularity is persuasive. But if you are trying to persuade people that they are morally depraved and need a savior, the amount of people who attest to this belief is not very relevant. The reason is that for most individuals, choosing a brand, sports team, or candidate is more a subjective matter of taste and preference than an objective seeking of truth and goodness. If a band appeals to the tastes of most people, than it is reasonable to assume that other people will enjoy the band, but it does not follow that if most people are Christians then Christianity is true. Thus, a shirt with a cross or scripture on it is not likely to influence someone to become a believer, while a shirt with a band name on it is likely to encourage people to listen to that band.Slogans persuade differently that labels and brand names do. Slogans present content: a statement which tries to assert the importance, relevance, truth, or blessing of the Christian faith. Sometimes these slogans come in the form of Bible verses with clever commentary, other times a secular label, brand, or saying is twisted into a Christian message. An example of the latter would be a bumper sticker which read, “Know fear” or a tee-shirt which has an image of Christ bench-pressing the cross and reads, “LORD’s Gym: The Sin of the World. Bench press this!” Despite the fact that these designs don’t solely rely on popularity, they still lack any significant persuasive force. Fundamentally, tee-shirts and bumper stickers are not locales of thoughtful, rational discourse on important issues. People simply do not look to shirts to find answers to the most central and difficult questions in life.
(9 votes) - Added: 02Â 19Â 2008
