‘Christian gear’ is everywhere – on tee-shirts, bumper stickers, caps.
How effective are they?
‘Christian gear’ is everywhere – on tee-shirts, bumper stickers, caps.
How effective are they?
Scene 1: Ancient Rome. Two strangers meet on a dusty road. Miles pass in polite
conversation. Slowly and
cautiously, oblique references to religious ideas are offered . Both sense
a spiritual kinship but are wary of mentioning it. After all, Christianity is
a crime punishable by death.
The sun is high and hot, so they stop to rest. The discussion
moves from the latest war news to the price of bread to problems of the Roman
Senate. The younger man pushes his walking stick through the dust as he talks,
tracing a gently curved line.
The older man glances at the mark, then into the eyes of his
new acquaintance and quickly around to see if anyone else is watching. With
his own staff he draws a mirror image of the first mark, connecting the lines
at one end but intersecting at the other. The two lines together form a crude
drawing of a fish, a word used as an acronym in the underground sects
ancient Greek language for “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.”
“He is risen!” exclaims the older man.
“He is risen indeed!” comes the reply.
In excited whispers, the two men arrange to meet the next evening.
One will show the other the secret passages to the Christians hiding place
in the catacombs.
Scene II: Modern Rome.
Two American tourists meet while waiting to clear customs.
One wears a $50 golf shirt with a fish logo. The other sports a sky-blue baseball
cap emblazoned on the crown in scarlet with the acronym, WWJD?
“Cool shirt,” one says.
“Great hat,” the other responds.
The two shake hands, exchange names and agree to meet the next
day for cappuccino – after they tour the catacombs.”
What a difference two millennia make.
The cost attached to that original Christian icon was severe.
Display the secret fish symbol in the wrong place or at the wrong time –
and it could cost a person his or her life.
In the 21st century, the cost for the individual Christian
is much cheaper – and can even be paid with a credit card.
Multiplied by millions of consumers who now openly adorn themselves
with the symbols of their faith, todays price tag for Christian imagery
has reached proportions unimaginable to early disciples. Clothing, jewelry,
bumper stickers and related merchandise bearing religious messages generate
an estimated $3 billion a year.
But do the purchases have spiritual value?
Many say “Christian wear” is an effective witnessing
tool. Others use derisive terms like “Jesus junk” and say it does
more harm than good, especially if the actions of Christians do not match the
message on their shirts or caps or whatever.
However, some things have not changed through the centuries.
Now, as then, Christian symbols remain a means of identifying “friendlies”
in a dominant culture that is hostile to religious “fanatics.”
But what was once a furtive code for a persecuted religious
minority is now a mainstream fashion statement. Christians can wear their faith
not only on their sleeves but also on their heads, around their necks, in their
ears and on their backs. They can write with it, drink from it and listen to
it.
The companies that sell such items uniformly say they create
witnessing opportunities.
“The average shirt is read 10,000 times!” touts Spiritual
Wear on its Web site, www.spiritualwear.com. “Youre just a click
away from ordering some of the best Christian apparel available. Make a statement
of faith with what you wear!”
Kerusso Activewear offers a similar sentimant. “Proclaiming
the Good News one tee at a time!” it proclaims. “With the right message
and emphasis, a tee-shirt can definitely help bring someone to Christ.”
The Christian gear at Living Epistles Apparel includes everything
from clothes to mouse pads. Living Epistles Apparel describes itself as “a
witnessing company dedicated to helping Christians creatively share the truth
of the gospel and to create witnessing opportunities for Christians.”
The company offers its products via the Internet.
However, the Internet is just the latest angle on Christian
marketing. The products have been available for years through Christian bookstores.
In fact, the exhibit hall at the annual Christian Booksellers Association generally
is filled with as many “accessories” as books and Bibles, which now
account for only 40 percent of sales at the average Christian bookstore.
Bumper stickers. Decals. Bookmarks. Pendants. Etc.
Do these products deliver what they promise?
Are they effective for evangelism?
Opinions cover the spectrum. But most people contacted for
this article say such items probably do a better job of identifying and encouraging
Christians than attracting non-believers to the claims of Christ.
“I have a couple (Christian tee-shirts), … but I dont
think of them as anything but shirts,” said Andrea Valenzuela, a 22-year-old
who works for Nyack College in New York. “I hope someone will read the
Bible verse and ask about it. But I would rather have my walk and my life –
my works, my everyday living – speak louder than some easy-to-pull-on tee-shirt.”
Even the minister who started the “What Would Jesus Do?”
explosion said she looks forward to the time the profitable sheen wears off
her concept.
About a decade ago, Reformed Church minister Janie Tinkleberg
came up with the WWJD bracelets for her youth. She did not copyright the idea,
so anyone is free to produce WWJD items. As a result, the emblem has become
pervasive.
However, Tinkleberg said she doubts the fad is advancing the
gospel. “I think it has diluted the message,” she said. “I want
the fad to fade so (the concept) will wind up where it belongs – back with
people wearing them who know what these little bracelets really mean.”
Kelli Creswell, 24, a native of Charleston, S.C., seconded
that motion. “I think sometimes its all overdone, …” she said.
“The idea is great, but after a while the meaning is lost, because it becomes
more about fashion than witnessing.”
An unscientific Internet survey conducted by FaithWorks magazine
about the value of Christian gear received 40 responses. Respondents overwhelmingly
said the top two reasons people wear such icons are to “witness” and
“because it is fashionable.” However, most were skeptical of the witnessing
impact. More than 70 percent said Christian gear “sometimes” or “rarely”
motivates non-Christians to consider faith. Fewer than 25 percent felt it was
highly effective.
William Benoit concurred with the survey results.
“I suspect bumper stickers and bracelets have the most
effect on two groups – the people who wear or display them as a manner
of self-expression and those for whom it is a hot button topic with which they
fervently agree or disagree, said Benoit, who teaches rhetoric, persuasive speaking,
argument and advocacy at the University of Missouri-Columbia. “I doubt
that the people in the middle are much influenced.”
On the other hand, the growing popularity of Christian gear
could “signal a search for meaning at a time when the headlines are about
things like Columbine, on the one hand, and dot.com/marry-a-millionaire/instant
wealth on the other,” said Tom Collinear, a communications professor at
Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.
Two professors at Baylor University represent the range of
opinions among many evangelical scholars.
Greg Garrett teaches religion and literature at the Baptist-affiliated
school in Waco, Texas. He said he personally does not care for such icons. But
he also agreed many people see them as providing a genuine opportunity to spread
their faith.
“Good for them, especially if they can do it without alienating
the people they want to reach,” Garrett said.
On the other hand, Betty Talbert is overwhelmingly supportive
of Christian gear. “Since the time of (Roman Emperor) Constantine, it has
been difficult for Christians to maintain their religious identity while being
accepted as a part of the culture,” said Talbert, who teaches spiritual
formation at Baylor. “Wearing a religious symbol – a cross, a fish
or a WWJD bracelet – is a way some of us testify to ourselves and to others
that our commitment to Christ is about everyday living and not just Sunday worship.
…
“The first time I put one on my car I did so with fear
and trembling,” she noted. “I was a university professor who had just
encountered Christ in a deep conversion experience. I knew that people might
laugh at me, but I felt it was important to place a symbol of my new allegiance
on my car.”
However, Talbert said how a person feels about such public
displays of Christian messages is more an issue of personal taste than theology.
“I think it is very important not to judge those who do or do not display
their religious commitments in their dress. One thing we know that Jesus would
never do is treat a person with condescension.”
Guy Mattox is a retired pastor from King George, Va. He recounted
an incident from nearly 40 years ago, when he presented his gas credit card
for payment to a service station attendant who was in the process of exhibiting
an impressive demand of profanity. When the man saw “the Reverend”
in front of the name on Mattoxs card, he apologized profusely.
Mattox went home, cut up all his credit cards and had them
reissued without a clerical title. His reasoning? Christianity is not viable
if it can be detected only by a title on a card, he said.
“If there is not something about my life and my attitude
that says I belong to Christ, then I dont deserve the honor (just) because
I graduated from a theological seminary,” he said.
Meanwhile, Les Switzer says he suspects there may be more behind
the Christian gear craze than meets the eye.
For many Christians, the Protestant Reformation ended the use
of icons in worship and the sale of “indulgences,” a method of paying
cash as penance for sins, pointed out Switzer, a seminary graduate and professor
of journalism at the University of Houston. However, he said he finds a parallel
to such practices in todays Christian paraphernalia.
For some Christians, spending money to “obtain an icon”
in the form of a shirt or bumper sticker may help them “deal with their
sins, absolve them of guilt or at least to make them feel more comfortable,”
Switzer suggested.
“Its kind of like a talisman,” he said.
And a witnessing tool.
And an expression of faith.
And a fashion statement.
And … perhaps whatever the person wearing or displaying the
item means it to be. (ABP)