A week or so ago my eye caught the above bumper sticker on a car on Main Street. I may have seen it once before but I don’t think I gave it much thought at the time. This time, noticing all the religious symbols on it, I made a mental note to research it when I had the time. Here is what I found.
Coexist, spelled with religious symbols, was created in 2001 by Polish designer Piotr Mlodozeniec who entered it in an international art competition run by the Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem. The original Coexist consisted of a Crescent Moon (Islam), the Star of David (Jewish) and the Cross (Christianity). Each of these religions had a common denominator in that they all had Abraham as an ancestor. That simple design has been replaced by the more elaborate one above which features C (Crescent Moon - Islam), O (universal peace sign) E (combination of male/female signs - also for either evolution, science or homosexuality, take your pick), X (Star of David - Jewish), I (Wicca/Pagan symbol), S (Toasim/Confucianism), T (Cross - Christianity). Over all, the design is very creative. As you might guess in our pluralistic society, it has become very popular. The band U2 used it on their Vertigo tour and it can now be found on practically any medium you want - from clothing to bumper stickers to sneakers. There is even a conservative form of Coexist that says beneath it, “You can’t coexist with people who want to kill you.”
Interestingly (and does this say something about human nature or what?) there has been controversy over who owns the rights to Coexist. A t-shirt company called, COEXIST, filed for the trademark in 2003 and officially registered it in 2005. Of course U2, as I mentioned, was also using it during their shows and 3 or 4 companies were also selling merchandise with Coexist on it. Long story short, there was a legal battle over who owned the rights to Coexist, who could use it and who couldn't, and who owed who for damages, etc. That doesn’t sound like Coexistence to me!
Coexist, spelled with religious symbols, was created in 2001 by Polish designer Piotr Mlodozeniec who entered it in an international art competition run by the Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem. The original Coexist consisted of a Crescent Moon (Islam), the Star of David (Jewish) and the Cross (Christianity). Each of these religions had a common denominator in that they all had Abraham as an ancestor. That simple design has been replaced by the more elaborate one above which features C (Crescent Moon - Islam), O (universal peace sign) E (combination of male/female signs - also for either evolution, science or homosexuality, take your pick), X (Star of David - Jewish), I (Wicca/Pagan symbol), S (Toasim/Confucianism), T (Cross - Christianity). Over all, the design is very creative. As you might guess in our pluralistic society, it has become very popular. The band U2 used it on their Vertigo tour and it can now be found on practically any medium you want - from clothing to bumper stickers to sneakers. There is even a conservative form of Coexist that says beneath it, “You can’t coexist with people who want to kill you.”
Interestingly (and does this say something about human nature or what?) there has been controversy over who owns the rights to Coexist. A t-shirt company called, COEXIST, filed for the trademark in 2003 and officially registered it in 2005. Of course U2, as I mentioned, was also using it during their shows and 3 or 4 companies were also selling merchandise with Coexist on it. Long story short, there was a legal battle over who owned the rights to Coexist, who could use it and who couldn't, and who owed who for damages, etc. That doesn’t sound like Coexistence to me!
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