Christians Aren’t the Only Immitators

September 27, 2005 by

Islam Inside t-shirt, photo  credit: Karim Ben Khelifa for Time Magazine, Oct. 3, 2005We’re not the only ones. Today I opened my Time magazine and saw this “Islam Inside” T-shirt. It reminded me of an entry I wrote a while back lamenting the flood of imitation designs among churches. Apparently Christians aren’t the only ones producing copycat designs.

(And I realize a ton of parody logos exist, but there’s a big difference between turning a corporate logo into a bathroom, drug, or sex reference and turning a logo into a religious reference.)

Post By:

Kevin D. Hendricks


When Kevin isn't busy as the editor of Church Marketing Sucks, he runs his own writing and editing company, Monkey Outta Nowhere. Kevin has been blogging since 1998, runs the hyperlocal site West St. Paul Reader, and has published several books, including 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading, The Stephanies and all of our church communication books.
Read more posts by | Want to write for us?

11 Responses to “Christians Aren’t the Only Immitators”

  • flip
    September 27, 2005

    So funny… I’m sure you are aware of the countless “Jesus Inside” variations?
    http://images.google.com/images?q=jesus+inside&hl=nl&btnG=Afbeeldingen+zoeken
    I guess it’s somehow comforting in a rather sad way that we aren’t the only ones doing this stuff.


     | Permalink
  • Tyler Jagen
    September 28, 2005

    Can I also add how tiresome it is to hear all those secular songs from the 80 & 90s rehashed on the Christian radio station. My wife says she heard a Cyndi Lauper rendition on our local Christian station.
    Pretty soon you’ll have Muslim bands playing Culture Club covers to Allah. But hey, at least we’re relevant. Or are we?


     | Permalink
  • Michael Rew
    September 28, 2005

    Maybe “What Would Mohammed Do?” engraved on a serrated knife could take the place of WWJD. Maybe “No Allah, Know Terror. Know Allah, No Terror” could take the place of “No Jesus, Know Fear. Know Jesus, No Fear” takeoffs on “No Fear.”


     | Permalink
  • brand1m
    September 28, 2005

    The music issue is one of the reasons I avoid christian radio. Not only do they revive the secular songs, but they copy each other. How many more versions of “I could sing of your love forever” and “I can only imagine” do we need?
    There are a lot of issues with design as it relates to the Church, but there are at least as many issues with the music. We talk a lot about serving a creative God and that we should be creative and not copy in our design. The Christian music industry should take the same note.


     | Permalink
  • Kenny (blaqenedwyte blog)
    September 28, 2005

    brand1m, are you suggesting a sister-site called: churchmusicsucks.com ? LOL


     | Permalink
  • Andrew Beeston
    September 28, 2005

    Not churchmusicsucks.com but Christianmusicsucks.com ha!
    some musicians should really stop using the “bubble gum it!” button for their mixing.
    co-opting brands, slogans and other stuff can only be good when it is a part of something else of a bit higher sophistication than simply a t-shirt. I mean… really…


     | Permalink
  • Mansfield
    October 2, 2005

    I see this as a very positive sign!
    It shows a new generation of people of Islam heritage finding out their identity for themselves (and questioning it on the way).


     | Permalink
  • Emory
    March 5, 2006

    My first thought when looking at this was does the wearer of the shirt mean Islam “inside” the shirt or inside the heart.


     | Permalink
  • Abdul
    May 17, 2006

    i brought one of those “islam inside” T-shirt from london. it means islam is inside the heart of that person its like how pentium chip is inside the computer making everything work.


     | Permalink
  • Salahuddin
    June 8, 2006

    it is rightly said that “if label shows your intent then wear it!”. and if someone wants to show that his feelings are attatched with Islam then what is the matter with it?


     | Permalink
  • Tracy@SEO
    July 10, 2007

    How about the one says “Jesus is my pilot”
    Sounds like insulting…..


     | Permalink

POST CATEGORIES:
Graphic Design