Casa Jonsson

My favorite corporate identity pundit, Tony Spaeth, probably wouldn’t approve of the Samaritan’s Purse logo. But that’s not the reason why I wrote to them today.

From: Nils Jonsson
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005
To:   Samaritan’s Purse

I applaud the work that SP is doing around the world to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ and to make him known. Please allow me to offer an observation about what may seem to be a trivial matter: your logo.

Yesterday I was reading an SP brochure on which the logo appeared with a metallic finish. The twin curves that encircle a cross in the logo looked to me very much like two scimitars, or Middle Eastern-style swords. I would not be surprised if this element of the logo were to alarm people already predisposed to suspicion of Christianity and of ambassadors of Christ. The events of medieval European history erected tall barriers to the progress of the gospel in the present-day Arab world, and these barriers are fortified by fears that U.S. foreign policy manifests an apocalyptic vision of eradicating Islamic society.

I am not suggesting that SP should kowtow to political correctness, nor that causing personal offense is always undesirable in the work of a Christian ministry. I only want to express concern about an area of vulnerability in SP’s communication strategy. As the Church we should make every effort to ensure that the offense of the cross of Christ is the only thing that would cause the world to recoil from the gospel.

Yours in the King’s service,
– /\/. _/.

I’m probably being paranoid, and Franklin Graham’s hardworking staff doesn’t have time for this nonsense. Unfortunately I’m not just blowing smoke about the hostility that the organization faces from some in the Muslim community.

For the record, conversion by the sword is, in fact, alien to authentic Christian teaching, and it is not something Jesus advocated. Sadly, Christians have taken God’s Law into their own hands, torturing and killing people for failing to believe in Christ. They were not doing so on his orders. A few passages that support this assertion include Ez 33:10f., Jn 18:7–11 and Eph 6:12. If you find Lk 19:11–27 as troubling as I have, let’s grab a beer and talk about it sometime; I’m sure we’ll both learn something.

I spent 20 minutes just now with Inkscape trying to come up with a logo that works better. I don’t think it’s a big improvement, but at least the result bears some connection to the story that inspired the organization’s name.