The Christian Post reports:
Christians from Russia’s Orthodox community are demanding that the country’s Apple division remove the famous half-bitten apple logo from its products and replace it with a cross, because they find the apple image offensive to their beliefs.
In popular culture, an apple is often used to represent the fruit that Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge when tempted by the devil, as found in Genesis 3 in the Bible – although the exact type of fruit is not mentioned in Scripture.
Still, conservative Christians in Russia have insisted that the logo should be removed and replaced with a cross, Xbitlabs.com reported from a translated article from Interfax news agency.
The Russian conservatives may get their way and force Apple to change its logo because of new laws being proposed in the country’s parliament on blasphemy and insults targeting religious, spiritual, or national values. It is expected that President Vladimir Putin will back the laws, especially since the Russian Orthodox Church heavily supported him during his election campaign in 2012. Besides replacing the logo, conservatives may even stop Apple product sales in Russia if they manage to convict the company of committing anti-religious deeds.
Apple’s iconic symbol has been in use in one form or another for over 35 years. The first bitten apple silhouette was introduced in 1976, and has undergone a number of design changes to reach its current glass-themed logo, which was introduced in 2003.
The Russian Orthodox Church has been quick to clamp down on any disrespect or rebellion against its authority. The church was a leading factor in having three members of the punk rock band Pussy Riot jailed for performing a song against President Vladimir Putin inside Moscow’s main cathedral. Church officials have called on the all-female group to repent for its blasphemy and hooliganism.
The actions of the current political and social order in Russia are quite alarming considering that in the era under Communist rule, all symbols of any religious significance were torn down and banned from being displayed.I agree that multi-national companies should respect the culture of countries in which they operate. One can only ask however whether the proposed blasphemy laws are going to be as radical as those in Islamic Pakistan.The Apple logo has been a registered brand for years now. Are the Russian authorities not imposing a drastic measure to make the company change its logo for operations and sales in Russia? In the West this would be considered as being quite ‘draconian’.Putin is Russia’s ‘strong man’ even though his recent election has been questioned by many who feel that the elections weren’t ‘free and fair.’
I’m not sure that the authorities in the US would allow Apple to have a ‘cross’ as a logo, unless these products would be stricly for the Russian market and even then it woudn’t go down well with consumers.
Imposing this law seems a bit harsh, as it is not certain what kind of fruit was eaten by the first man and woman in the Garden of Eden anyway.
The Russians will, one way or the other, have their way.
It is such a pity that the beauty of Orthodoxy and those in authority in the Russian Orthodox church would support the government (and Putin) in this exercise, the Church having to spend its energies fighting on an issue such as this. This reminds me of the story told to us by our grade 10 History teacher, namely that when the Russian Revolution took place in 1917, the Orthodox church at the time was discussing Liturgical vestments and was totally ‘out of touch’ with the sufferings of the peasants.One could ask the question “Has anything changed with the fall of Communism?”
It would seem that the state is now more than ever trying to regulate and control the lives of the people and those who do business with Russia. Very sad , considering the suffering that the Russian people have had to endure under Communism and now seeminly under the current democracy.The state is still everything and the individual merely pawns in the game of politics.
I’m starting to like the Russian Orthodox Church… (If it weren’t for the toadying to Secular government and virulent anti-Roman Catholic sentiment)
Sometimes and apple is simply an apple.