What Is Gleanings?

At Christianity Today, we’re constantly tracking important developments in the church and the world. Often we use our network of reporters around the world (and for that, visit our main site). But we also monitor other news outlets, bloggers, newsmakers’ social media feeds, and countless other information streams. Gleanings compiles the most urgent and interesting items we’ve found, explains why you need to know about them, and gives you the background you need to understand them. It’s our snapshot of what God is doing in the world, hour by hour.

Free Newsletters

« A Record-Setting 1,500 Pastors Deliberately Break Law, Yet Fail To Provoke IRS | Main | Billy Graham Offers Romney ‘Help’ During Meeting at N.C. Home »

October 12, 2012

Is Apple Promoting Original Sin? Orthodox Russian Activists Say Yes

Global blasphemy debate takes interesting twist as Russian believers call Apple's logo 'anti-Christian.'

Melissa Steffan

Conservative Christians in Russia have started using crosses to replace Apple's iconic "bitten apple" logo, a move that could cause problems for Apple product sales as the mostly Orthodox nation's parliament weighs a blasphemy ban.

The original report from Interfax news agency states that several groups of Orthodox activists, including priests, replaced the logo for religious reasons, calling it "anti-Christian and insulting their belief."

"According to them, bitten apple - the symbol is described in the Bible, original sin, it is anti-Christian, while the cross symbolizes the victory of Christianity over the death of the Savior, the redemption of their original sin of Adam and Eve," Interfax reports.

This case arises at an important moment for religious freedom in Russia, as the Russian parliament prepares to weigh a law protecting religious expression. If approved, the ban on insults to religion potentially could allow Orthodox Christians to charge Apple with anti-Christian blasphemy.

posted by Melissa Steffan | Comments (4)

Share thisShare this post

Comments

And Microsoft is lovin' it.

Posted By: lfunk | October 12, 2012 1:41 PM

I think apple should bring back the rainbow apple logo. That would confuse the orthodox. Is it a symbol of original sin, Yahweh's promise to never flood the earth again or some kind of fruity gay pride? In actual fact it would be none of those things, simply the logo for a company named after a fruit.
Blasphemy laws are dangerous. Consider the situation where there two or more religions that allow only one god to be worshipped - suddenly all worship of any kind is blasphemy to at least one of these religions.

Posted By: Matthew | October 18, 2012 4:17 AM

No reference to an apple in any bible I have read in English, only "fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil". Incidentally the original Hebrew meaning of "good and evil" was a use of words to mean "everything" and not literally good and evil. Apple inc. have always said that the apple logo represented Sir Isaac Newton and the search for knowledge (Apples original logo was a depiction of Newton under an apple tree) while some have said that the apple with a bite taken out represented Alan Turing (and Englishman thought to be the father of modern computer science) who committed suicide in 1954 by injecting cyanide into an apple before eating it. So we have a bunch of Russian Orthodox Christians who don't know their own bible very well complaining about an American tech company's logo which they have always said paid homage to and English scientist and the pursuit of knowledge. Actually they might just have a point here!!

Posted By: gab | October 18, 2012 6:37 AM

Does the crucifix they hang in their church promote killing?

Posted By: Tony | October 22, 2012 9:29 PM

Post a comment:

Verification (needed to reduce spam):