Coexist (bumper sticker)

The “COEXIST” image—popularly seen on bumper stickers—uses religious symbols to create the word “coexist.” Piotr Mlodozeniec, a Polish graphic designer, created the original image in 2000 for the International “Coexistence” Competition initiated by the Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem.
 
The “COEXIST” bumper sticker and even a clothing line—not all authorized by the original artist—were being discussed in print in 2005.
   
 
Straight Dope Message Board
07-07-2005, 05:26 PM
Avarie537
(...)
[hijack] WhyNot, when I read this description, I immediately thought of a clothing line I saw on TV a week or so ago. It’s called Coexist. They use the crescent moon for the C, Star of David for the X, and christian cross for the T. I have no affiliation with them whatsoever; I just thought you might find their designs interesting. The website is http://www.coexistonline.com. WARNING - Flash site, takes a while to load.
 
@U2
Lawsuits and controversy over who owns the ‘CoeXisT’ sign
@U2, July 11, 2005
By: Kevin Hutchinson
(...)
Although Coexist officially owns the registered trademark rights to the image, they did not create it, nor did they get the permission of the artist who did. In fact, they first came across the CoeXisT image when they found the original version on the Internet, reports Intake Weekly, a local Indianapolis publication. The image they discovered was actually the work of Piotr Mlodozeniec, a Polish graphic designer living in Warsaw. He created the CoeXisT image in 2001 for a contest hosted by The Museum on the Seam for Dialogue, Understanding and Coexistence in Jerusalem. For the past four years, the image has been traveling the world in the form of a three meter by five meter poster as a part of The Museum on the Seam’s “Coexistence” exhibition.
 
Mlodozeniec, the son of another famous graphic designer, Jan Mlodozeniec, recently spoke with @U2 from his home in Poland. He explained that he came up with the idea for the image in a rather simple manner. “I started to work with and think about this single word: ‘coexistence.’ During the process, it occurred to me that ‘C’ is the Islamic symbol and ‘T’ is the Christian one. What I lacked was the Star of David. I hesitated for a moment to put it in the place of ‘X’—as the difference of those two shapes seemed a bit too big for me, but when I did it, I saw it fit perfectly.”
 
@U2
Official statement from The Museum on the Seam for Dialogue, Understanding and Coexistence regarding the CoeXisT image
Museum on the Seam, July 11, 2005
By: Raphie Etgar, Director and Curator
Over the past few months it has come to our attention that the COEXIST image created by Piotr Mlodozeniec expressly for exhibition “Coexistence” initiated and produced by the Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem is being used in many different contexts and claimed as a trademark for companies.
 
This compelling image was created by the artist Piotr Mlodozeniec in 2000 as his contribution to the International “Coexistence” Competition initiated by the Museum on the Seam. The images were selected by a prestigious international jury and formed the nucleus of the international traveling exhibition.
     
Dieselstation Car Forums
nismo
Sep 14 2005, 06:00 PM
QUOTE(moe89 @ Sep 14 2005, 09:21 PM)
the Coexist bumper sticker doesnt have a hindu sign
 
should have this for the “e”
   
21 June 2008, Charlotte (NC) Observer, “Readers have their say on license tags,” pg. 1E:
I got what I thought was a timely bumper sticker. It spells out the word ’ coexist’ with the letters showing various religious symbols.
 
Bluffton (OH) Icon
Co-exist bumpersticker - and its meaning
Posted by Fred Steiner on March 12, 2012 - 5:03pm
You’ve seen this bumpersticker in Bluffton. Here’s what it means:

The designer, Piotr Mlodozeniec’s basic coexistence design is uncomplicated and easy to understand. The design uses three symbols that stand for Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Mlodozeniec modified the word “coexist” in the following ways:

o for the letter “c,” a crescent moon representing Islam is substituted
o for the letter “x,” the Star of David representing Judaism is substituted
o for the letter “t,” a cross representing Christianity is substituted
 
Enoch Magazine
The Coexist Bumper Sticker
March 18. 2012
Written by Lance Steinhibel
(...)
I’m sure all of us have seen countless religious stickers too, which is not a bad thing. I never really think too much about them, but I started to see one bumper sticker more than others it seemed lately. I started seeing the “COEXIST” one everywhere. It’s normally blue, and has a bunch of religious symbols that resemble the letters that spell out “coexist”. Well I started thinking about it, and at first I was like, “that’s not possible: I believe that Jesus is the way to heaven.” So what is this guy with the bumper sticker thinking? Maybe he is just playing the odds and putting bets on everything hoping to catch a piece of something. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense to me. So over the next couple weeks, I began paying attention to Christians who would react to this sticker, complaining about how wrong it was.
 
Real Clear Politics Video
Posted on April 22, 2013
Adam Carolla On The Boston Terror Attack And “Coexist” Bumper Sticker
   
Vice
April 29, 2013
“Coexist” Bumper Stickers Are Actually Intolerant
By Rick Paulas
(...)
For instance, the “fact” that the car the bombing suspects carjacked during their flee from cops had one of those silly “COEXIST”—but written with the symbols of various religions—bumper stickers on it. Of course that story, however important your great aunt felt it was to spam your inbox, turned out to be complete bullshit. But it did get me thinking a bit about the bumper sticker in question.