Here’s an interesting objection:

Jonah, normally I like your writing, but your article on the Darwin fish is so twisted and offensive that I don’t even know where to begin. I don’t know what things are like up in the liberal northeast, but down here in the Bible-belt a Jesus fish means nothing. They’re common as flies and elicit no response at all. But those who put a Darwin fish on their car are taking a risk and making a statement. The odds are better than even that the car will be vandalized. Often the tail lights are broken. More usually, the Darwin fish itself is removed and destroyed. The people who put a Darwin fish on their car are showing a great deal of courage and moxie. That is the reality here in the south. Of all my friends and family, only my wife knows that I am an atheist. I wish I had the courage to proudly state what I believe, but I don’t. I certainly don’t have a Darwin fish on my car. It’s much easier around here to just pretend you’re a Christian.

Update: From a reader:

Sorry, but the claim that the South is somewhere where non-Christians have their cars routinely vandalized in punishment for displaying non-Christian symbols is nonsense that could only be believed by a credulous Yankee. The South is not some monolithic block of observant Christianity anymore than the Northeast is composed 100% of godless liberals.

Oh and for the record, I find the above tale very hard to believe as well. I’ve driven and otherwise traveled across the country many, many times. I’ve seen Darwin fish — and much worse — adorning the backs of cars in all sorts of places.

A few more skeptical readers below the fold:

“But those who put a Darwin fish on their car are taking a risk and making
a statement. The odds are better than even that the car will be
vandalized. Often the tail lights are broken. More usually, the Darwin
fish itself is removed and destroyed.”
Utter BS. This kind of thing may have happened at some time somewhere in
the South, but it’s laughable to use the words “better than even”,
“often”, or “usually”. My guess is that the email is from a lefty troll.
“The people who put a Darwin fish on their car are showing a great deal of
courage and moxie.”
It takes no courage whatsoever to sport a Darwin fish in the South.

And:

Dear Jonah,
I guess that I don’t quite believe the guy whose fears of retribution keep him from displaying a Darwin fish. He says that’s the way it is in “the South” (instead of “the North,” where it’s not like that, I guess.) The guy has a rich imaginative life, I think.
However, a while back, I saw some kids driving around town in an old junker with a bumpers ticker proclaiming: BAD COP, NO DONUT! Now, that was BRAVERY, true bravery!
(Johnson City Tennessee Police Officers are not allowed to eat or purchase doughnuts while on duty, I was once reliably informed. They do not seem to find this funny in the least, which is almost funny enough to revive the stale joke.)
Yours truly,

And:

He’s out of his danged mind.
I think quite a few on the Left like to cloak themselves in their own form of bravery by inventing strawmen (the christian hypocrites out to deface Darwin fish) in order to prove their own bravery, or lack of it (it’s easier to pretend you’re a Christian).
Who is it that steals college newspapers, sets fire to SUV’s, spills “simulated” blood on people in church, etc?
Dennis Prager has covered this topic in far greater detail, but the likelihood that people on the right deface cars and engage in vandalism versus those on the Left pale by comparison.

And:

I think that the reader who wrote about cars with Darwin fish being vandalized is another attempt to portray Southerners as a bunch of violent rednecks. I’ve seem plenty of Darwin fish on cars (I live in Virginia) , and the cars don’t look vandalized. There is a Darwin fish in the parking lot at work ( a public lot) that has never been vandalized.
I’m a frequent visitor to North Carolina, and see Darwin fish there also.
To be honest, I think your reader is lying.

And:

Your objector is full of carp. I was raised Roman Catholic (#5 of 8 children) in an Alabama county that calls itself the Heart of the Heart of Dixie. I now live in a Northern Virginia County where several of the key battles of the Civil War were fought, and rebel flags are still in evidence. While some Alabama neighbors are not shy about posting the Ten Commandments in their front yard, they are not the religious bigots this alleged Southerner makes them out to be. He’s probably a lifelong Republican to boot! One doesn’t see a lot of Darwin Fish on local Saab bumpers in the Deep South, to be sure, because there aren’t many Saabs there period. Or latte bars. There are plenty of lapsed Christians, lukewarm believers, non-church goers etc. Why there are even those who don’t believe (though they would probably eschew the term ‘atheist’ if they are indeed native to the region). As has been true since WWII or before, every small town in the South has its Jewish (and now Muslim and Hindu) doctors, its Lebanese Christian haberdashers, Chinese carryouts etc, and nobody gets burned out or run out of town. Most folks in the South have the same attitude as elsewhere: Stay out of my personal business and I’ll stay out of yours. Of the distinct minority of folks who might display a Christian bumper sticker, their attitude can probably be summed up (as you have so accurately stated): “My Christian bumper sticker is a benign affirmation of my Christianity that says nothing about your personal non-belief. YOUR Darwin Fish on the other hand is a discourteous rebuke of me.” Southerners don’t act with discourtesy.

And:

Every day I drive 54 miles each way across the Metroplex and see thousands of cars every day.
I cannot count the number of times I see a Darwin fish and every other kind of moonbat Imagine All the People nonsense on cars.
This place is the buckle on the Bible Belt and I can’t imagine anybody getting worked up enough to damage somebody’s car because of a stupid Darwin fish.
Please.