Christian Real Estate Blog

Comparing the Cross to a Swastika???

Realty Times - Agent News and Advice: "Realtors who use religious symbols in their marketing may have the best of intentions, but little insight into why Fair Housing laws frown on mixing business with their beliefs.

One broker writes Realty Times with the following question:

This topic has become relevant because one of my agents, who happens to be an evangelical Christian, wants to advertise using a Christian fish symbol in the ad. I have told the agent that HUD does not allow the use of religious symbols in real estate advertising and that the use of such a symbol could be considered (and appears to me to be obviously so) prima facie evidence for illegal preference for people of similar religious beliefs. It would also seem likely that any general disclaimer (such as a statement or perhaps the Equal Housing symbol) would not overcome this preference. The agent, of course, has pointed out several local agents who use this and other religious symbols in their advertising. Do you think I am correct in what I am telling my agents?

Tom

Dear Tom:

You are correct. It doesn't appear inviting to use a personal religious belief to get customers. Religious symbols like the fish are for recognition purposes and likely to only attract other Christians and repel non-Christians. There's something discriminatory about that, and that's exactly why it's against Fair Housing laws:

According to the Guidance Regarding Advertisements Under 804(c) of the Fair Housing Act, Section 804(c) of the Act "prohibits the making, printing and publishing of advertisements which state a preference, limitation or discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin."

Being against the law should be enough to end the matter with your agent, but there are other reasons why mixing business and religion in advertising is a bad idea:

How about trying a little experiment? Next morning meeting, show an illustration of a swastika to your agents and ask them what they think the symbol means. Most would say it is the emblem of Nazi Germany, in which millions of Jews, homosexuals, political prisoners, dissidents, and yes, Christians, were eliminated in a horrific mass genocide and world war.

Ask the agents how they would feel if a business card were handed to them with a swastika on it. Of course, they'd be offended. But what if the bearer of the card had something completely different in mind when using the symbol? What if the swastika meant something different to the bearer besides hate and murder? What if it represented ... good fortune?

It wouldn't matter because the bearer would have already lost the sale. She'll never get the chance to explain that the swastika is the oldest cross design in the world, and has been used for centuries by people as diverse as the ancient Greeks, the Chinese, and American Indians, among numerous others. Through the ages, it was the benevolent symbol of good luck, much like the four-leaf clover, which is the exact reason why it was adopted by the Nazis. Yet, it only took one ugly corruption of the meaning to completely change the swastika's impact on people over the entire world.

Selling real estate is about making homeownership available to anyone who wants it, not promoting religious beliefs that have the potential to make some segments feel uncomfortable or segregated."

posted by Justin Smith @ 12/07/2005 07:00:00 AM