What Would Jesus Steal?
filed in Blogging/Web, Design: Graphic Design, Faith on Mar.22, 2007
Plagiarism was a really big deal in grammar school and high school. Parents, teachers and librarians joined forces to convey the serious consequences if caught plagiarizing a book report, essay or term paper. Nothing short of the cops showing up in school and hauling you away in front of your classmates. I know I was scared into submission.
Within the last 13 months, I’ve had two designs of mine plagiarized. The absolute worst part is, they were plagiarized by churches. I’m fairly certain that it would bother me under any circumstance, but being victimized by a church seems to make it a little worse.
Just to be clear, I’m not referring to the stealing of ideas or concepts or tidbits here and there… we all do that. In every profession. I’m talking true blue plagiarism. I’d love to link you to their websites and call them out by name, but I’ve decided not to. But I will discreetly share the stories.
The first instance was a church on the other side of the country using a website design I made for my own church, here in NYC. It was the same layout, same underlying code that I hand wrote – they just changed the color palette and swapped some photos out. A member of that church whom I do not know told a mutual friend of ours that he and others just assumed I had done the design work for their church. This would be a compliment had the design been better than my original, but it wasn’t… by a long a shot. We put up a little fuss and they apologized and promised to change their website. They did, but it took them 9 months to produce an original website for themselves.
The second, and more recent, was a collaborative design for an upcoming 6-week-long sermon series between the minister, myself and a photographer. This church is one of my best and favorite patrons. It is an original concept, original photography and original layout/design. The minister promoted the series on his blog and within days it had been copied and proudly promoted on another minister’s blog. This minister actually had the gall to freely (and quite proudly) admit how he stole the idea and even linked to the original.
[Update: It was just brought to my attention that this same design has been ripped off again! This time they at least tried to be a little original, yet still bastardized (jargon) the integrity of the original design.]
And these are only the two instances that we found.
Preacher Mike Cope wrote a great blog, back in January, on pastors plagiarizing sermons from other pastors (found here). I think that theft of ideas happens every day in the corporate world. I’m just a little shocked at how prevalent it seems to be in church community.
I’d love to hear feedback in the comments section from readers who hold positions in ministry. What’s the deal?
March 22nd, 2007 on 12:10 pm
Hi
I understand that people should give you recognition if they use your designs but it almost sounds as if you won’t share you designs with the church. Arn’t we all part of one body.
don’t get me wrong, i know totally how long it takes to design something (well mabe not that well, i only finnished my graphic design diploma last year, but i at least have had a few weeks that i slept little because of the D word).
But yeah…i think we shouldn’t make a fuss about others stealing our stuff. we should rather talk to them and find out why they didn’t ask us permission to use the designs.
Must say that this is a site i stumbled upon and i LOVE your stories and socail comments!
Your bro in Christ
Rudolf
March 22nd, 2007 on 12:37 pm
I think that you were perfectly justified in calling plagiarism to the churches’ attention, but I also think that there is a widespread (and eroneous) belief that the internet and its contents are fair game for anyone to use, in spite of the gazillion sites and pages that are under full or partial copyright protection, or the property of the designer, etc. Most people don’t read that fine print at the bottom of the page, so I think it’s great that you’re helping call earnest people’s attention to the issue.
March 22nd, 2007 on 12:43 pm
Rudolf,
It would be different if he had been asked to use (“share”) the designs. Most likely, he would’ve offered to create something that fit both churches better. And the assumption that because they are churches and they can “share” other’s gifts without asking simply because they are believers…sounds a bit communistic and abusive to me. It is completely unfair to target faith and use of God-given gifts in that way.
March 22nd, 2007 on 2:03 pm
If nothing else, it’s a respect issue.
March 22nd, 2007 on 4:44 pm
THAT is the word!
RESPECT
March 22nd, 2007 on 11:08 pm
Look, I’ve started and stopped writing a comment about 10 times already hoping to add something to this post of yours but I got nothin’ that’s helpful. Some of the thoughts going through my mind are as follows:
1) Churches are broke. And because they are broke they don’t have money to pour into the things (like good design) that most consumers want/need. Does that make sense? In other words, good design costs money and most churches are strapped as it is. They know that to attract others this is an important element (excellence in everything!) but they just can’t afford it. I’m not saying that makes ripping off designs right, I’m just giving what possibly could be a reason why it happens.
2) Churches live by different code of ethics. There are many churches that believe they can bend rules all in the name of mission. In other words, if the outcome is conversion then it doesn’t matter what road was taken to get the conversion to take place. If someone came to the church because they got a cool postcard from the church down the street who ripped the design of the postcard off from someone else then it’s all good because God was glorified in the end.
3) Churches have no help. A FAR majority of churches operate with a very small staff. Because so much falls on the shoulders of one or two office people, ripping off of others is bound to happen because there is no time to look elsewhere.
Ugh. I could talk more about laziness, the dilemma of plagiarism and much more but it’s late. I do want to make clear that none of the above thoughts give permission to rip off designs and the like. It’s very wrong.
Do you plan to talk to those who ripped off the design you did for the preaching series? Does the church you work for know about those rip offs?
March 23rd, 2007 on 9:16 am
I think Joe hit the nail on the head when he talked about bending the rules in order to reach the lost. The ends justify the means. Design to me seems to be one of those infrastructure things that everyone recognizes is important, even vital, but they have a hard time justifying it’s expense.
I have had a youth minister in Australia contact me regarding Revolution. He said that the logo we had (a turning anatomically correct heart) was exactly what he was looking for for their ministry. And he asked if he could use it. I said no problem. Even though I was the one who paid $300 for the logo to be designed I was happy to share it under the context of helping another ministry.
But that’s the difference I was asked, and happily complied.
The thing is churches don’t have to spend a lot of money getting good design. There are several companies that specialize in catering to the design needs of churches, with very reasonable prices. I got a killer logo for only $300 from Uth Stuph and that design work from the ground up and I will use the logo for years to come.
March 23rd, 2007 on 9:24 am
Clarifying, I don’t think “ends justify the means” kind of thinking is good. Especially in churches. That kind of thinking can lead not just stealing design, but compromises in theology in order to be appealing to the status quo.
March 3rd, 2008 on 3:46 pm
Hmmm. How many times have I heard preached from the pulpit that we should not steal. And another popular message is don’t be a hypocrite. If the Scriptures tell us, sitting in the pews, to not be thieves or hypocrites, how much more does that apply to the church? Shouldn’t the church be setting the example? Look up the definition for ‘hypocrite’ and it becomes even clearer.
March 28th, 2008 on 11:25 am
God gives the talent and you accept the gift of it. You are entrusted with its use and the power it can provide. The operative word is its WISE use and the God-given word is its HOLY use. How does the church model these for others…..especially if they “take” the power of the gift without asking. Most brothers/sisters in Christ would provide for each other w/o cost or at a non-profit cost if they were asked. Respect the gift, the caretaker of the gift, the use of the gift, and most importantly,the giver of that gift…GOD.