Phonetic spelling can be very confusing. It is one of the hazards of the English language. "Ghoti" spells fish. Just sound it out. Use the "gh" from "cough." The "o" is the same sound as in "women." The "ti" is the sound from "action."
There is another way to spell fish that we see almost every day without recognizing it. The fact that we don't recognize it may demonstrate the argument for including religious studies in the school curriculum. This way of spelling fish is often seen on the back of a car and is usually inscribed inside a line drawing of a fish. It is part of our culture and the religious tradition of many who live in our community.Perhaps two brief references to the Bible will put the fish in some context. The first is a tongue-in-cheek question: Did the fish die in the flood? The second is more serious. Why was the writer of the Gospel of John so specific in John 21 as to mention that there were 153 fish pulled up in the nets of the fisherman?
The earliest theory is St. Jerome's. His claim was that the ancients knew that there were 153 kinds of fish in the world. Biologists today would dispute this idea heartily, but the point is that 153 fish were caught and that included every possible kind of fish. It may have been the writer's way of saying that the message of the fish was for everyone.
This leads to the point of the fish we see in line drawings. It is often written in Greek, Ichthys or I.CH.TH.Y.S. Most reference books about the symbolism in Christian art will include the fact that the fish that often appears in art stands for Christ himself just as the fish we see in the line drawing stands for Christ.
In fact, one writer tries to link the world's religions claims that there is more to the symbolic fish. The name Jesus is the same as that of the Old Testament Joshua. Jesus is a Greek version of the name Joshua. Old Testament Joshua is called "the son of Nun" (Joshua 1:1). W. Robertson Smith in "Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia," 2d ed., "appears to argue that Joshua's patronymic is based on that of the Syrian god Dagon, who was likewise named Ichthys." He notes that in Hebrew "nun" means "fish." The point is that fish becomes an important Christian symbol.
The association of fish and Christ is a cryptogram based on the Greek spelling of fish. The initial letters of the formula IESOUS CHRISTOS THEOU YIOS SOTER (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior) read I.CH.TH.Y.S., the Greek for "fish." The line drawing of the fish often contains the Greek letters that spell fish.
The point is that religion explains not only symbols that we see but also explains why people think the way they do.
It may not be for the schools to teach religion. If not, then it will probably not be taught at all since individual religions do not seem to make the understanding of other religious traditions an important priority. They are quite busy with the difficult task of helping members understand their own tradition and teaching about the religious world of others may only be done to discredit the others.
Perhaps there is a place in the curriculum for a study of religious traditions that would allow us to develop a sympathetic view of the religious ideas of others. It may even allow us to understand each other better. At least we can understand that the fish symbol on the back of some cars is much more than a bumper sticker.