Of Logos and logos
A speculative conversation on corporate and theological reductionism
Copyright 2026 Jeth Randolph / Casting Darts Publishing
I went to the pub last night to meet Mark. I arrive at the pub, stand at the bar, and order myself a beer while I wait for him.
Then I heard “Jethro!” and turned around. I take in the large room of the sparsely populated pub with a couple of people sitting nursing drinks and just staring as Mark enters and crosses the expanse of the floor to shake hands.
I said, “Hey, how’s it going, fella?”
Mark was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt with a huge bling gold chain around his neck — what I presume were fake diamonds — and a large medallion of Jesus - not the usual logo or depiction of the faith.
I said to him, “Wow, what’s this? You’re not messing around.”
He replied, “Hey, if you’re going to be a Christian, be a full-on Christian.”
“Hey, I should rat you to the cops mate, remember the ad? ‘Got new bling? Give us a ring” (1)
He said he’d ordered it from the States and we both stood for a second admiring the statement it made.
In terms of his faith of choice, mark really walks the walk, which I have respect for. He sees all through the lens of that faith and I find his views on things really interesting in light of this. Despite my heathen existence, we find much in common in terms of outlook, and it is that common ground, whether of heath or of church consecrated, that is so important and in short supply these days.
We got a booth and sat with beers and talked.
I really enjoy hanging out with him because literally nothing is off topic and he’s quite happy to really chase subjects down so that you actually get to a conclusion, or make some kind of deduction from what you’re talking about. It’s always a good conversation, and it never falls into that most British of diseases – small talk, wherein grown adults move through existence learning nothing and never changing an opinion.
At this point in my life, I’m also find him an incredibly good friend, a true friend. I’ve had problems which I didn’t know how I was going to solve, and this guy really, really stepped in for me and helped me out in a way that I was just amazed by. He’s done this a couple of times and I do view him as a real true friend. I’m very lucky to know him. He’s a high-quality human being.
We were talking about how he’d been on a pilgrimage to northern Germany with his partner. He mentioned that he had gone to a mass and taken communion “on the knee”. He said he was initially worried that he would cause a problem by doing so, because almost everyone else in the church queued up to receive it in the hand with only one other man receiving it the traditional way. Not being a Christian or a Catholic of any kind, I didn’t really understand what “on the knee” meant, though I was familiar with communion.
He explained that this is the old way: you knelt down, opened your mouth, and the priest puts the wafer (the body of Christ) upon your tongue and you receive communion with God.
This whole ceremony has now been changed and reduced down to people just queuing up, standing there, putting their hand out, being given a wafer, and walking off.
I was very struck by this. As a non-Christian, I feel that if you are going to be one, you need to do it all the way. Otherwise, what’s the point? And who are you to downgrade or slim down your god’s word just for the sake of modernity or pleasing people?
He said that where this reduced practice is the norm, there has been a huge drop-off in attendances. Whereas in the very few churches that still do communion on the knee, the turnouts are always larger.
I was thinking about Hollywood films with modern agendas scripted in that are colossal financial failures because audiences don’t like them, yet the producers keep their jobs and make even bigger-budget follow up projects anyway. This goes the against basic business logic of making profit. The only explanation is that there is another goal at play and that it’s not actually just about money.
I suggested this to him and he agreed. We talked a bit off-topic, but it came back to this subject of reduction.
I’d recently driven past a Dunkin’ Donuts on a freeway in America. Someone pointed out they just call it “Dunkin” now — they dropped “Donuts.”
A small, trivial detail one might think.
My son had also recently pointed out a McDonald’s poster that no longer even has the arches, just an abstract hamburger with red colouring that you’re supposed to subconsciously recognise this without words.
He showed me a Pringles crisps can where they’re reducing and simplifying the logo of the guy with the moustache, and this reductionist approach is happening across all brands.
On one level it might be about making the product feel like part of your life, but when everyone is doing it, including in something as meaningful as communion in church, it feels like something else is at play.
If somebody takes the wafer in their hand, they’re admitting (along with the priest) that the ritual is purely symbolic. Taking it on the knee means you believe wholeheartedly that you are communing with God in that moment. The reductionist version gets both parties to accept they are not, which removes all the meaning.
I can at least understand that some people in the church might be well-meaning, perhaps thinking it’s more efficient or safer during the absurdity of behaviours in Covid restrictions, personally in terms of religious practice, even though I don’t believe in it myself, I don’t agree with any alteration whatever the reason as it contradicts the notion of faith for me.
But at a higher level, consciously removing the meaning of a ceremony can only be viewed as stemming from evil.
Mark no longer believes in the “well-meaning” excuses. He says people have straight choices. He says that he leans more to the idea now that small acts of evil, done through choice with full cognisance, are worse than large-scale acts of evil in some ways.
We pondered what the actual goal of reducing down everything is.
If spiritual warfare were real,( and he does and I am increasingly convinced of it too), it wouldn’t differ much from aspects of unconventional warfare. It would involve undermining through small acts of demoralisation and sabotage, much the same as these incremental reductions in the practice of faith that we discussed until a critical point is reached where the meaning has been gutted. This is exactly what an enemy would do: create serious damage without drawing attention through larger, more obvious acts.
Mark says he can see an deliberate process of undermining the church slowly, brick by brick, until the faith no longer exists because it stands in the way of something that comes next.
In the corporate world of brand reduction, it feels like there’s a unified understanding that people already accept things on a purely subconscious level as they blankly scroll and stare from transportation, and the groundwork is being laid for an expansion of that existence.
This is not benign in motivation.
As all beings of our station in this world, I am reduced to nescient speculating, but I believe the ultimate end goal of this reduction approach in marketing is to have the individual react subconsciously and without thought to messages, thus removing the barriers of consciousness or even, choice.
This will extend to all areas of life from the commercial, to the illusion of the political and ultimately, the final barrier, the spiritual if one considers Mark’s experience.
It seeks access to control thought and action without conscious consent. Any media ad-man denying this would be lying …or selling you something.
Within a church however, it has to be fully known at higher levels that this reduces not just meaning, but, if the faith is to be truly believed, it ultimately reduces connection with God, and all conscious and even spiritual barriers to resistance have been removed and control is total.
Only obedience remains.
I don’t have an answer, but as an outsider looking in, it fascinated me.
Notes:
This was jokingly referring to a UK slogan that sought to get people informing on each other, no doubt through petty jealousies as much as altruistic social concern. Perhaps seeding the consciousness for later pushes to inform on neighbours for suspicion of having house guests during enforced isolations from 2020?
1 - https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/much-bling---give-police-4237190
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