The American auto has long enjoyed a not-so-subtle sanctity all its own. The vinyl and chrome interiors have become mobile family chapels for communing with nature and each other; the weekend car wash has become a purification rite, the trade-in for a newer model a form of spiritual renewal and reaffirmation. Now the auto's explicit religious overtones and artifacts have spilled over from the dashboard, where they have long been visual obstructions, to the bumper, where they constitute eyestoppers if not public affronts. The religious bumper sticker has recently become a profitable business. An estimated 2,000,000 stickers will be printed this...
The Nation: Heaven on Wheels
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