All of you have some valid points but as far as my logo and name affecting my business I have been in business since I was 17 and now I'm 39 and have had a strong faith business every since I started
and it has not hendered me
I have to ask, how do you know it hasn't? How do you know that people didn't turn away because they had perceptions about your business due to the logo? I really doubt in this day in age of PC'ness that most would even admit to that even if that really was a factor.
First impressions are still and always be important. That's all that people have to go by to see if they really want to invest in the time to see what kind of work ethic or quality of product that is being produced.
Even if people make out the fact that you do signs from that logo, they might think that you are catering to more of the religious signage or maybe you might have a problem with doing a certain type of signage (for whatever reason). You may not, but with something like what you are posting, that could be a perception that people are getting. That would hinder your business. Not totelly in the negative anti-religion way, but it would still hinder it none the less, but I doubt people would be truthful in that respect, because of the fear of being branded ( I couldn't resist) anti-religion.
Then, of course, you lose the clientele that are a little leary of places that really show off that angled due to the huge amount of con-men that use that type of angle in their cons. I'm not saying that's the case now, I'm just saying that's something that you are "fighting" against with this type of branding.
This is what people are going to see more then likely first, this has to be the hook that gets them in your store. The more people that you can appeal to and get them in, the better off your are. Once their in, then a little more of what you are about can be there, but the hook needs to be as accessible to the public as it can be.
But I can tell you if there are people that do not want to do business with me because of my name without getting to know me or my staff is their loss.
Any business that is using faith as a strong focal point, doesn't have the luxury of having that type of mentality. When you put those symbols in your signage, you should and in most cases will be, held to a higher standard. It may very will be their loss, but you have to go about showing why it would be their loss other then just saying, it's their loss. That's the double edged sword of branding yourself the way that you are branding.