Chick tract

Chick tracts are short evangelical gospel tracts in a comic book format, originally created by American publisher and religious cartoonist Jack Chick in the 1960s. His company Chick Publications has continued to print these tracts, in addition to those by new writers.

Chick Tracts
The cover of This Was Your Life!, a Chick tract that was translated into over a hundred languages and is described by Chick Publications as its most popular title.
Parent companyChick Publications
FoundedJanuary 1, 1960 (1960-01-01)
FounderJack Chick
Country of originUSA
Headquarters locationOntario, California
Nonfiction topicsevangelical gospel tracts
Official websitewww.chick.com

Although many of Chick's tracts express views that are generally accepted within mainstream Christian theology, several tracts have expressed controversial viewpoints. Most notably, Chick tracts express strong anti-Catholic views, as well as criticisms of other faiths, including Judaism, Islam, and Mormonism.

Chick Publications

Chick Publications produces and markets the Chick tracts, along with other comic books, books, and posters.[1] Chick Publications has its headquarters in Rancho Cucamonga, California,[2] and a mailing address in Ontario, California.

As of January 2015, Chick Publications had produced over 250 different titles, about 100 of which are still in print, and are available in over 100 languages.[3]

Format

The tracts themselves are approximately 3 by 5 inches (8 by 13 cm), and approximately twenty pages in length.[4] The material is written in comic book format, with the front panel featuring the title of the tract and the inside back panel devoted to a standard sinner's prayer. The back cover of the tract contains a blank space for churches to stamp their name and address; Chick Publications is willing to print custom back covers, but at least 10,000 tracts must be ordered.

Themes

Chick tracts end with a suggested prayer for the reader to pray to accept Jesus Christ. In most of these tracts it is a standard sinner's prayer for salvation. In the tracts dealing with "false religions", the prayer includes a clause to reject these religions. Included with the prayer are directions for converting to Christianity, which is also repeated on the inside back panel along with steps to take should the reader convert to Christianity.[5]

Strips, Toons, and Bluesies, written by Douglas Bevan Dowd and Todd Hignite, stated that "it's safe to assume Chick saw at least some" Tijuana bibles since the books and, according to Dowd and Hignite, Chick tracts were "strikingly similar" to Tijuana bibles; like Tijuana bibles the tracts mostly targeted youth of lower socioeconomic classes and "were loaded with stereotypes". The book stated that Chick tracts contained "way-out, wild" portrayals of recreational drug usage and portrayed "the sexual revolution". In addition the comics included supernatural elements, occult rituals, torture, and cannibalism.[6] Some tracts, like Let’s Fly Away[7] and The Throw Away Kid,[8] portray the subject of child abuse. The earliest on the subject is Somebody Loves Me, which focused on a young boy being bludgeoned to death by a drunken guardian after not getting enough to pay on the rent.[9]

Controversies

The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated Chick Publications as an active hate group.[10] The group was listed due to its strong anti-Catholic, anti-Muslim, and anti-homosexual rhetoric.[11]

Chick's critics (such as talk.origins, Hindu American Foundation, and Catholic Answers) have accused him of misrepresentation.

The Hindu American Foundation put out an electronic PDF paper called "Hyperlink to Hinduphobia: Online Hatred, Extremism and Bigotry Against Hindus"[12] which contains a section on Chick's site; the paper ends with the statement "Chick Publications promotes hatred not just against Hindus, but also towards Muslims, Catholics, and others as is evidenced by the following titles of their tracts: 'Last Rites – When this Catholic dies, he learns that his church couldn't save him';[13] 'The Little Bride – Protect children against being recruited as Muslims. Li'l Susy explains that only Jesus can save them';[14] and 'Allah Had No Son – The Allah of Islam is not the God of creation'".[15]

The tracts' claims about conspiracies are based in large part on the testimony of people who claim to have been members of these groups before converting to Evangelical Christianity, most prominently Alberto Rivera and William Schnoebelen. Many of Chick's critics consider these sources to be frauds or fantasists.[16] One such case was "The Prophet",[17] a comic containing a fantastic tale related by Rivera of how the papacy helped start Islam that turned out to have no basis in reality.[18]

Churches have been criticized for distributing Chick tracts. In October 2011, the Northview Baptist Church in Hillsboro, Ohio, gave out copies of the Chick tract Mean Momma[19] along with candy at Halloween.[20] The church received complaints from parishioners, and its pastor apologized for issuing the tracts, saying that, "Our church does not endorse this type of extreme methodology that was represented in this particular tract, and we can assure you that we will not let this happen again ... our church is a loving church that loves souls and wants to do all we can in our community to help as well as spread and share the Gospel message of Christ."[21]

Chick tracts have also been subject to censorship and have been investigated for hate speech. For instance, Avon and Somerset Police investigated the distribution of Chick publications in Bristol in July 2020.[22]

Anti-Catholicism

Catholicism is a frequent target of Chick tracts and other writings. No fewer than 20 of the tracts are devoted to Catholicism, including Are Roman Catholics Christians?[23] (arguing that they are not), The Death Cookie[24] (a polemic against the Catholic Eucharist), and Why Is Mary Crying?[25] (arguing that Mary does not support the veneration Catholicism gives her).[26] One notable tract, Mary's Kids, focuses on an elderly Catholic member who disapproved of her son marrying a Pentecostal woman and then teaching their young daughter about the Virgin Mary. The mother convinces the elder that Mary was not a perpetual virgin after confronting her about the fact that her Catholic priests were sex offenders.[27]

Elsewhere, Chick defended the controversial Alberto Rivera in at least one book[28][29] and in an entire series of six full-length comics.[30] Chick also asserted that the Catholic Church, in a grand conspiracy, created Islam, Communism, Nazism, and Freemasonry.[31] In The New Anti-Catholicism,[32] religious historian Philip Jenkins describes Chick tracts as promulgating "bizarre allegations of Catholic conspiracy and sexual hypocrisy" to perpetuate "anti-papal and anti-Catholic mythologies". Michael Ian Borer, a sociology professor of Furman University at the time, described Chick's strong anti-Catholic themes in a 2007 American Sociological Association presentation[33] and in a peer-reviewed article the next year in Religion and American Culture.[34]

Catholic Answers published a response to the claims of Chick Publications against Roman Catholics and a criticism of Chick tracts in general called The Nightmare World of Jack T. Chick,[35] detailing the inaccuracies, factual errors, and how a "typical tactic in Chick tracts is to portray Catholics as being unpleasant or revolting in various ways".

Anti-Islam

Islam is also regularly targeted by Chick tracts, and more than ten tracts have been published on the subject. The most notable of these is Allah Had No Son, first published in 1994.[15] In this tract, a Muslim is converted to Christianity when he is told that Allah has origins as a pagan moon god. Camels in the Tent claims that Muslim immigration will lead to the establishment of Sharia law in the United States and the forceful conversion of non-Muslims to Islam.[36]

Chick tracts' depiction of Islam has been frequently criticized. In December 2008, a Singaporean couple was charged with sedition for distributing the Chick tracts The Little Bride[14] and Who Is Allah?.[37] The tracts were said to "promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between Christians and Muslims in Singapore".[38][39] The Chick Publications website has consequently been blocked in Singapore.[40]

In 2014, the Chick tract Unforgiven[41] was distributed by Bible Baptist Church in Garden City, Roanoke, Virginia, and drew outrage from the area's Muslim community. The tract tells the story of an African-American man who, while in prison, is coerced into joining the Islamic faith and changes his name to Muhammad. Upon his release he threatens his Christian grandmother. Hussain Al-Shiblawi, a local man interviewed by WDBJ-TV, explained that while the pamphlets he received from the church every Sunday were usually inspirational, this tract upset him: "It basically indicated that the people are violent, the religion itself is violent, and the facts in here are not true." Bible Baptist Church said that they did not write the tract and simply distributed it.[42]

Anti-homosexuality

Chick tracts are unequivocal and explicit in their opposition to homosexuality, and repeatedly employ two anti-homosexual themes:

  • the belief that God hates homosexuality and considers it to be sinful, and
  • the true nature of homosexuality is revealed in the Christian interpretation of the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah story.

Chick's first tract on the subject, The Gay Blade[43] was originally published in 1972. This tract warned of a gay agenda to push for same-sex marriage and urged homosexuals to repent so they could make it into heaven. The Gay Blade was revised in 1984 and is now out-of-print except by special order. According to Cynthia Burack, this tract borrowed several of its frames from a 1971 Life magazine photo-essay on the Gay Liberation movement, but with the images altered to make the gay men look more dissolute or stereotypically feminized.[44]

Later tracts on homosexuality depict gay rights activists as aggressive and prone to violence. In Doom Town, Chick claims that HIV-positive gay men plan to donate blood to protest lack of federal funding of AIDS research.[45] In Sin City, gay rights activists attack a pastor protesting a gay pride parade, beating him so badly he is subsequently hospitalized.[46] Other tracts, such as Home Alone have pushed the beliefs that gay men convert otherwise heterosexual men into homosexuality and that gay and lesbian individuals are more promiscuous than heterosexual ones.[47]

Chick's claims about homosexuality have angered gay activists. In 1974 the Iowa State University Christian Fellowship passed out copies of over twenty different Chick tracts, including copies of The Gay Blade. Members of the Gay People's Liberation Alliance and the Women's Coalition protested the tracts' distribution, claiming that they provided an inaccurate representation of gay and bisexual people.[48]

Anti-evolution
Further information: Evidence of common descent

Chick published several anti-evolution tracts, but Big Daddy? (which also attempts to refute the existence of the strong nuclear force)[49] remains "the most widely distributed anti-evolution booklet in history".[50]

Critics point out that the Big Daddy? tract mainly uses Kent Hovind as a reference, despite the fact that Hovind has no degrees from accredited institutions in the relevant fields, that the thesis referred to is considered to be of very poor quality, and that his claims are at odds with the published statements of experts in the field.[51][52][53][16]

Big Daddy? is presented in the 2007 book Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters as a "typical of the genre" example of just how "misleading and dishonest" creationist presentations are. The examples of the "deceptive and misleading" distortions, misrepresentation, and fabrications presented in that work regarding Big Daddy? are "Nebraska Man" (the misinterpretation of which was corrected after only a year and its existence was debated from the beginning[54]), "New Guinea Man" (which is actually Homo sapiens), and the implication "Cro-Magnon" man was viewed as different from Homo sapiens.[55]

Views on Satanism and Satanic influence

Gladys is an example of one of Chick's tracts on astrology, witchcraft, and Satanic influence.[56] The Poor Little Witch shows child sacrifice while a young girl, who was tricked into Satanism, is forced to drink the small corpse’s blood to gain supernatural powers.[57]

Chick did not oppose Christians engaging in the traditional Halloween custom of passing out candy to neighborhood children, considering it to be an opportunity to present the Gospel message via his tracts.[58]

Based on Chick's views on Satanism and Satanic influence, Catholic Answers states that "Chick portrays a world full of paranoia and conspiracy where nothing is what it seems and nearly everything is a Satanic plot to lead people to hell."[35][18][59][60]

In film
  • A live-action film Dark Dungeons, based on the Chick tract of the same name that warns against the supposed evil influence of Dungeons & Dragons, was released in August 2014. Producer JR Ralls was given the rights to the tract for free after contacting Chick.[61]

In print

Some cartoonists have published parodies that mimic Chick tracts' familiar layout and narrative conventions. Examples include:

  • Devil Doll? by Daniel Clowes, Antlers of the Damned[62] by Adam Thrasher, Jesus Delivers! by Jim Woodring and David Lasky, and Demonic Deviltry by "Dr. Robert Ramos" (actually Justin Achilli of White Wolf Game Studios).
  • Issue #2 of Daniel K. Raeburn's zine The Imp, which consists of a lengthy essay on Jack T. Chick's work and a concordance of terms and concepts used in his comics, has dimensions and covers that imitate a Chick tract.
  • Two parodies by Jack C. Trick, LLC and published by Trick Publications titled Chemical Salvation? (2006)[63] and ADAM & EVIL?! (2007)[64] tell the history of LSD and MDMA. The LSD Trick tract, which was released on Albert Hofmann's 100th birthday and was partially reprinted in a recent biography of the inventor of LSD,[65] also appeared in a Japanese translation[66] and a Spanish translation.[67]
  • A parody drawn by cartoonist Hal Robins, The Collector was included in chapter 13 of The Art of Jack T. Chick by Kurt Kuersteiner (2004, Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.).
  • The first edition of the Season 1 Blu-ray of the animated comedy show Rick and Morty came with a print version of The Good Morty, a parody of Chick's work which also appears in Season 1 Episode 10 titled "Close Encounters of the Rick Kind". The comic is written by Justin Roiland & Ryan Ridley and illustrated by Erica Hayes.[68]

References

Citations
  1. Chapman, Roger (2010) Culture Wars: an Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices, Volume 1 M E Sharpe, p. 84
  2. "Chick Publications, Inc Company Profile". Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  3. "ChickComics.com: The Jack T. Chick Museum of Fine Art". The Chick Tract Collector's Club; Not affiliated with Jack T Chick, LLC. 2015. Archived from the original on March 29, 2015. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  4. Bivins 2008, p. 41.
  5. "The Nightmare World of Jack T. Chick | Catholic Answers". Catholic.com. Archived from the original on January 8, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  6. Dowd, Douglas Bevan; Hignite, Todd (2006). Strips, Toons, and Bluesies. Princeton Architectural Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-56898-621-0.
  7. Jack T. Chick (w). Let's Fly Away (2013).
  8. Jack T. Chick (w). The Throw Away Kid (2014).
  9. Jack T. Chick (w). Somebody Loves Me (1972).
  10. "Active General Hate Groups". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on July 23, 2013. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  11. "Pastor Apologizes For Hate-filled Halloween Hand-out". splcenter.org. Archived from the original on May 8, 2015. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  12. "Hyperlink to Hinduphobia: Online Hatred, Extremism and Bigotry Against Hindus" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 21, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  13. "Last Rites". Chick.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  14. "English "The Little Bride"". Chick.com. Archived from the original on July 23, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  15. "Allah Had No Son". Chick.com. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  16. Fowler, Robert B. (2001). The World of Jack T. Chick. Last Gasp. pp. 2–10. ISBN 0-86719-512-6.
  17. Jack T. Chick (1988). "The Prophet". Chick Publications. Archived from the original on June 23, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
  18. Hodapp, Christopher; Von Kannon, Alice (2008). Conspiracy Theories & Secret Societies For Dummies. For Dummies. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-470-18408-0.
  19. "Mean Momma, Chick Publications". Chick.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  20. Mean Momma tells the story of Petunia Parker, hated by the town for her prior actions and her delinquent raising of her three sons; she scornfully rejects the church and refuses to fear God, only to have all three children die. The tract shows a gruesome detail of one child hanging himself, while a caption quotes that "the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away" while showing a tornado hitting her house, killing her only remaining child (the first died in a car crash while attempting to elude law enforcement).
  21. "Pastor apologizes for pamphlet handed out to trick-or-treaters". November 4, 2011. Archived from the original on November 4, 2011. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  22. "'Disgusting' booklets posted through Bristol doors". BBC News. July 24, 2020. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
  23. Jack T. Chick (w). Are Roman Catholics Christians? (1985). Retrieved on 2006-12-07.
  24. Jack T. Chick (w). The Death Cookie (1988). Retrieved on 2006-07-16.
  25. Jack T. Chick (w). Why is Mary Crying? (1987). Retrieved on 2006-12-07.
  26. Akin, Jimmy (2008). The Nightmare World of Jack T. Chick. San Diego: Catholic Answers.
  27. Jack T. Chick (w). Mary's Kids (2014).
  28. Hunter, Sidney (1988). Is Alberto for Real?. Chick Publications. ISBN 978-0-937958-29-2. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
  29. "The compelling testimony of Alberto Rivera, a former Jesuit priest". Chick.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  30. "Comic List". Chick.com. Archived from the original on December 1, 2013. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  31. Jack T. Chick (w). Mama's Girls (2012). Retrieved on 2013-02-16.
  32. Jenkins, Philip (2004). The New Anti-Catholicism. City: Oxford University Press, USA. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-19-517604-9.
  33. Borer, Michael Ian. "Drawing Religious Battle Lines: The 'Culture Wars Work' of Jack Chick's Anti-Catholic Cartoons (paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, New York, New York City, August 11, 2007)". Archived from the original on December 20, 2017.
  34. Borer, Michael Ian; Murphree, Adam (Winter 2008). "Framing Catholicism: Jack Chick's Anti-Catholic Cartoons and the Flexible Boundaries of the Culture Wars". Religion and American Culture. 18 (1): 95–112. doi:10.1525/rac.2008.18.1.95. S2CID 145414303.
  35. "The Nightmare World of Jack T. Chick". Archived from the original on September 4, 2011. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  36. "Chick.com: Camel's In The Tent". chick.com. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  37. "Chick.com: Who is Allah?". chick.com. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  38. Chong, Elena (December 4, 2008). "Couple on sedition trial". Straits Times. Archived from the original on March 23, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2009.
  39. Chong, Elena (December 6, 2008). "No ill will intended". Straits Times. Archived from the original on December 7, 2008. Retrieved June 24, 2009.
  40. Tim (June 3, 2008). "Homophobic Evangelical Comics, Now Available in Singapore!". Trevvy. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011.
  41. "Unforgiven". Chick Publications. 2007. Archived from the original on December 13, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  42. "Archived copy". www.wdbj7.com. Archived from the original on April 5, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  43. "The Gay Blade". Chick.com. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  44. Burack, Cynthia (2008). Sin, Sex, and Democracy. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 33–66. ISBN 978-0-7914-7405-1.
  45. "Chick.com: Doom Town". chick.com. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
  46. "Chick.com: Sin City". chick.com. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
  47. "Chick.com: Home Alone?". chick.com. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
  48. Brumm, Dennis. "ISU Daily: Gays Protest Pamphlet". www.brumm.com. Archived from the original on November 22, 2007. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
  49. "Big Daddy?". Chick.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2013. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  50. Moore, Randy; Decker, Mark D. (2008). More than Darwin: an Encyclopedia of the People and Places of the Evolution-Creationism Controversy. Greenwood Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-313-34155-7.
  51. Vickers, Brett (1998). "Some Questionable Creationist Credentials". Archived from the original on February 19, 2009. Retrieved June 24, 2009.
  52. Bartelt, Foley, Ph.D. (2001). "The Dissertation Kent Hovind Doesn't Want You to Read". Archived from the original on July 18, 2007. Retrieved June 24, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  53. Foley, Jim (August 31, 2001). "Fossil Hominids: Big Daddy?". talkorigins.org. Archived from the original on March 27, 2009. Retrieved June 24, 2009.
  54. Wolf, John; James S. Mellett (1985) "The role of "Nebraska man" in the creation-evolution debate" Archived 2012-03-13 at the Wayback Machine Creation/Evolution 16:31-43, National Center for Science Education
  55. Prothero & Buell 2007, pp. 334–335.
  56. "Gladys". Chick.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  57. Jack T. Chick (w). The Poor Little Witch (1987).
  58. Chick portrayed this dramatically in the tract The Little Princess (http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0063/0063_01.asp Archived 2008-05-17 at the Wayback Machine), the story of a terminally-ill young girl who receives a Chick tract from her neighbors on Halloween, accepts Christ and has the neighbors share the Gospel with her family, before dying later that night.
  59. Camp, Gregory S. (1997). Selling fear: Conspiracy Theories and End-Times Paranoia. Baker Pub Group. p. 189. ISBN 0-8010-5721-3.
  60. Lewis, James R. (2001). Satanism Today: an Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore, and Popular Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-57607-292-9.
  61. Edidin, Rachel. "A Fearmongering Anti-RPG Comic Gets the Film Adaptation It Deserves | Underwire". WIRED. Archived from the original on May 20, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  62. Thrasher, Adam. "Antlers Of The Damned". The Jack T. Chick Parody Archive. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  63. "Chemical Salvation?" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on September 26, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  64. "ADAM & EVIL?! for Web" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on May 10, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  65. Hagenbach, Dieter; Werthmüller, Lucius; Grof, Stanislav (2013). Mystic Chemist: The Life of Albert Hofmann and His Discovery of LSD (First English ed.). Santa Fe, NM: Synergetic Press. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-907791-46-1.
  66. "科学が魂を救う? / Chemical Salvation?" (PDF) (in Japanese). Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2014. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
  67. Ruiz Franco (June 15, 2016). "Albert Hofmann, Vida Y Legado De Un Quimico Humanista" [Albert Hofmann, Life And Legacy Of A Humanist Chemist] (in Spanish).
  68. "SDCC – 'Rick and Morty' Creators and Cast Tease a 'More Intergalactic' Season 2". comicbookresources.com. August 15, 2014. Archived from the original on June 30, 2016. Retrieved May 16, 2017.

Sources

Further reading
  • Fowler, Robert (2001). The World of Chick?. San Francisco: Last Gasp. ISBN 0-86719-512-6.
  • Kuersteiner, Kurt (2004). The Art of Jack Chick. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publications Ltd. ISBN 0-7643-1892-6.
  • Doner, Colonel V. (May 23, 2012). Christian Jihad: Neo-Fundamentalists and the Polarization of America. Samizdat Creative.
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