Chick Tracts Revisted, Part One – Introduction
I learned a shocking fact a while back at the monthly meeting - there are actually individuals in this world who have never heard of, let alone read, a . My background in Fundamentalist and Evangelical Christianity simply hadn't prepared me for such a revelatory moment. I had actually been socializing regularly with people that had never seen a copy of or ? Inconceivable!
Feeling strongly that Chick Tracts are essential to understanding the mindset of the True Believer™, I immediately resolved to rectify the situation and ordered two complete sets of the tiny comics to share with anyone that might want a glimpse into my nightmarishly ignorant past. My order arrived with approaching-doomsday speed and I tore into the box the second I got home. I couldn't wait to discover the tiny nuggets of hilarious treasure that were surely tucked inside the newsprint pages, only visible now that I resided firmly on the heathen side of the religious fence...
Holy shit.
I may have mentioned this before, but there's an interesting feeling that accompanies looking back and realizing you used to be bat-shit insane. Paging through those tracts brought up an acrid mixture of disbelief, confusion, nostalgia, and shame. I used to LOVE this drivel. Every tract I came upon filled me with a sense of righteous superiority and soul-winning hope. They gave me the ability to dismiss both scientific and historical fact as tools of the devil. They soothed my thoughts of the unsaved burning in hell by blanketing them in the comforting notion that in all those who encountered a tract, a seed of salvation had been planted. They kept theological doubt at bay by exposing the faiths of others as demonic and powerless. While I now doubt their ability to win converts, I'm still in awe of how they empower those already neck deep in fundamentalist faith. In essence, Chick Tracts are a combo shot for the delusional; one part vaccine, and one part steroid... like armor dipped in PCP.
The surface messages inherent in Chick Tracts, the ones intended to inform the unsaved masses and thereby rescue them from destruction, were blatant, repetitive and unsurprising. "Give your heart to Jesus or burn for all eternity" isn't exactly a message that lends itself to subtlety.
There were, however, more indirect messages to be found...
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June 1st, 2012 - 22:39
I’m only familiar with a few of the more popular ones. I had no idea there were that many. Or that anybody actually found them anything but embarrassing. I’m realizing my family never considered religion anything other than a vague familial obligation… possibly excepting my godmother, who occasionally feels she’s failed in her “responsibility” with me. However, only to the point of giving me a book on the subject once… that she never even bothered to look at herself… and then avoided my offer to go through the book, argument by argument.
The notion that these tracts could ever inspire anyone with anything other than pity or comedy… has never occurred to me before. But then, even when my family exhibited an interest in churchgoing… we shopped around for the most entertaining. There’s idiots and boors in any group. I’d long assumed Jack Chick was one such.