Jack Chick
Encyclopedia
Jack Thomas Chick is an American
publisher, writer
, and comic book artist
of fundamentalist Christian
tracts and comic books. He has been called the most published comic book author in the world.
His comics have been described by the Los Angeles Magazine as "equal parts hate literature and fire-and-brimstone sermonizing".
, comics tracts
, videos, books, and posters designed to promote Protestant evangelism
from a Christian fundamentalist
point of view. Many of these are controversial, as they accuse Roman Catholics, Freemasons, Muslims and many other groups of murder and conspiracies, while Chick maintains his views are simply politically incorrect
.
His views have been spread worldwide, mostly through the tracts and now online. They have been translated into more than 100 languages. As evidenced from his writings and publications, Chick is an Independent Baptist
who follows a dispensational
premillennialist
view of the end times
. He is an ardent believer in the King James Only movement, which posits that every English translation of the Bible more recent than 1611 promotes heresy or immorality.
section of Los Angeles, California
, the first of two children of commercial artist Thomas Chick (1903–1973) and his wife Pauline (1903–1991). The family later moved to Alhambra
where Chick was active in the high school
drama club. Chick's official biography notes that he was not religious in high school and was in fact avoided by Christian students, who believed "he was the last guy on earth who would ever accept Jesus Christ."
After his graduation, he continued his drama education at the Pasadena Playhouse School of Theater
on a two-year scholarship
. In February 1943, Chick was drafted as a private in the U.S. Army
. He served for three years in the Pacific theater, serving in New Guinea
, Australia
, the Philippines
and Japan
. Chick credits his time overseas with inspiring him to translate his tracts into many different languages and says he has "a special burden for missions and missionaries."
After the war, he returned to the Pasadena Playhouse and met his wife while working on a production there. Lola Lynn Priddle (1926–1998), a Canadian
immigrant, came from a very religious family, and Chick's official biography describes her as "instrumental in his salvation
." Priddle and her parents introduced Chick to the Charles E. Fuller
radio show, the Old Fashioned Revival Hour, and Chick relates that he was converted while listening to an episode of this show. They married in 1948 and had one child, Carol, who died in 2001. In February 1998, Lola Lynn died and Chick has since remarried. In a 2005 issue of Battle Cry, Chick reported that he had suffered a heart attack
while being transported to the hospital suffering from hypoglycemia
. Shortly thereafter he had a triple coronary artery bypass.
Very little is known about Jack Chick; he lives a reclusive life and has given only one known professional interview since 1975. His reclusiveness created speculation in the past that he was a pen name
for an unnamed author or authors. Several audio cassettes of his preaching distributed to his subscribers purport to contain his voice. He has never released a photo of himself for publication, although photos purportedly of Chick have been published by others.
, that the Communist Party of China
had gained significant influence among ordinary Chinese in the 1950s through the distribution of small comic books. Chick also began working with a prison ministry and created a flip chart of illustrations to use with his presentation. He hit upon the idea of creating witnessing tracts, which could be given to people directly or indirectly.
While working for the AstroScience Corporation in El Monte, California
, he self-published his first tract, Why No Revival?, with a loan from his credit union in 1960 and wrote his second tract, A Demon's Nightmare, shortly afterward. He decided to create more tracts and began "using his kitchen table as an office and art studio." Christian bookstores were reluctant to accept the tracts, but they were popular among missionaries and churches.
Chick Publications was officially established in 1970 in Rancho Cucamonga, California
. Initially, Jack Chick wrote and illustrated all of the comics himself, but in 1972 he hired another artist to illustrate many of the tracts. Fred Carter
illustrated tracts anonymously until 1980, when he was identified in an issue of Chick's newsletter Battle Cry. Carter also painted the oil paintings seen in The Light of the World
, a film Chick produced that relates the Christian gospel.
The Smithsonian Institution
's National Museum of American History
included several Chick tracts in an exhibit on American pop culture.
Chick Publications has released over twenty "Chick comics" since its founding in 1970. The first eleven form the Crusader comics series, which follows the stories of two fundamentalist Christians and addresses topics such as the occult
, Bible prophecy
, and the theory of evolution. Six comics present the testimony of anti-Catholic activist Alberto Rivera
, who claimed that, as a Jesuit priest, he had become privy to many secrets about the Roman Catholic Church
. Among Rivera's claims: Catholicism created Islam
(the "Vatican Islam conspiracy"); masterminded the 1917 Russian Revolution and the Holocaust; and started World War II
. There are also three independent comics, one telling stories from the King James Version of the Bible (Chick is pro-King James Onlyism), one relaying the claims of Charles Chiniquy
regarding Catholicism, and one detailing Chick's opinions on Joseph Smith
and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Chick Publications also distributes "Chick tracts," small comic tracts
with religious messages. Over 200 have been published, and most can be viewed in their entirety on the company's website. The most popular Chick tract, "This Was Your Life," has been translated into around 100 languages, and many other tracts are available in widely spoken languages such as Arabic, German
, Spanish
, and Tagalog
.
Several of Chick's tracts have been translated into more obscure languages as Blue Hmonghttp://chick.com/catalog/TractList.asp?language=Blue%20Hmong, Huichol
http://chick.com/catalog/tractlistcustomwcovers.asp?language=Huichol, Ngiemboon
http://www.chick.com/catalog/tractlistcustomwcovers.asp?language=Ngiemboon, Tshilubahttp://www.chick.com/catalog/tractlistcustomwcovers.asp?language=Tshiluba, and the artificial language of Esperanto
http://www.chick.com/catalog/tractlistcustomwcovers.asp?language=Esperanto.
Chick's tracts cover subjects such as abortion
, homosexuality
, non-Protestant Christianity, the occult
, rock music
, left-wing politics
, popular culture
, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter
series, and the theory of evolution, generally in a very negative and conspiratorial light. Chick believes many of the world's problems are deliberately caused by the Roman Catholic Church. He credits Catholicism with founding the Islam
ic religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as the Jehovah's Witnesses
; persecuting Jews
; starting the Holocaust and the Inquisition
and founding and promoting Communism
.
Chick also claims that Satan
and demons promote the occult through mystical
and New Age
beliefs, rock music
(including Christian rock), Wicca
, and fantasy
role-playing game
s such as Dungeons and Dragons to deceive people and send them to Hell
. Chick is opposed to abortion
and preaches against pre-marital sex. He believes strongly that homosexuality
is sinful, and makes reference to the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah
in tracts pertaining to homosexuality.
Chick's views have been criticized by some of the groups he targets, including neopagans
and Catholic organizations. Wicca
n author Kerr Cuhulain
describes Chick and his theories as "anti-feminist
" and "anti-pagan," notes that a Chick Publications comic book was the source of a Rapid City, South Dakota
police detective's presentation on the history of Satanism
given in 1989, and describes him as "easily the least reputable source of reliable information on religious groups."
Many Catholic and Protestant organizations consider Chick to be intensely anti-Catholic, based on his various claims about the Roman Catholic Church. Chick responds to these accusations by saying he is opposed to the Roman Catholic Church as a sociopolitical organization but not to its individual members. On his "Roman Catholicism FAQ," Chick says he began publishing his theories about the Roman Catholic Church because "he loves Catholics and wants them to be saved through faith in Jesus." Catholic Answers
calls Chick "savagely anti-Catholic," describes Chick's claims about the Catholic Church as "bizarre" and "often grotesque in their arguments," and calls for the tracts to be pulled from the market and corrected.
In the early 1980s, Chick's stance on Catholicism led some Christian bookstores to stop stocking his tracts, and he withdrew from the Christian Booksellers Association after the association considered expelling him. Christianity Today
described Jack Chick as an example of "the world of ordinary, nonlearned evangelicals," for whom "atavistic anti-Catholicism
remains as colorful and unmistakable as ever." Michael Ian Borer, a sociology professor of Furman University
at the time, showed Chick's strong anti-Catholic themes in a 2007 American Sociological Association presentation and in a peer reviewed article the next year in Religion and American Culture.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
publisher, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, and comic book artist
Comic book creator
A comic book creator is someone who creates a comic book or graphic novel.The production of a comic book by one of the major comic book companies in the U.S...
of fundamentalist Christian
Fundamentalist Christianity
Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
tracts and comic books. He has been called the most published comic book author in the world.
His comics have been described by the Los Angeles Magazine as "equal parts hate literature and fire-and-brimstone sermonizing".
Significance
Chick's company, Chick Publications, claims to have sold over 750 million tractsTract (literature)
A tract is a literary work, and in current usage, usually religious in nature. The notion of what constitutes a tract has changed over time. By the early part of the 21st century, these meant small pamphlets used for religious and political purposes, though far more often the former. They are...
, comics tracts
Chick tract
Chick tracts are short evangelical-themed tracts created by American publisher Jack Chick. Chick tracts use a comic book format. They are often controversial for their enthusiastic endorsement of fundamentalist Christianity and condemnation of ecumenical, liberal, and prosperity Christians, the...
, videos, books, and posters designed to promote Protestant evangelism
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
from a Christian fundamentalist
Fundamentalist Christianity
Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
point of view. Many of these are controversial, as they accuse Roman Catholics, Freemasons, Muslims and many other groups of murder and conspiracies, while Chick maintains his views are simply politically incorrect
Politically incorrect
The phrase "politically incorrect" may refer to:* Someone or something which does not meet a standard of political correctness* Politically Incorrect, a late-night U.S. political talk show* Politically Incorrect, a German political blog...
.
His views have been spread worldwide, mostly through the tracts and now online. They have been translated into more than 100 languages. As evidenced from his writings and publications, Chick is an Independent Baptist
Independent Baptist
Independent Baptist churches are Christian churches generally holding to conservative Baptist beliefs. They are characterized by being independent from the authority of denominations or similar bodies. Members of such churches comprised three percent of the United States adult population according...
who follows a dispensational
Dispensationalism
Dispensationalism is a nineteenth-century evangelical development based on a futurist biblical hermeneutic that sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants.As a system,...
premillennialist
Premillennialism
Premillennialism in Christian end-times theology is the belief that Jesus will literally and physically be on the earth for his millennial reign, at his second coming. The doctrine is called premillennialism because it holds that Jesus’ physical return to earth will occur prior to the inauguration...
view of the end times
Eschatology
Eschatology is a part of theology, philosophy, and futurology concerned with what are believed to be the final events in history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity, commonly referred to as the end of the world or the World to Come...
. He is an ardent believer in the King James Only movement, which posits that every English translation of the Bible more recent than 1611 promotes heresy or immorality.
Biography
Chick was born in the Boyle HeightsBoyle Heights, Los Angeles, California
Boyle Heights is a neighborhood east of Downtown Los Angeles on the East Side of Los Angeles. For much of the twentieth century, Boyle Heights was a gateway for new immigrants. This resulted in diverse demographics, including Jewish American, Japanese American and Mexican American populations,...
section of Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, the first of two children of commercial artist Thomas Chick (1903–1973) and his wife Pauline (1903–1991). The family later moved to Alhambra
Alhambra, California
Alhambra is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, which is approximately eight miles from the Downtown Los Angeles civic center. As of the 2010 census, the population was 83,089, down from 85,804 at the 2000 census. The city's...
where Chick was active in the high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
drama club. Chick's official biography notes that he was not religious in high school and was in fact avoided by Christian students, who believed "he was the last guy on earth who would ever accept Jesus Christ."
After his graduation, he continued his drama education at the Pasadena Playhouse School of Theater
Pasadena Playhouse
The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engagements each year.-History:...
on a two-year scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
. In February 1943, Chick was drafted as a private in the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. He served for three years in the Pacific theater, serving in New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Chick credits his time overseas with inspiring him to translate his tracts into many different languages and says he has "a special burden for missions and missionaries."
After the war, he returned to the Pasadena Playhouse and met his wife while working on a production there. Lola Lynn Priddle (1926–1998), a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
immigrant, came from a very religious family, and Chick's official biography describes her as "instrumental in his salvation
Salvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
." Priddle and her parents introduced Chick to the Charles E. Fuller
Charles E. Fuller
Charles Edward Fuller was an American Christian clergyman and a radio evangelist.Charles Fuller was born in Los Angeles, California. After graduating from Pomona College in 1910, he worked in the citrus packing business in southern California until 1918...
radio show, the Old Fashioned Revival Hour, and Chick relates that he was converted while listening to an episode of this show. They married in 1948 and had one child, Carol, who died in 2001. In February 1998, Lola Lynn died and Chick has since remarried. In a 2005 issue of Battle Cry, Chick reported that he had suffered a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
while being transported to the hospital suffering from hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia or hypoglycæmia is the medical term for a state produced by a lower than normal level of blood glucose. The term literally means "under-sweet blood"...
. Shortly thereafter he had a triple coronary artery bypass.
Very little is known about Jack Chick; he lives a reclusive life and has given only one known professional interview since 1975. His reclusiveness created speculation in the past that he was a pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
for an unnamed author or authors. Several audio cassettes of his preaching distributed to his subscribers purport to contain his voice. He has never released a photo of himself for publication, although photos purportedly of Chick have been published by others.
Career
After converting to Christianity, Chick wanted to evangelize others, but was too shy to talk to people directly about religion. Chick heard from missionary Bob Hammond, who had broadcast in Asia on the Voice of AmericaVoice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
, that the Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
had gained significant influence among ordinary Chinese in the 1950s through the distribution of small comic books. Chick also began working with a prison ministry and created a flip chart of illustrations to use with his presentation. He hit upon the idea of creating witnessing tracts, which could be given to people directly or indirectly.
While working for the AstroScience Corporation in El Monte, California
El Monte, California
El Monte is a residential, industrial, and commercial city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city's slogan is "Welcome to Friendly El Monte," and historically is known as "The End of the Santa Fe Trail." As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 113,475,...
, he self-published his first tract, Why No Revival?, with a loan from his credit union in 1960 and wrote his second tract, A Demon's Nightmare, shortly afterward. He decided to create more tracts and began "using his kitchen table as an office and art studio." Christian bookstores were reluctant to accept the tracts, but they were popular among missionaries and churches.
Chick Publications was officially established in 1970 in Rancho Cucamonga, California
Rancho Cucamonga, California
Rancho Cucamonga is a suburban city in San Bernardino County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,269, up from 127,743 at the 2000 census. L. Dennis Michael was elected as Mayor on November 2, 2010. Jack Lam is the City Manager...
. Initially, Jack Chick wrote and illustrated all of the comics himself, but in 1972 he hired another artist to illustrate many of the tracts. Fred Carter
Fred Carter (artist)
Fred Carter is an artist best known for his work for Jack Chick's tracts since 1972. Like his employer, he is very reclusive and little is known about his personal life. He is an African-American, and Chick has described him as being a pastor.Carter uses richly detailed shading in his art...
illustrated tracts anonymously until 1980, when he was identified in an issue of Chick's newsletter Battle Cry. Carter also painted the oil paintings seen in The Light of the World
The Light of the World (film)
The Light of the World is a 2003 slideshow film by Jack T. Chick depicting events from the Bible through 360 oil paintings by Fred Carter.Chick was inspired to use still images and narration after seeing the Ken Burns' documentary The Civil War....
, a film Chick produced that relates the Christian gospel.
The Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
's National Museum of American History
National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. Among the items on display are the original Star-Spangled Banner and Archie Bunker's...
included several Chick tracts in an exhibit on American pop culture.
Chick Publications
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
, Bible prophecy
Bible prophecy
Bible prophecy or biblical prophecy is the prediction of future events based on the action, function, or faculty of a prophet. Such passages are widely distributed throughout the Bible, but those most often cited are from Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew 24, Matthew 25, and Revelation.Believers in biblical...
, and the theory of evolution. Six comics present the testimony of anti-Catholic activist Alberto Rivera
Alberto Rivera
Alberto Magno Romero Rivera was an anti-Catholic religious activist who was the source of many of fundamentalist Christian author Jack Chick's conspiracy theories about the Vatican....
, who claimed that, as a Jesuit priest, he had become privy to many secrets about the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. Among Rivera's claims: Catholicism created Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
(the "Vatican Islam conspiracy"); masterminded the 1917 Russian Revolution and the Holocaust; and started World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. There are also three independent comics, one telling stories from the King James Version of the Bible (Chick is pro-King James Onlyism), one relaying the claims of Charles Chiniquy
Charles Chiniquy
Charles P. Chiniquy was a Canadian Catholic priest who left the Catholic Church and became a Presbyterian pastor. He is known for his writings and sermons against the Roman Catholic Church. In the period between 1885 and 1899 he was the focus of a great deal of discussion in the United States of...
regarding Catholicism, and one detailing Chick's opinions on Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith was founder of what later became known as the Latter Day Saint movement or Mormons.Joseph Smith may also refer to:-Latter Day Saints:* Joseph Smith, Sr. , father of Joseph Smith...
and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Chick Publications also distributes "Chick tracts," small comic tracts
Tract (literature)
A tract is a literary work, and in current usage, usually religious in nature. The notion of what constitutes a tract has changed over time. By the early part of the 21st century, these meant small pamphlets used for religious and political purposes, though far more often the former. They are...
with religious messages. Over 200 have been published, and most can be viewed in their entirety on the company's website. The most popular Chick tract, "This Was Your Life," has been translated into around 100 languages, and many other tracts are available in widely spoken languages such as Arabic, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, and Tagalog
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...
.
Several of Chick's tracts have been translated into more obscure languages as Blue Hmonghttp://chick.com/catalog/TractList.asp?language=Blue%20Hmong, Huichol
Huichol language
The Huichol language is an indigenous language of Mexico which belongs to the Uto-Aztecan language family. It is spoken by the ethnic group widely known as the Huichol , whose mountainous territory extends over portions of the Mexican states of Jalisco, Nayarit, and Durango, mostly in Jalisco...
http://chick.com/catalog/tractlistcustomwcovers.asp?language=Huichol, Ngiemboon
Ngiemboon
The Ngiemboon language, Ngyɛmbɔɔŋ, is one of a dozen Bamileke languages spoken in Cameroon.Dialects are Batcham, Balatchi and Bamoungong-External links:**...
http://www.chick.com/catalog/tractlistcustomwcovers.asp?language=Ngiemboon, Tshilubahttp://www.chick.com/catalog/tractlistcustomwcovers.asp?language=Tshiluba, and the artificial language of Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
http://www.chick.com/catalog/tractlistcustomwcovers.asp?language=Esperanto.
Chick's tracts cover subjects such as abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, non-Protestant Christianity, the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
, rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, left-wing politics
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
, popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
series, and the theory of evolution, generally in a very negative and conspiratorial light. Chick believes many of the world's problems are deliberately caused by the Roman Catholic Church. He credits Catholicism with founding the Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as the Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
; persecuting Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
; starting the Holocaust and the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
and founding and promoting Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
.
Chick also claims that Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
and demons promote the occult through mystical
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
and New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
beliefs, rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
(including Christian rock), Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
, and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s such as Dungeons and Dragons to deceive people and send them to Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
. Chick is opposed to abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
and preaches against pre-marital sex. He believes strongly that homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
is sinful, and makes reference to the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah were cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis and later expounded upon throughout the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and Deuterocanonical sources....
in tracts pertaining to homosexuality.
Chick's views have been criticized by some of the groups he targets, including neopagans
Neopaganism
Neopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...
and Catholic organizations. Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
n author Kerr Cuhulain
Kerr Cuhulain
Kerr Cuhulain is the pen name of Canadian occult author and Detective Constable Charles Ennis. A former child abuse investigator, he is the author of several articles on child abuse investigation that appeared in Law & Order Magazine. A former Air Force officer, Cuhulain was a police officer for...
describes Chick and his theories as "anti-feminist
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
" and "anti-pagan," notes that a Chick Publications comic book was the source of a Rapid City, South Dakota
Rapid City, South Dakota
Rapid City is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota, and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek on which the city is established, it is set against the eastern slope of the Black Hills mountain range. The population was 67,956 as of the 2010 Census. Rapid...
police detective's presentation on the history of Satanism
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
given in 1989, and describes him as "easily the least reputable source of reliable information on religious groups."
Many Catholic and Protestant organizations consider Chick to be intensely anti-Catholic, based on his various claims about the Roman Catholic Church. Chick responds to these accusations by saying he is opposed to the Roman Catholic Church as a sociopolitical organization but not to its individual members. On his "Roman Catholicism FAQ," Chick says he began publishing his theories about the Roman Catholic Church because "he loves Catholics and wants them to be saved through faith in Jesus." Catholic Answers
Catholic Answers
Catholic Answers, based in El Cajon, California, is one of the largest lay-run apostolates of Catholic apologetics and evangelization in the United States. It publishes This Rock, a bimonthly magazine focusing on Catholic evangelism and apologetics...
calls Chick "savagely anti-Catholic," describes Chick's claims about the Catholic Church as "bizarre" and "often grotesque in their arguments," and calls for the tracts to be pulled from the market and corrected.
In the early 1980s, Chick's stance on Catholicism led some Christian bookstores to stop stocking his tracts, and he withdrew from the Christian Booksellers Association after the association considered expelling him. Christianity Today
Christianity Today
Christianity Today is an Evangelical Christian periodical based in Carol Stream, Illinois. It is the flagship publication of its parent company Christianity Today International, claiming circulation figures of 140,000 and readership of 290,000...
described Jack Chick as an example of "the world of ordinary, nonlearned evangelicals," for whom "atavistic anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed against Catholicism, and especially against the Catholic Church, its clergy or its adherents...
remains as colorful and unmistakable as ever." Michael Ian Borer, a sociology professor of Furman University
Furman University
Furman University is a selective, private, coeducational, liberal arts college in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Furman is one of the oldest, and more selective private institutions in South Carolina...
at the time, showed Chick's strong anti-Catholic themes in a 2007 American Sociological Association presentation and in a peer reviewed article the next year in Religion and American Culture.
Further reading
- Kuersteiner, Kurt (2004) "The Art of Jack T. Chick" Schiffer Books ISBN 0-7643-1892-6
- Fowler, Robert B. (2001). The world of Jack T. Chick: (the history of the world according to Jack T. Chick), Last Gasp, ISBN 0867195126.
- Ito, Robert (2003) "To Hell With You" Independent on Sunday Jul 6, 2003
External links
- Chick Publications website
- God's Cartoonist: The Comic Crusade of Jack Chick Documentary film about Jack Chick and Chick Publications
- Jack T. Chick Museum of Fine Art Includes tracts discontinued and removed by Chick Publications.
- The Nightmare World of Jack Chick Criticism and analysis of Chick's statement from a Catholic perspective
- "A Survey of Chick Publications" by William A. Donohue (Catalyst, October 1996) Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights—overview of Chick Tracks
- Anti-Masonic Examples: Chick Publications - A rebuttal to Chick Publications' claims about Masonry
- Meeting Jack Chick an interview with Jack Chick
- JackChickFlick.com - A documentary about Chick and his underground cartooning career, called "God's Cartoonist".