Religious cartoonist Jack Chick died this week at the age of 92. Chick was known for his Chick Tracts; controversial comics rooted in his own fundamentalist Protestant worldview. His tracts were notoriously anti-Catholic and also attacked Freemasons, Muslims, Jews, and other groups whose views he deemed contrary to his own evangelical brand of faith.
Chick fell for every religious conspiracy possible; rarely ever relying on actual history or fact
He believed that the King James Bible was itself the true Word of God and that all others before and since were apparently diabolical…
“So my argument of “Where was the Bible before 1611?” The answer to it is, “Being assembled.” We have printing that began in about 1450 with Johannes Gutenberg and his printing press. You probably know that story. The King James Bible was produced in 1611. So you have over 150 years’ worth of preparation. And it was during that time… there is a whole history that goes with this, and you probably are familiar with it. But again, my answer is that it was being assembled.
There were previous editions of the English Bible. They were all part of the line. And then finally the Lord comes out with the King James Bible. Now that’s the one that He disseminated all over the earth. There’s been billions of copies disseminated.”
…He believed that Eastern Christian traditions were all actually Roman Catholics
…That Catholics weren’t really Christians and in fact were dupes of Satan worshiping the Egyptian Sun God
…and that Islam was a secret plot of the Roman Catholic church to aid in their schemes of world conquest (at Satan’s behest)
…and oh yeah, men in Fez’s are evil – very evil
Jack Chick wove his hatred throughout his work. Ironically, Catholic author and podcaster Cari Donaldson credits Chick with her own conversion to Roman Catholicism.
“he was no mentor, and I can’t say that I truly mourn his passing. Oh, I’ve been praying for the repose of his soul constantly since learning about his death, and I have hope in God’s infinite Mercy, but I tremble for this man’s judgment.
The man was Jack Chick, and he has left behind a legacy of fear-mongering, lies, and slander. Through his mass-produced, pulpy little Chick Tracts (750 million copies of them worldwide, according to his website), people are fed distortions and caricatures about Catholicism, Islam, and Judaism, ideally to get them to say the Jesus Prayer and join their nearest fundamentalist Protestant church. I was first introduced to his work one afternoon, deep in the heart of the Bible Belt.”
She goes on to describe her first encounter with a Chick Tract and where it led her.
“Titled “The Death Cookie”, it claimed that the Eucharist was nothing but a recycling of Egyptian sun worship, that Catholics controlled people by “magic and witchcraft”, and that God Himself had spoken through the comic. Having just come off a half decade of being immersed in New Age philosophy, I knew that what Chick was passing off as ancient Egyptian religion was false, which made me wonder what other falsehoods he was pedaling. So I took it upon myself to debunk this offensive little hate pamphlet.
I decided I would start by learning what Catholics taught about this Eucharist thing. After all, I’d just read Mr. Chick claiming that it was a “death cookie”, designed to demonically ensnare the foolish, it only seemed fair to see what the Church taught about this thing.
And that’s where it all fell apart for both Mr. Chick and myself.”