[Note: This is my annual Halloween rant.]
Every autumn Christians throughout North America engage in hand-wringing disputes over what to do about Halloween. The discussions tend to reflect in microcosm how we interact with overtly secular aspects on a larger scale. Should we separate and stand apart, becoming a witness by our disengagement or do we participate and attempt to redeem the event by acts of hospitality and neighborly love?
Such discussions invariably involve some well-meaning believer recommending handing out “gospel tracts” to trick-or-treaters. And almost always, the tracks they have in mind are ones produced by the most frightful man ever to be associated with Halloween: Jack Chick.
While you may not recognize the name, if you’ve ever used the restroom of a truck stop then you’ve probably seen his work (they are always found there—always). Chick produces tracts and comics that look like work that R. Crumb would have produced had he attended Bob Jones University. For over twenty years the tracts have been used to spread such Christian messages as Catholics are going to hell and that the Holocaust was a Jesuit-led inquisition against the Jews.
To me, though, Chick is not just another anti-Catholic bigot. When I was a kid Jack Chick was the man who was responsible for more nightmares than the Twilight Zone and Kolchak: The Nightstalker combined. Chick not only scared the hell out of me, he made me afraid that hell was all around me.
While his comic books are less well known than his tracts, they were a primary source of children’s literature around my fundamentalist church. In a typical display of twisted ’70s fundie logic, our congregation believed that comics about Satan and the occult were more wholesome than reading about Spiderman or Archie and Jughead.
One comic that still gives me the creeps is Exorcists, a tale of young boy who prays to Satan and becomes possessed after falling asleep. Being a Christian I knew that I didn’t have to fear about demons taking over my body. But I wasn’t so sure about some of my heathen friends. Anyone who was sleeping over my house was quickly sent home for so much as mentioning a Ouija board or humming Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”
It’s been more than thirty years since Chick tracts damaged my fragile psyche but it appears that some otherwise well-meaning Christians are willing to subject a whole new generation to this horror. The Chick Publications website even has a list of “unique ways you can use Chick tracts this Halloween” such as:
When Trick-or-Treaters parade to your door this Halloween, drop a couple of Chick tracts in their bag, along with some candy. Or, to really get them excited, stock a tray with several different Chick tracts. (See suggested tracts.) When children arrive, place the tray in front of them and let them pick any two tracts. (Be sure to give them candy too.) Kids love receiving unique gifts, like cartoon tracts. And they love picking the ones they want. Your home could be their favorite stop of the night. With Chick tracts, you can witness to every child who comes to your door. Plus, they’ll take the tracts home, where their parents will read them too!
Having to take a evangelism track in order to get a bite-size Snickers bar normally wouldn’t be such a bad tradeoff. But let’s take a look at one of the suggested tracks and what is being offered to impressionable children.
Boo tells the story of students from Salem High who rent a cabin in the woods for their class Halloween party. Fortunately for them, thirteen people were murdered the previous Halloween so they get the place at a cheaper rate.
A surprise? A keg of beer? A couple of fifths of whiskey? Some bottles of cheap wine? Nah, it’s not that kind of party. The kids at Salem High are into the newest trend . . .
. . . sacrificing animals to Satan! Oh, and the dude with the pumpkin and the snake on a rope? That’s Lucifer himself. Why the devil needs a chainsaw, Chick never makes clear. I mean he’s got a snake on a rope. Isn’t that enough to do the trick?
It appears Satan found his chainsaw after all. So now we have a high school kid ready to sacrifice a kitty while a pumpkin-headed demon reenacts the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Let me just say that if anybody were to drop this tract into my kid’s candy bag I’d be paying that house a return visit. And I’d be bringing my own snake on a rope.
The story takes a weird twist when Satan goes down to a village church. His chainsaw must have run out of gas because instead of trying to chop up a young kid he simply yells at him.
Satan sure has some mouth on him, don’t he? Anyway, the next day the kid asks his pastor about Halloween. Oddly enough he forgets to mention that he went toe-to-toe with Lucifer the night before. The preacher gives the kid a brief intro to demonology before explaining the origin of Halloween.
None of this, of course, is true. Halloween is the holiday equivalent of Wicca—a 20th century invention that pretends to have ancient pagan roots. Halloween has nothing to do with Samhain, a Celtic agricultural festival that marked the beginning of winter. There is also no evidence that Samhain was a celebration devoted to the dead or to ancestor worship, much less to kidnapping, human sacrifice, and snake-on-a-rope wielding demons.
I think it’s safe to say that if the Lord hates Halloween then he must despise Chick tracts. When a well-intentioned but overzealous Christian gives these “comics” to a child it must be, as Chick would say, a slap in the face. If you are the type of person who does this on Halloween I only have one word to say to you: repent.
October 28th, 2011 | 9:16 am
I’ve never seen his comics, and it’s been years since I last saw one of his tracts. I thought they were just shallow and simplistic. I remember that demons were always wrinkled and ugly in his panels, not at all the cunning “angel of light” as the Bible describes Satan’s appearance (2Cor 11:14). Mr Chick and company really seems to have gone off the deep end.
I’m one Christian who always wonders how best to witness to others during the Halloween season. Thanks for the education about Mr Chick.
October 28th, 2011 | 9:39 am
Chick tracts are doing a lot to damage the reputation of Christianity.
The name has become (a) a joke and (b) an automatic ad hominem attack (proving Christianity to be (a) a joke and (b) no good) among many young people.
October 28th, 2011 | 9:53 am
To me, Chick’s decades-long reclusiveness is a sign of a paranoid man hiding from his “enemies”. I think his influence in evangelical Christianity was always exaggerated. He never had a television program. I don’t think he even had his own church. From what little is known about him, he was in the military during World War Two and is most likely in the final years of his life. Catholics should stop fretting about him and pray for him and others like him instead. God bless.
October 28th, 2011 | 10:19 am
Chris, you run across his stuff among evangelicals enough (or at least did, 20 years ago) to create the clear impression that his influence is pretty wide. Yes, in many quarters, he’s a joke, but at least a half generation ago, you’d find his stuff being taken seriously as “gospel tracts” even among otherwise sober-minded evangelicals. There are still plenty of people out there whose idea of how non-Christians think and act, and the necessity of hiding under the bed when they get close, was formed form Chick tracts. I’m glad his influence is fading (from all I can see) but it’s not true that it was never important.
October 28th, 2011 | 10:30 am
Does this mean Satan was born on Reformation Day?
October 28th, 2011 | 10:33 am
Since halloween is about the eve of hallows or the presaints day , children who have to participate can be prepared to be angels of blessings for all those they are visiting , thus to be little spiritual warriors .
Even the animal costumes can be used to thank God for the goodness of creation and for protection of same – esp. these days , with news about the massive disappearnce of bees , fish kills and all that !
St.Benedict medals with the exorcism blessings and Green Scapulars , with the promise of grace of conversions, to be handed back to the households being visited – unsure if it would not fall into the category of throwing pearls at the swine , atleast in a few cases !
October 28th, 2011 | 10:45 am
I read one once where a good Christian met some missionaries on a plane and couldn’t wait to hear about the souls they converted. But the missionaries said they weren’t there for that; they were only there to provide medical and hunger relief. The Christian is crestfallen. Moments later the 747 is engulfed in flames, careens out of the sky and explodes on impact. The Christians goes to heaven, the missionaries to hell.
Every time I see a Jack Chick publication I have to pick the thing up and read it. They’re garbage, but I can’t help it–I’m entertained!
October 28th, 2011 | 10:50 am
[...] post? That was nothing compared to the well-meaning goodness that Joe Carter experience growing up. Courtesy of Jack Chick tracts. Yummy! This entry was posted in Living and tagged Feast Days, Other Blogs. Bookmark the [...]
October 28th, 2011 | 10:59 am
[...] HALLOWEEN REFORMATION DAY! “Trick or Treat: Satan, Jack Chick, and Other Halloween Horrors.” I think it’s safe to say that if the Lord hates Halloween then he must despise Chick tracts. When [...]
October 28th, 2011 | 11:10 am
pentamom,
What evangelicals took Jack Chick seriously? Certainly none of those who study theology. Maybe he has influenced some small-time nondenominational Christians. To be honest, I hear about Chick a lot more from Catholics than Protestants. If anything, Chick has done more to harm the image of fundamentalist Christians than he did Catholics.
October 28th, 2011 | 11:23 am
Thanks Joe! I couldn’t agree more, except to say that I see no similarity between Chick and Robert Crumb. Certainly not in subject matter, and in terms of the illustrations Chick always struck me as very crude while Crumb– despite his satirical exaggerations– never did. Anyway it’s nice to see an evangelical denounce this guy. I’ve often wondered what sort of personal hell his obsessions and paranoia have created for him.
October 28th, 2011 | 11:48 am
“What evangelicals took Jack Chick seriously? Certainly none of those who study theology. Maybe he has influenced some small-time nondenominational Christians. To be honest, I hear about Chick a lot more from Catholics than Protestants. If anything, Chick has done more to harm the image of fundamentalist Christians than he did Catholics.”
Well, most people don’t study theology. I’m talking about the ordinary people susceptible to such things, whether they’re “small time non-denominational Christians” or others.
I don’t disagree that he’s probably done more to harm the image of fundamentalists than Catholics, but he’s done plenty of harm both ways. I don’t think it follows that because we both know a lot of people who wouldn’t be taken in by him, that there weren’t a lot of people who think that’s just a good, honest, forthright way to “preach the gospel” and allowed it to influence their views on certain things, especially if they encountered his work at a fairly young age. People fall for all kinds of things, and those things wouldn’t have sold at the astronomical rate they did, if nobody was buying them.
October 28th, 2011 | 12:21 pm
Great post. Hard to imagine a Christian thinking that giving little kids stories with pictures of satanic rituals and animal sacrifices is a good idea.
Much better if he made tracts about Jesus the Good Shepherd, who wants to be the child’s friend and keep them safe–that’s an image that children can understand and are drawn to.
Well, God love him. He thinks what he’s doing is good.
October 28th, 2011 | 12:31 pm
Eh, it’s become popular to bash him recently. The actual harm they did was small, and people forget that Chick is not the only one who thinks so among fundamentalist circles. Quite a few books and authors believe the same way. But those books also at every chance state the name of Jesus triumphs over the works of the devil, and that’s often what many people need to hear.
I think this is what mutes the harm. It’s pure kitsch, but in the end it’s not despairing kitsch.
I’d also be cynical and ask what witnessing does a reformed or catholic do besides popping out reformed or catholic kids. That’s what is really harming Christianity, the shift to it becoming a lifestyle passed down to your kids and not a faith you witness.
October 28th, 2011 | 12:36 pm
I encourage my church to hand out tracts on Halloween. I’m aware of all the crack-pottery of Jack Chick, but the fact is that his tracts are engaging and entertaining in a way that other tracts I know of aren’t. I try to use only the tame ones, “The Little Ghost,” “Charlie’s Ants,” and “The Little Princess,” but I’m not thrilled by the association with Chick. Does anyone know of another tract company that produces something that kids would actually read? I’d love to have another option.
October 28th, 2011 | 12:36 pm
Also, come on. These are kids that grow up watching stuff like naruto, where kids fight and kill each other. Or bleach, where demons not only fight good people in the afterlife, they inflict horrific injuries and are often nigh unstoppable without huge powerups.
I love how something like this scars, but say your 10 year old watching voldemort pretty much run rampant over adults and kill dumbledore in a movie isn’t. Or watching squinches graphically shown, or being dragged along to see adult pictures. Or reading the hunger games, where kids horrifically murder each other, and the dead are somehow put into biological horrors to attack the survivors. (yeah, THAT’s gonna be a fun movie)
October 28th, 2011 | 1:37 pm
Eugene I’d love to have another option
Crossway Books has some good ones: http://www.goodnewstracts.org/catalog/title/tracts
Dave “Dblade” Dutcher Also, come on. These are kids that grow up watching stuff like naruto
The difference is that kids understand that anime is fiction, while the stuff that Chick is putting out is supposedly real. Not only that but kids are taught that “this is what Christians believe” which can make them want nothing to do with the faith.
October 28th, 2011 | 2:43 pm
I encourage my church to hand out tracts on Halloween.
That’s like an atheist showing up at church just to rant about the evils of religion.
Do you really think that antagonizing and annoying people who are trying to celebrate and have fun is really going to save anyone’s soul?
Those Chick Tracts are little pockets of hate – exactly the reason the left wing is able to make an entire political platform out of “Christians are haters”. Chick Tracts are proof that “Christians are haters”.
Except that I don’t really think Chick tracts have to do with Christianity, except that they use and abuse its good name.
October 28th, 2011 | 2:45 pm
I should apologize as I guess you are expressly saying you’re not trying to antagonize. I overreacted.
But still: kids do not want to get tracts of any sort at Halloween. It’s counterproductive.
And they rightfully react badly to Chick tracts. Those things are horrible!
October 28th, 2011 | 7:17 pm
[...] Trick or Tract: Satan, Jack Chick, and Other Halloween Horrors (First Thoughts) [...]
October 29th, 2011 | 5:31 am
Forget Halloween. Celebrate St. Martin! It is much cooler. A Roman soldier, a real horse (!), a great story, costumes, lanterns, huge fire works, songs and candy!
No horror, no spook, no tricks…
And on All Saints Eve… back a Striezel and visit your godchildren.
October 29th, 2011 | 9:21 am
I know a place in the Western Isles of Scotland, where corn dollies are still, occasionally, hung from trees, usually near a spring or pool. I suspect, too, that the saucers of milk they put out at night are not always for the cat.
On a winter’s evening, one can still hear old tales told in village pubs of the fairies or “Little People”; tales of bewitchings, changelings and murrain in the flocks. And I have heard such tales interrupted, by those who consider any mention of “na Sithein” as unchancy.
On Hallowe’en, Hallow fires are still lit and“samhnag” or lighted lanterns, often hollowed-out neeps (turnips) put in windows and over the doors of byres and granaries.
October 29th, 2011 | 12:13 pm
My trick or treating days were all spent in Chicago and it is beyond my comprehension that someone would give out a gospel tract on halloween.
I suppose it’s a nice thought, but I can tell you that I very much doubt that I would have paused long over such a thing. My six brothers and sisters spent our time sorting and trading candy.
The first time I saw a Chick tract I was in college and, never having been around evangelicals, I found them oddly fascinating – were there really people who believed these bizarre things about Catholics? Made my faith seem much more edgy and exciting. It would be difficult to imagine a less effective way of spreading the Gospel than these things. But they were kind of fun.
October 31st, 2011 | 9:14 am
Joe: I don’t want to make light of the seriousness of the associated issues, but I have to say, well done, this post is post is hilarious. Your use of italics in “a snake on a rope” had me chuckling for most of the weekend.
October 31st, 2011 | 10:43 am
Chick does a lot of damage to the reputation of Christianity. Worse, he presents a distorted gospel that says that profession of faith and avoiding certain practices is the total picture. In doing this, he has to cut large pieces out of the bible (generosity, social justice, etc).
October 31st, 2011 | 11:35 am
I found the Jack Chick website the other day. Ugh! Some of them are so wrong and blasphemous that they can’t even be parodied. “The Death Cookie” is especially original. I don’t think he’s a well man.
His legalistic approach to God’s Judgement seat is so incredibly wrongheaded!
October 31st, 2011 | 12:58 pm
[...] While his comic books are less well known than his tracts, they were a primary source of children’s literature around my fundamentalist church. In a typical display of twisted ’70s fundie logic, our congregation believed that comics about Satan and the occult were more wholesome than reading about Spiderman or Archie and Jughead. [more] [...]
November 1st, 2011 | 8:06 pm
I sadly left the Church in 1973, due in part to the anti-Catholic screed of Chick tracts that were handed to me at the friendly neighbor hood bible study led by former Catholics. I created this Chick-like tract to make up for the junk I read in those very evil little comic tracts. Please enjoy:
Cathochic Tract
“http://crossed-the-tiber.blogspot.com/2007/06/cathochick-tract.html”
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