View source for Chick tract

{{Short description|Series of gospel tracts}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox publisher
| name         = Chick Tracts
| image        = This Was Your Life.gif
| image_size   = 
| alt          = 
| caption      = 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       = Chick Publications
| status       = 
| traded_as    = <!-- or | nasdaq = -->
| predecessor  = 
| founded      = {{start date and age|1960|01|01}}
| founder      = [[Jack Chick]]
| defunct      = 
| successor    = 
| country      = USA
| headquarters = [[Ontario, California]]
| distribution = 
| keypeople    = 
| publications = 
| topics       = [[evangelicalism|evangelical]] [[gospel]] [[tract (literature)|tracts]]
| genre        = 
| imprints     = 
| revenue      = 
| owner        = 
| numemployees = 
| website      = {{URL|www.chick.com}}
}}

'''Chick tracts''' are short [[evangelicalism|evangelical]] [[gospel]] [[tract (literature)|tracts]] in a [[comic book]] format, originally created by American cartoonist [[Jack Chick]] in the 1960s. His company Chick Publications has continued to print Chick's work, as well as tracts in a similar style by other writers. Several tracts have expressed controversial viewpoints including strong [[anti-Catholicism|anti-Catholic]] views and criticisms of other faiths.

== Chick Publications<!--'Chick Publications' redirects here--> ==
'''Chick Publications'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> produces and markets the Chick tracts, along with other comic books, books, and posters.<ref>Chapman, Roger (2010) ''Culture Wars: an Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices'', Volume 1 M E Sharpe, p. 84</ref> Chick Publications has its headquarters in [[Rancho Cucamonga, California]],<ref name="Company Profile:Chi">{{cite web
 |title        = Chick Publications, Inc Company Profile
 |publisher    = Dun & Bradstreet, Inc.
 |url          = https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.chick_publications_inc.d0be4b225daaab8385e09b4f21be296f.html
 |access-date  = 2020-12-30
 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web
 |title        = ChickComics.com: The Jack T. Chick Museum of Fine Art
 |publisher    = The Chick Tract Collector's Club; Not affiliated with Jack T Chick, LLC
 |date         = 2015
 |url          = http://www.monsterwax.com/chick.html
 |access-date  = 2015-03-18
 |url-status   = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150329171810/http://www.monsterwax.com/chick.html
 |archive-date = 2015-03-29
}}</ref>

===Discontinued titles===
As of 2024, 24 tracts, including ''The Lost Continent'' from 1971, were not available on the site and were most likely withdrawn after their first publications. At least 10 of the discontinued tracts, like the infamous ''Wounded Children'' from 1983, were recovered by people that owned them while 14 others were declared [[Lost literary work|lost]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

== Format ==
The tracts themselves are approximately {{convert|3|by|5|in|cm|0}}, and approximately twenty pages in length.{{sfn|Bivins|2008|p=41}} 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 distributing the tracts 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 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.catholic.com/documents/the-nightmare-world-of-jack-t-chick |title=The Nightmare World of Jack T. Chick &#124; Catholic Answers |publisher=Catholic.com |access-date=2013-12-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108154607/http://www.catholic.com/documents/the-nightmare-world-of-jack-t-chick |archive-date=2014-01-08 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://chick.com/images/tracts/page23/enGeneral.gif |title=page23 |publisher=Chick.com |access-date=November 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105154347/https://chick.com/images/tracts/page23/enGeneral.gif |archive-date=November 5, 2023 }}</ref>

In ''Strips, Toons, and Bluesies: Essays in Comics and Culture,'' Douglas Bevan Dowd and Todd Hignite compare the format of Chick tracts to that of [[Tijuana bible]]s, and surmise that Chick was familiar with that medium and wrote with a similar audience of lower-class youth in mind.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dowd |first1=Douglas Bevan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TjzlxyfWbxwC&pg=PA40 |title=Strips, Toons, and Bluesies |last2=Hignite |first2=Todd |publisher=[[Princeton Architectural Press]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-56898-621-0 |page=40}}</ref>

Some tracts, like ''Let's Fly Away''<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1067|title=Let's Fly Away|date=2013|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> and ''The Throw Away Kid'',<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1088|title=The Throw Away Kid|date=2014|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=6|title=Somebody Loves Me|date=1972|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> Some others, like ''The Outcast''<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=5008 |title=The Outcast|date=2001|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> and ''The Secret'',<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=1001 |title=The Secret|date=1999|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> portray subjects of [[domestic abuse]], which one of the latest tracts, ''God's Little Angel'' (published by David W. Daniels), had a non-explicit reference to this issue when the mother answers her little daughter's question about their separation from her abusive husband/parent and refused to return to him.<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=1170|title=God's Little Angel|date=2017|writer=David W. Daniels}}</ref>

Other tracts portray themes of the apocalypse, particularly the [[Futurism (Christianity)|Futurist]] interpretation of the Bible. Some of the tracts that explicitly describe this belief in detail include ''Almost Time'',<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1166|title=Almost Time|writer=Jack T. Chick|date=2017}}</ref> ''The Beast'',<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=7|title=The Beast|date=1966|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> ''Camel's in the Tent'',<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1081|title=Camel's in the Ten|date=2012|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> ''Global Warming'',<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1075|title=Global Warming|date=2012|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> ''The Great Escape'',<ref name="TGE">{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=50|title=The Great Escape|date=2024|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> ''The Last Generation'',<ref name="TLG">{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=94|title=The Last Generation|date=1972|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> ''Love the Jewish People'',<ref name="LtJP">{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1000|title=Love the Jewish People|date=1998|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> ''The Only Hope'',<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=30|title=The Only Hope|date=1985|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> ''Somebody Angry?'',<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1055|title=Somebody Angry?|date=2008|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> ''Then What?'',<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1185|title=Then What?|date=2024|writer=David W. Daniels}}</ref> ''Things to Come?'',<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1062|title=Things to Come?|date=2010|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> ''Where Did They Go?'',<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1044|title=Where Did They Go?|date=2007|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> ''Where's Your Name?'',<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1097|title=Where's Your Name?|date=2015|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> ''Who is He?'',<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1049|title=Who is He?|date=2008|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> and ''Why Should I?''.<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1079|title=Why Should I?|date=2012|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> In the tract ''The Great Escape'',<ref name="TGE"/> for example, the land of [[Magog (Bible)|Magog]] from Ezekiel is claimed to describe current day Russia, [[Gomer]] is claimed to be Germany, and the figure [[Gog and Magog|Gog of Magog]] is described as the political leader of Russia, although it isn't specified which. In another tract, ''The Last Generation'',<ref name="TLG"/> a future which fits the Futurist belief of the pre-apocalypse is described. Here, Christianity is punishable by death, and the children's schoolteachers are witches whose teachings include [[witchcraft]] and [[reincarnation]].

== Controversies ==
The [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] has [[List of organizations designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups|designated]] Chick Publications as a [[hate group]] due to the [[Anti-Catholicism|anti-Catholic]], [[Islamophobia|anti-Muslim]], and [[Homophobia|homophobic]] rhetoric found in Chick tracts.<ref name="Active U.S. Hate">{{cite web |title=Active General Hate Groups |url=http://www.splcenter.org/node/105/activegroups |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723051208/http://www.splcenter.org/node/105/activegroups |archive-date=2013-07-23 |access-date=2011-01-13 |publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Pastor Apologizes For Hate-filled Halloween Hand-out |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2011/11/02/pastor-apologizes-hate-filled-halloween-hand-out |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508211258/http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2011/11/02/pastor-apologizes-for-hate-filled-halloween-hand-out/ |archive-date=2015-05-08 |access-date=16 May 2017 |website=splcenter.org}}</ref>

The [[Hindu American Foundation]] has stated that "Chick Publications promotes hatred not just against Hindus, but also towards Muslims, Catholics, and others".<ref>{{cite web |title=Hyperlink to Hinduphobia: Online Hatred, Extremism and Bigotry Against Hindus |url=http://www.hinduamericanfoundation.org/pdf/hate_report_2007.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140721075336/http://www.hinduamericanfoundation.org/pdf/hate_report_2007.pdf |archive-date=2014-07-21 |access-date=2014-05-21}}</ref>

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''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1068/1068_01.asp |title=Mean Momma, Chick Publications |publisher=Chick.com |access-date=2014-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505134817/http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1068/1068_01.asp |archive-date=2014-05-05 |url-status=live }}</ref> along with candy at [[Halloween]].<ref>''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 [[suicide by hanging|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).</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wnewsj.com/Main.asp?SectionID=49&SubSectionID=156&ArticleID=194019 |title=Pastor apologizes for pamphlet handed out to trick-or-treaters |date=4 November 2011 |access-date=16 May 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104062748/http://wnewsj.com/Main.asp?SectionID=49&SubSectionID=156&ArticleID=194019 |archive-date=4 November 2011}}</ref>

[[Avon and Somerset Police]] investigated the distribution of Chick publications in [[Bristol]], England, in July 2020 as [[hate speech]] due to the tracts' homophobic and [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]] messaging.<ref>{{Cite web|work=BBC News |title='Disgusting' booklets posted through Bristol doors |date=24 July 2020|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-53530824 |access-date=25 July 2021}}</ref> Some tracts were banned from being republished for their notorious nature. At least 24 tracts are not available on the Chick Tract website as of 2024. One notable tract, ''Wounded Children'', depicts Satan robbing a young boy's innocence while exposing him to [[homosexuality]] before reaching adolescence.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://comicvine.gamespot.com/wounded-children/4050-52045/|title=Wounded Children (Volume)|work=Comic Vine}}</ref>

=== Anti-Catholicism ===
[[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] is a frequent target of Chick tracts. No fewer than 20 of the tracts are devoted to Catholicism, including ''Are Roman Catholics Christians?''<ref>{{cite comic|url=http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0071/0071_01.asp|title=Are Roman Catholics Christians?|date=1985|writer=Jack T. Chick|access-date=2006-12-07}}</ref> (arguing that they are not), ''The Death Cookie''<ref>{{cite comic|url=http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0074/0074_01.asp|title=The Death Cookie|date=1988|writer=Jack T. Chick|access-date=2006-07-16}}</ref> (a polemic against the Catholic [[Eucharist]]), and ''Why Is Mary Crying?''<ref>{{cite comic|url=http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0040/0040_01.asp|title=Why is Mary Crying?|date=1987|writer=Jack T. Chick|access-date=2006-12-07}}</ref> (arguing that Mary does not support [[Veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church|the veneration Catholicism gives her]]).<ref name="akin">{{cite book |title= The Nightmare World of Jack T. Chick |last= Akin |first= Jimmy |author-link= Jimmy Akin |year= 2008 |location= San Diego |publisher= [[Catholic Answers]] }}</ref> 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 [[Perpetual virginity of Mary|Mary was not a perpetual virgin]] after confronting her about the fact that her Catholic priests were [[Catholic Church sexual abuse cases|sex offenders]].<ref>{{cite comic|url= https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=1096|title=Mary's Kids|date=2014|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref>

Several Chick tracts have featured the ideas of anti-Catholic [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theorist]] [[Alberto Rivera (activist)|Alberto Rivera]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Hunter |first=Sidney |url=https://archive.org/details/isalbertoforreal00hunt |title=Is Alberto for Real? |publisher=Chick Publications |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-937958-29-2 |access-date=2011-07-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The compelling testimony of Alberto Rivera, a former Jesuit priest |url=http://www.chick.com/catalog/comiclist.asp#alberto |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140515101055/http://www.chick.com/catalog/comiclist.asp#alberto |archive-date=2014-05-15 |access-date=2014-05-21 |publisher=Chick.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Comic List |url=http://www.chick.com/catalog/comiclist.asp#alberto |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131201062329/http://www.chick.com/catalog/comiclist.asp#alberto |archive-date=2013-12-01 |access-date=2013-12-02 |publisher=Chick.com}}</ref> such as claims that the Catholic Church created Islam, [[Communism]], [[Nazism]], and [[Freemasonry]].<ref>{{cite comic|url=http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1077/1077_01.asp|title=Mama's Girls|date=2012|writer=Jack T. Chick|access-date=2013-02-16}}</ref> For example, in the tract ''Love The Jewish People'', one line reads: "In 1933, Catholic Germany, serving under the Vatican, launched a 20th-century inquisition, murdering 6 million Jews."<ref name="LtJP"/> In ''The New Anti-Catholicism'', religious historian [[Philip Jenkins]] describes Chick tracts as promulgating "bizarre allegations of Catholic conspiracy and sexual hypocrisy" to perpetuate "[[Popery|anti-papal]] and anti-Catholic mythologies".<ref>{{cite book |last=Jenkins |first=Philip |title=The New Anti-Catholicism |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-517604-9 |location=City |page=24 |author-link=Philip Jenkins}}</ref> Michael Ian Borer, a sociology professor at [[Furman University]], described Chick's strong anti-Catholic themes in a 2007 [[American Sociological Association]] presentation<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p181814_index.html |title=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) |author=Borer, Michael Ian |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220090615/http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/8/1/8/1/p181814_index.html |archive-date=2017-12-20}}</ref> and in a peer-reviewed article the next year in ''Religion and American Culture''.<ref>{{Cite journal
  | last1 = Borer
  | first1 = Michael Ian
  | last2 = Murphree
  | first2 = Adam
  | title = Framing Catholicism: Jack Chick's Anti-Catholic Cartoons and the Flexible Boundaries of the Culture Wars
  | journal = [[Religion and American Culture]]
  | volume = 18
  | issue = 1
  | pages = 95–112
  |date= Winter 2008
  | doi=10.1525/rac.2008.18.1.95
| s2cid = 145414303
 }}</ref>

American Catholic [[Christian apologetics|apologetic]] group ''[[Catholic Answers]]'' has published a critique of Chick's anti-Catholicism entitled ''The Nightmare World of Jack T. Chick''.<ref name="catholic-library-nightmare">{{cite web |title=The Nightmare World of Jack T. Chick |url=http://www.catholic.com/library/sr_chick_tracts.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904055234/http://www.catholic.com/library/sr_chick_tracts.asp |archive-date=September 4, 2011 |access-date=2014-05-21}}</ref>

=== 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.<ref name="Allah Had No Son">{{cite web |title=Allah Had No Son |url=http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0042/0042_01.asp |access-date=2014-05-21 |publisher=Chick.com}}</ref> In this tract, a Muslim is converted to Christianity when he is told that [[Allah as a lunar deity|Allah is a pagan moon god]]. The tract ''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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chick.com: Camel's In The Tent |url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1081 |website=chick.com |access-date=25 August 2020}}</ref>

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''<ref name="English The Little Bride">{{cite web |title=English "The Little Bride" |url=http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1054/1054_01.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723151754/http://chick.com/reading/tracts/1054/1054_01.asp |archive-date=2014-07-23 |access-date=2014-05-21 |publisher=Chick.com}}</ref> and ''Who Is Allah?''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chick.com: Who is Allah? |url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1104 |website=chick.com |access-date=25 August 2020}}</ref> The tracts were said to "promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between Christians and Muslims in Singapore".<ref>{{cite web
 |last         = Chong
 |first        = Elena
 |title        = Couple on sedition trial
 |publisher    = Straits Times
 |date         = December 4, 2008
 |url          = http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_310229.html
 |access-date  = June 24, 2009
 |url-status   = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20100323231106/http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_310229.html
 |archive-date = 2010-03-23
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
  | last = Chong
  | first = Elena
  | title = No ill will intended
  | publisher = Straits Times
  | date = December 6, 2008
  | url = http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_310849.html
  | access-date = June 24, 2009
  | url-status = dead
  | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081207012201/http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_310849.html
  | archive-date=December 7, 2008
}}</ref> The Chick Publications website has consequently been [[censorship in Singapore|blocked in Singapore]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.trevvy.com/scoops/article.php?a_id=348|title= Homophobic Evangelical Comics, Now Available in Singapore!|author=Tim|work=[[Trevvy]]|date=June 3, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717100458/http://www.trevvy.com/scoops/article.php?a_id=348|archive-date=July 17, 2011}}</ref>

In 2014, the Chick tract ''Unforgiven''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1043/1043_01.asp|title=Unforgiven|website=Chick Publications|date=2007|access-date=Jan 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161213181550/http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1043/1043_01.asp|archive-date=2016-12-13|url-status=live}}</ref> was distributed by Bible Baptist Church in [[Garden City, Roanoke, Virginia]], drawing outrage from the area's Muslim community. 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wdbj7.com/news/local/roanoke-church-distributing-pamphlet-that-is-offending-some-in-muslim-community/26425482 |title=Archived copy |website=www.wdbj7.com |access-date=1 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405050143/http://www.wdbj7.com/news/local/roanoke-church-distributing-pamphlet-that-is-offending-some-in-muslim-community/26425482 |archive-date=5 April 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== 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 idea that the true nature of homosexuality is revealed in the Christian interpretation of the story of [[Sodom and Gomorrah]] in the [[Book of Genesis]].

Chick's first tract on the subject, ''The Gay Blade'', was originally published in 1972.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Gay Blade |url=http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0084/0084_01.asp |access-date=2013-12-02 |publisher=Chick.com}}</ref> This tract asserted the existence of the [[gay agenda]] and urged homosexuals to repent. ''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)|Life]]'' photo essay on the [[gay liberation]] movement, but with the images altered to make the gay men look more dissolute or stereotypically feminized.<ref name=burack>{{cite book | last = Burack | first = Cynthia | title = Sin, Sex, and Democracy | url = https://archive.org/details/sinsexdemocracya00bura | url-access = limited | publisher = State University of New York Press | location = Albany | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-7914-7405-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/sinsexdemocracya00bura/page/n67 33]–66}}</ref>

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 illegally to protest a lack of federal funding for [[HIV/AIDS research]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Chick.com: Doom Town |url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=273 |website=chick.com |access-date=23 August 2020}}</ref> In ''Sin City'', gay rights activists attack a pastor protesting a gay pride parade, beating him so badly that he is subsequently hospitalized.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chick.com: Sin City |url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=5003 |website=chick.com |access-date=23 August 2020}}</ref> Other tracts, such as ''Home Alone'', have promoted the [[gay recruitment]] conspiracy theory and alleged that gay and lesbian individuals are more promiscuous than heterosexual ones.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chick.com: Home Alone? |url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=1039 |website=chick.com |access-date=23 August 2020}}</ref>

Chick's claims about homosexuality have angered gay activists. In 1974, members of the Gay People's Liberation Alliance and the Women's Coalition protested the distribution of Chick tracts at [[Iowa State University]], claiming that they provided an inaccurate representation of gay and bisexual people.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brumm |first1=Dennis |title=ISU Daily: Gays Protest Pamphlet |url=http://www.brumm.com/gaylib/gaybladeprotest1974_1.html |website=www.brumm.com |access-date=23 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071122004526/http://www.brumm.com/gaylib/gaybladeprotest1974_1.html |archive-date=22 November 2007 |language=en |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Anti-evolution ===
{{further|Evidence of common descent}}
Chick published several [[objections to evolution|anti-evolution]] tracts, but ''Big Daddy?'' (which also attempts to refute the existence of the [[Strong interaction|strong nuclear force]])<ref name="Big Daddy">{{cite web |url=http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0055/0055_01.asp |title=Big Daddy? |publisher=Chick.com |access-date=2013-12-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131123154224/http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0055/0055_01.asp |archive-date=2013-11-23 |url-status=live }}</ref> remains "the most widely distributed anti-evolution booklet in history".<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Moore | first1 = Randy | last2 = Decker | first2 = Mark D. |title = More than Darwin: an Encyclopedia of the People and Places of the Evolution-Creationism Controversy | publisher = Greenwood Press | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-313-34155-7 |page=56}}</ref> Critics have pointed out that ''Big Daddy?'' mainly uses [[Young Earth creationism|Young Earth creationist]] [[Kent Hovind]] as a reference for its claims, despite his lack of scientific credentials.<ref>{{cite web | last = Vickers | first = Brett | title = Some Questionable Creationist Credentials | year = 1998 | url = http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/credentials.html | access-date = June 24, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090219003917/http://talkorigins.org/faqs/credentials.html | archive-date = 2009-02-19 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last =Bartelt | first = Foley, Ph.D. | title = The Dissertation Kent Hovind Doesn't Want You to Read | year = 2001 | url = http://home.austarnet.com.au/stear/bartelt_dissertation_on_hovind_thesis.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070718063636/http://home.austarnet.com.au/stear/bartelt_dissertation_on_hovind_thesis.htm |archive-date = 2007-07-18 | access-date = June 24, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last = Foley | first = Jim | title = Fossil Hominids: Big Daddy? | publisher = talkorigins.org | date = August 31, 2001 | url = http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/bigdaddy.html | access-date = June 24, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090327112834/http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/bigdaddy.html | archive-date = 2009-03-27 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="fowler">{{cite book | last = Fowler | first = Robert B. | title = The World of Jack T. Chick | year = 2001 | publisher = Last Gasp | pages= 2–10 | isbn = 0-86719-512-6}}</ref>

''Big Daddy?'' is presented in the 2007 book ''[[Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters]]'' as "typical" of the "misleading and dishonest" rhetoric of [[Creationism|creationists]].{{sfn|Prothero|Buell|2007|pages=[https://archive.org/details/evolutionwhatfos00prot_0/page/334 334]–335}}

=== Views on Satanism and Satanic influence ===
''Gladys'' is an example of one of Chick's tracts on [[astrology]], [[witchcraft]], and [[Satanic panic|Satanism]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/5017/5017_01.asp |title=Gladys |publisher=Chick.com |access-date=2013-12-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203014854/http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/5017/5017_01.asp |archive-date=2013-12-03 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''The Poor Little Witch'' depicts [[infanticide|child sacrifice]] and the ritual [[Blood libel|drinking of the child's blood]] by Satanists.<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://chick.com/products/tract?stk=64|title=The Poor Little Witch|date=1987|writer=Jack T. Chick}}</ref> ''Catholic Answers'' stated 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."<ref name="catholic-library-nightmare" />

== Parodies and popular culture ==

=== In film ===
* [[Dark Dungeons (film)|''Dark Dungeons'']], a film adaptation of a Chick tract of the same name depicting ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' as a front for Satanism, was released in August 2014. Producer JR Ralls was given the rights to the tract for free after contacting Chick.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Rachel|last=Edidin |url=https://www.wired.com/2014/05/dark-dungeons-movie/ |title=A Fearmongering Anti-RPG Comic Gets the Film Adaptation It Deserves &#124; Underwire |magazine=WIRED |access-date=2014-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140520233150/http://www.wired.com/2014/05/dark-dungeons-movie/ |archive-date=2014-05-20 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== In print ===
Some [[cartoonist]]s have published parodies that mimic Chick tracts' layout and narrative conventions. Examples include:
* ''Devil Doll?'' by [[Daniel Clowes]], ''Antlers of the Damned''<ref>{{cite web
| url=<!--removed link to site (now a porn site) that tries to install something on visitors' machines.-->
| title=Antlers Of The Damned
| publisher=The Jack T. Chick Parody Archive
| last=Thrasher|first=Adam
}}</ref> by [[Space Moose|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 (zine)|The Imp]]'', which consists of a lengthy [[essay]] on Jack T. Chick's work and a [[concordance (publishing)|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, entitled ''Chemical Salvation?'' (2006)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd_humor_chick_parody1.pdf |title=Chemical Salvation? |access-date=2014-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140926132432/http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd_humor_chick_parody1.pdf |archive-date=2014-09-26 |url-status=live }}</ref> and ''ADAM & EVIL?!'' (2007),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/mdma/mdma_humor_chick_parody1.pdf |title=ADAM & EVIL?! for Web |access-date=2014-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140510163823/http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/mdma/mdma_humor_chick_parody1.pdf |archive-date=2014-05-10 |url-status=live }}</ref> tell the histories of [[LSD]] and [[MDMA]] respectively.
* 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 ''[[Rick and Morty]]'' Season 1 [[Blu-ray]] came with a print version of ''The Good Morty'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morty Publications |url=http://archive.org/details/TheGoodMorty |title=The Good Morty |date=2014}}</ref> a parody of Chick's work which appears in the episode "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind". The comic was written by series co-creator [[Justin Roiland]] and Ryan Ridley, and illustrated by Erica Hayes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2014/08/15/sdcc-rick-and-morty-creators-and-cast-tease-a-more-intergalactic-season-2/|title=SDCC – 'Rick and Morty' Creators and Cast Tease a 'More Intergalactic' Season 2|date=15 August 2014|website=comicbookresources.com|access-date=16 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630232204/http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2014/08/15/sdcc-rick-and-morty-creators-and-cast-tease-a-more-intergalactic-season-2/|archive-date=2016-06-30|url-status=live}}</ref>

== References ==

=== Citations===
{{reflist|30em}}

=== Sources ===
* {{cite book|chapter=Jesus Was Not a Weak Fairy: Chick Tracts and the Visual Culture of Evangelical Fear | last = Bivins | first = Jason | title = Religion of Fear: the Politics of Horror in Conservative Evangelicalism | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford New York | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-19-534081-5 |pages=41–88|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5WQpIuao9yYC}}
* {{Cite book | last1 = Prothero | first1 = Donald R. | last2 = Buell | first2 = Carl Dennis | title = Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters | publisher = Columbia University Press | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0-231-13962-5 | url = https://archive.org/details/evolutionwhatfos00prot_0/}}

=== Further reading ===
* {{cite book | last = Fowler | first = Robert | title = The World of Chick? | publisher = Last Gasp | location = San Francisco | year = 2001 | isbn = 0-86719-512-6 }}
* {{cite book | last = Kuersteiner | first = Kurt | title = The Art of Jack Chick | publisher = Schiffer Publications Ltd. | location = Atglen, PA | year = 2004 | isbn = 0-7643-1892-6 }}
* {{cite book|first=Colonel V.|last=Doner|title=Christian Jihad: Neo-Fundamentalists and the Polarization of America|publisher=Samizdat Creative|date=May 23, 2012}}

== External links ==
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* [https://www.chick.com/ Chick Publications official website]
* [https://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/filmedia/play/2330/God-s-Cartoonist---The-Comic-Crusade-of-Jack-Chick ''God's Cartoonist - The Comic Crusade of Jack T. Chick''] – Documentary film on Chick and Chick comics.
* [http://www.masonicinfo.com/chick.htm Critical view by Freemasons]
* [http://www.chickcomics.com/ The Jack Chick Museum of Fine Art]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140108154607/http://www.catholic.com/documents/the-nightmare-world-of-jack-t-chick "The Nightmare World of Jack T. Chick"], Catholic Answers (archived)

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