Weird Tract Number 83: "Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk" by Maria Monk (published by The Patriotic Defense League)

Troy Davis writes:

A century and a half before supposed former Catholic priest Alberto Rivera spread sensational tales of Catholic depravity and conspiracies to control the world, there was Maria Monk (1816-1849). Monk claimed she was a former nun from Montreal who suffered sexual abuse from priests from the nearby seminary. She weaved inflammatory tales of depravity in which infants born from these illicit congresses were baptized then euthanized and buried in a series of tunnels connecting the nunnery and the seminary. The original book, published in 1836, was one of the inspirations of historian Richard Hofstadter's quip that anti-Catholicism was "the pornography of the Puritan."

The publication of the book created a furor but subsequent investigations (notably by a Protestant newspaper reporter) found that Monk was a fabulist who most likely was a front for anti-Catholic writers. Nevertheless, subsequent printings of the book remained popular in anti-Catholic and nativist circles. This undated paperback edition, published by The Patriotic Defense League of Chicago, was probably printed in the 1910s, the heyday of the group.

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

Weird Tract Number 82: "Faith For The Family" Magazine March 1983 by Bob Jones University

Troy Davis writes:

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts has several copies of the Bob Jones University-published Faith For The Family, a periodical published by the university between 1973 and 1986. A couple of the magazines in the museum's collection contain articles written by Avro Manhattan (1914-1990), scourge of the Vatican and part of Jack Chick's stable of authors. Like Chick Publications, Bob Jones U. is one of the fundamentalist institutions that was not mealy-mouthed about its anti-Catholicism when others in the movement began calling for a more ecumenical approach to the Vatican in the latter half of the 20th century. The University also got in hot water in the 1970s regarding its restrictive policies about interracial dating and black admissions, leading the IRS to revoke the school's tax exempt status in 1976.

The March 1983 edition of the magazine is notable because of a critical article about Jack Chick ("Chick Publications: Comic Book Christianity") by BJU's Mark Sidwell (who is still a professor of history at the school). Sidwell is critical of Chick's King James Only theology. He also raises questions about Chick's associates, namely John Todd (whose claims about being a former Satanist have been discredited) and Alberto Rivera. Sidwell noted that an actual former priest-turned-fundamentalist Bartholomew Brewer's interactions with Rivera raised serious doubts about Rivera's claims of having been in the priesthood. This article is notable in that a university professor uses the archaic pejorative term "Romanist" when referring to Catholicism.  The entire article is at the end of this post.

Note: That's an odd way to appeal to minorities!
The back cover of the magazine has an ad for the university with the title "Minority Involvement" pictured is a Bob Jones U cheerleader with 1980s big hair and who is so white she looks like she could fit right in at a Cheney family reunion. The text emphasizes how Bob Jones U is truly a minority movement because of its unwavering adherence to the Bible in an increasingly secular culture.

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

CLICK TO EMBIGGEN!

Weird Tract Number 81: "The Last Generation" by Chick Publications (1972 version)

Troy Davis writes:

When it comes to demented religious tracts, I just want to hug the original 1972 version of "The Last Generation" written by Jack Chick and drawn by Fred Carter. As author Bob Fowler noted in his thorough and groundbreaking book on Chick tracts The World of Chick (Last Gasp 2015), 1972 was a seminal year for Chick Publications; for one thing, Chick hired Fred Carter whose more realistic art style complemented Chick's cartoony art. The Last Generation is the best of the Chick tracts that came out in '72 (The over-the-top and campy "The Gay Blade" is a distant second).

The Last Generation is set in a dystopian one-world government that rules just prior to The Rapture.  It's the story of a Christian family's struggle in this Christ-hating society whose schools have successfully indoctrinated their child Bobby, who is now a Hitler Youth-type (at the end of the tract, Chick reassures us  Bobby later received his comeuppance in the Lake of Fire).

The original version is more demented than the revised versions (read the current version here) that Chick retrofitted in the '90s to reflect the anti-Catholic ideology he started promoting in the late '70s. The more recent versions of "The Last Generation" have a green cover color (as opposed to the original's teal color). The Museum's entry on Peace Sign tracts has a panel in which psychopathic one-world government agents torture the family's grandfather and after failing to get him to reject Jeebus, they discuss using his corpse, Shades of Soylent Green, for food! (the panel was also used in the entry on Chick Publication in the 1988 book High Weirdness By Mail by The Subgenius people).  The 1972 version has other mentions of cannibalism. The Jack T. Chick Museum of Art discusses both versions here. Also, this blog has the entire 1972 version with hilarious analysis.

Ascots in 1970s Futuristic Comics:

In The Last Generation (which takes place sometime in the near future), the anchorman is shown wearing an ascot while giving his news report. Another example of a '70s comic book that employs the ascot motif for a future world is DC Comics' Superman 300 (1976) whose story takes place in the year 2001. Clark Kent and the other adults are shown wearing the questionable neckwear. Also, the previously mentioned dystopian film Soylent Green (1973) is set in the future Manhattan of 2022 where ascots replaced neckties. One final note: L Ron Hubbard sports an ascot in my satirical comic book "Cock-Tale: A Modern Tijuana Bible" which you can read here.

Quick Note: Check out some of the rare Jack Chick-related items in the museum's collection on the introduction page.

NOTES ON JACK CHICK: In my introductory post, I listed just a few of the many rare and valuable objects from The Museum's extensive Chick-related collection . . . The role of Ralph Rushtoi in the publishing careers of both Jack Chick and another comics-based tract writer Vic Lockman. . . I discuss the role of Bill Bright's prolific tract The Four Spiritual Laws in leading to a format change in Chick tracts that was a key reason why they have become much more popular since the late 1960s . . . My thoughts on Jack Chick's spreading of the peace symbol/broken cross mythology . . .  Jack Chick's retro-futuristic car in the scarce 48-page version of "The Beast" . . . Chick tract parody "Constitutional Rites" . . .Jack Chick's cold war tract "Ivan The Terrible" . . . Article on Chick by fellow Catholic-baiting Bob Jones University magazine . . .Catholic-bashing tract by Chick's protege Alberto Rivera . . . Knock-off of a Chick tract by James Lloyd:"Left Behind" . . . Chick tract parody "Donald Trump Is The Antichrist; Prepare for the Rapture!" . . . The extremely rare 1970 Chick tract "Operation Somebody Cares" . . .The rare Chick Publications comic book "Jonah" by Chick and Fred Carter . . . The museum's prized cultural artifact, original art by Jack Chick . . . Artifacts from the museum's collections:all of Jack Chick's high school yearbooks (which include the first published cartoon by Chick) . . . "Closet Witches" by Jack T. Chick (audio-cassette interview with Dr. Rebecca Brown and "Elaine").

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

From The Collection of The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts:Moral Majority Report Paperweight

Troy Davis writes:

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts has copies of the defunct Moral Majority Report put out by Jerry Falwell and his religious Right group Moral Majority. The museum also has in its possession, a Moral Majority paperweight.

Check out some of the other strange objects in the museum's collection: 1. Spire Christian Comics spinner rack; 2. Our Lady of Guadalupe sculpture; 3. "La Nueva Jerusalen" print; 4. a triple-decker Nativity scene. 

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

Weird Tract Number 80: Chalcedon Report No. 351 (October 1994) by the Chalcedon Foundation

Troy Davis writes:

In the collection of The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts are a dozen copies of The Chalcedon Report from the 1990s.  It's the publication of The Chalcedon Foundation, the leading Christian Reconstructionist organization; Reconstructionism is a fundamentalist, theocratic dominionist movement founded by Rousas John Rushdoony (1916-2001); it's hardcore and anti-democratic. These people want to replace American democracy with its own buzzkill version of Biblical law: the death penalty for homosexual acts and incorrigible children, and women who had abortions. Back in the 90s, I wrote the group for general information and they assumed I was a live one and kept sending me their report until I moved.

One of the regular columnists at the time was conservative firebrand John Lofton (1941-2014) who previously wrote for Sun Myung Moon's Washington Times; Lofton was a gadfly on the talk show circuit (on CNN's Crossfire, an exasperated Frank Zappa told Lofton, ". . . kiss my ass!"; see the episode here). Rushdoony was a regular writer for the Report; like most wannabe autocrats, he was really longwinded and boring.

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

Weird Tract Number 79: "Who's Calling The Shots?" by Vic Lockman

Troy Davis writes:

When it comes to religious comics from the late 20th century, the catalog of Vic Lockman (1927-2017) is less well-known than that of Al Hartley, Jack Chick, and Life Messengers comics but it more than makes up for it in generally high levels of bat-shittiness. The Museum has an extensive collection of dozens of Lockman’s tracts and booklets.

Like Chick and Hartley, Lockman did mainstream comics, doing many Disney, Dell, and Gold Key books. 

However, unlike the other two, he continued to do secular comics throughout his career. He is one of the most prolific mainstream comics artist/writers of all time.

Lockman’s politics includes some similarities with the John Birch Society such as the embrace of laetrile. “Who’s Calling The Shots” is a 12-page promotional tract for the 1960s Bircher book None Dare Call It Conspiracy, a book by Gary Allen that sold millions of its screeds against global elite cabals. Lockman’s tract was part of a 1972 promotional campaign for Allen’s book because the forward was by John G. Schmitz who was running for president as the candidate for the American Independent Party, the far-right party (George Wallace was the party’s 1968 candidate). Schmitz’s campaign received only 1.7 percent of the popular vote but the book allegedly sold over 4 million copies that year.

NOTES ON VIC LOCKMAN:  This article looks at the role of long-forgotten publisher Ralph Rusthoi on the tract-publishing of Lockman and Jack Chick . . . In the 1970s, Lockman and Walter Lang take on ancient astronaut theorist Erich Von Däniken in the tract "Was God an Astronaut?" . . .  The museum featured Lockman's anti-counterculure tract Hippie Come Home. Read it here. . . Lockman and Walter Lang team up on an anti-evolution tract "Have You Been Brainwashed by Ape-Men?"

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.