Weird Tract Number 131: "The Beatles: A Study in Drugs, Sex, and Revolution" by David Noebel of The Christian Crusade

Troy Davis writes: Some of the most unintentionally hilarious religious tracts were printed in the late '60s and early '70s as a consequence of fundamentalist super-squares having their brains melted by the counterculture. Fundamentalist preachers were scherotic about long hair on men. The John Birch Society and its fundy allies took aim at the peace symbol (the museum has several examples of tracts that take on the demonic "broken cross"; the best one, in my opinion, has a middle-aged preacher awkwardly using what he thinks is youthful lingo).

In 1970, this 64-page booklet was published by The Christian Crusade, headed by rabidly anti-communist preacher Billy James Hargis, a superpatriot who would later face the music when he was caught diddling both male and female members of of All American Choir; more sordid details in this discussion of an anti-Walter Reuther tract Hargis created. The author is David Noebel, who at the time, was "Dean of the Christian Crusade Anti-Communist Youth University." Noebel is still alive and recently collaborated with Tim LaHaye (1926-2016) about supposed humanist infiltration of powerful American institutions (I wrote about the LaHaye's noxiousness here). 

In this screed, Noebel blames the Beatles and "hard rock" for pushing communism, hard drugs, and fornication on America's youth. Classic insights from the book include:

"Marijuana is a mild aphrodisiac."

". . . hard rock music is not conducive to digestion."

"Not only the lyrics but the beat (now christened "erotic rhythms") have become catalysts for the sex rebellion."

"Their [rockers'] philosophy was to use beat music to 'turn on chicks,' and then 'smoke pot and bed down.'"

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.