Weird Tract Number 136: "Satanism: Diabolical Religion of Darkness" by Jess Pedigo of Christian Crusade

 Troy Davis writes:

I previously wrote about the flamboyant career of Pastor Billy James Hargis, the head of the proto-Moral Majorityesque group Christian Crusade. Christian Crusade is best known for Hargis' rabid anti-communism and his cultural wars against the 60s counterculture; the group also helped set the stage for the 80s satanic ritual abuse moral panic; Christian Crusade's 64-page booklet by Jess Pedig  is a good example of the fundamentalist scare literature from the 70s that led to one of the most irrational cultural trends of the 80s.  

Like Hal Lindsey in the mega-bestseller The Late Great Planet Earth, Pedigo believes the occult revival in the 60s (at least in younger circles)  was evidence that Satan was marshalling his forces for The Final Battle. On the museum's Chick Tract Parody Page, I had noted that The Collinsport Historical Society, a blog celebrating the cult TV show Dark Shadows, had a post mentioning that Jack Chick accused the show of being a tool of Satan in the original 1972 version of his tract "Bewitched."  Pedigo also had a Pissy-About-TV-Vampires-For-Christ attitude:  

Pedigo believes Léo Taxil's late 19th century hokum about The Illuminati and Baphomet and includes images of the supposed Masonic Baphomet used in Taxil's writings in the late 19th century. 

 Pedigo views psychedelic experimentation and other counterculture practices as portals to satanic control. When I created the infamous "Doorways to Demonic Possession panel for my Chick tract parodies, most of the items listed were from fundamentalist sources. Not surprisingly, Pedigo cites Kurt Koch's The Devil's Alphabet, a work in the museum's collection (I briefly discuss the book here). 

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.