Jack Chick

If you don't know who he was, consider yourself lucky. He was a bad comic writer/illustrator, a delusional thinker, and a man who gave Christians a bad name. He died recently-I have to admit that I haven't thought of him much but I did assume he was already dead.

The first time I saw a "Chick track" I was using a public pay phone in Manchester, NH and one was left on top of the phone, like they usually are. His followers leave them in public places like pay phones and gas stations bath rooms so that unsuspecting people can pick them up, be shocked and appalled and take in some good ole' conspiracy bullshit at the same time. His writing was full of nonsense-even if you agree with him theologically you should decry his conspiracy garbage.

It scared the hell out of me, pun intended. I grew up Catholic and hearing his rants about how evil the Catholic church was how the Vatican "kept a computer with the names of every protestant in the world in their database" really scared me. Was I to be condemned for hell just because I was born Catholic? Wait! I didn't have any say in that?! I couldn't sleep for a week afterward.

He's done far, far more harm to Christianity than helped it. Like I've mentioned before-how you present yourself in life matters. Scaring people to death (especially children. I'm sure I'm not the only child to stumble across one of his hideous publications) will make people correctly marginalize you. There is a reason Jack Chick is ignored by mainstream, legit churches. Just like the Westboro Baptist Church.

And that's what he was. The Westboro Baptist Church in in comic book form.