# Anyone else get a Jack Chick tract in their kids' Halloween bags? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 1, 2008, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533 "2008-11-01T03:03:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/1 "2008-11-01T03:03:03Z")
Well, mine did. We got back from a rousing evening of trick-or-treating and performed the ceremonial dumping of the candy in preparation for separating/trading, when Whatsit Jr. noticed, “Hey, cool, a comic book!” Hmm, I said. Let me see that. [It was this Jack Chick tract.](http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0032/0032_01.asp?Store=True) Highlights include a little boy who sins, is killed, and goes to eternal torment in Hell with no chance of redemption. You know, your classic Chick. I had no idea that people actually still put these in Halloween bags. Whatsit Jr. is extremely disappointed that I will not let him read his new comic, but I told him I’d get him an X-Men or something instead. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/2 "2008-11-01T04:16:20Z")
It’s really odd how Chick makes Halloween ugly in this one, but in another it’s in good enough favor that the Christian neighbors hand out candy along with a tract. Called “The Little Princess” I think ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/3 "2008-11-01T04:44:38Z")
I was in charge of handing out the candy this year, and saw Chick tracts sticking out of several trick-or-treaters’ loot bags. I told one little boy, “Don’t even bother reading that comic book, it’s not very funny.” I’m not sure he noticed. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/4 "2008-11-01T05:50:10Z")
wow. “I’ll never forget this halloween! It’s the one where my best friend died and I now ensured my place in heaven! Thanks Timmy for being my own personal Jesus!” ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/5 "2008-11-01T07:29:04Z")
There was a woman near my childhood home who used to do this. One cold winter day, bothered by a draft coming through a crack in the window molding, I noticed the Chick Tracts. An idea occured. Seconds later, I was no longer bothered by the draft. Now I had learnt an important message, which was something along the lines of “God helps those who help themselves.” ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/6 "2008-11-01T12:25:26Z")
Hmmm… Nothing in there about spending eternity in Hell for being a sanctimonious cow who’d happily drive a grieving mother to suicide the day her son was killed. Yeah, Og’s like that. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/7 "2008-11-01T13:05:21Z")
Jack Chick is a seriously, seriously demented individual. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/8 "2008-11-01T13:17:15Z")
errr…Jack who? Explanations plz. Not all Yanks here. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/9 "2008-11-01T13:23:25Z")
Jack Chick is a religious [del]nutcase[/del] person who has a company that prints little books called “tracts.” They are wrong on so many levels and so poorly done that one of our favorite activities is tearing them apart, usually done in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/10 "2008-11-01T13:23:45Z")
If you really were into Chick-ism why would you support Halloween by handing out candy? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/11 "2008-11-01T13:27:19Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > errr..Jack who? Explanations plz. Not all Yanks here. [Nuttery.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Chick) ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/12 "2008-11-01T13:31:21Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > If you really were into Chick-ism why would you support Halloween by handing out candy? He recommends it as an evangelistic opportunity. Some moderate evangelical who can draw should come out with a similar product. They’d make a fortune. A lot of Evangelicals & even Fund’ists avoid handing out Chick tracts, even the mild ones, because of the extremely crazy ones. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/13 "2008-11-01T13:35:58Z")
Just to show how nuttery they are, here’s a summary from wiki on one of them: > [@wiki](#): > > In Trust Me, a young boy comes across a group that seems to be a mixture of Satanists, hippies, and bikers. He takes a pill offered by one, and gets high. A day later, he is selling drugs in a park. Three days later, he’s stealing televisions to support his habit. Soon, an undercover policeman catches him in a sting, he is sentenced to prison, and he is raped. Three months later, he is dying of AIDS. But, because he reads a tract with the words, “Jesus Loves You,” and accepts Jesus Christ as his lord and savior, after he dies he is brought to Heaven by an angel. One day to get a drug habit, three days to get arrested, and three months to die of AIDS. Do you wonder why we call it nuttery? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/14 "2008-11-01T13:57:23Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > He recommends it as an evangelistic opportunity. > > Some moderate evangelical who can draw should come out with a similar product. They’d make a fortune. A lot of Evangelicals & even Fund’ists avoid handing out Chick tracts, even the mild ones, because of the extremely crazy ones. Actually, the kids had a different tract, non-Jack Chick, that was still what I would consider evangelical, but without the crazy. It had a little yellow smiley face on the front and said, “God Loves You!” The inside was full of a lot of Bible verses and “Accept the Lord so that you may be saved!” but it didn’t involve, you know, small children getting killed and then tormented in eternal Hell. I let the kids keep that one. ---
**Author:** ![Wheeljack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@Wheeljack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheeljack)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/15 "2008-11-01T14:45:13Z")
Oh, those smiley face ones are ancient. I used to get them in the 80s. I’d love to have one now, just for old time’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/16 "2008-11-01T22:37:05Z")
Had a look at some of them. And although I support a persons right to preach their beliefs and freedom of speech, I do NOT think that extends to a child, not without a parents consent anyway. I am surprised that it was not caught by the parents, not that I am critising, I hasten to add, until later. I am not familiar with trick-o-treat logistics so to speak so apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/17 "2008-11-01T22:39:10Z")
I’ve never got to the end of a Jack Chick. I _feel_ my brain melting about a third of the way in and have to move on. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-get-a-jack-chick-tract-in-their-kids-halloween-bags/470533/18 "2008-11-01T23:02:44Z")
I play with them as I would a “Where’s Waldo?” book, only with Chick tracts it’s “Where’s Fang?” Once I find him I throw the comics away.