There are anti-Catholics and then there are militant, rabid anti-Catholics who have one mission: destroy the Catholic Church at all costs. The first group is more rational and the other totters on the brink of insanity.
Jack Chick and his organization Chick Publications fall into the latter category. Chick has led many nominal Catholics away from their faith using cult techniques like fearmongering, guilt tactics, emotional manipulation, and hellfire and brimstone methods of persuasion.
However, if these same Catholics looked deeper to see what Chick Publications really taught, they would run away laughing into the night. Jack Chick actually teaches that the Catholic Church started the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the KKK, Communism, the mafia, the Mormon religion, and the religion of Islam in order to take over the world. Yes, he actually believes these things, and they represent a mere spattering of bizarre beliefs which destroy any credibility he may have had.
Chick Publications and Catholics
Chick Publications believes that the Catholic Church is from the devil. Their goal is to steal as many Catholics as possible through anti-Catholic cartoon tracts, known as “Chick Tracts,” and through anti-Catholic comic books. These portray the Pope and the Catholic Church as Satan himself in disguise.
These easy-to-read and lavishly illustrated tracts contain an infinite amount of lies, half-truths, erroneous assertions, and complete fabrications regarding the Catholic faith. Added to the misinformation are Chick’s own misunderstandings and personal prejudices. These tracts attempt to dismantle Catholic doctrines and persuade people that all (yes all) Catholics are going to hell.
Jack Chick claims to “love” Catholics, but in reality, his bogus misinformation and off-the-wall claims reveal that his love is not sincere, or that he is of the most pitiable and confused of people. If this organization were truly sincere, they would act with God’s love, honesty, and accurately portray Catholic doctrine rather than presenting strongman arguments.
Informed Catholics know that Mr. Chick does not bother presenting accurate information. It is one thing to disagree with someone’s religion, but it is something else entirely to present countless falsehoods and then proceed to tear apart and condemn what wasn’t true in the first place.
Let us look at a handful of examples.
Anti-Catholic Cartoon Tracts: ERRORS
Some Chick Tracts make the claim that no one in the Catholic Church can go to heaven revealing Chick’s fundamentalism and deep-rooted anti-Catholicism.
In the cartoon tract called the Death Cookie, which is a satanic mockery of the Eucharist, it calls the Vatican a “Habitation of devils which controls her people through witchcraft and magic.”
Witchcraft?
Magic?
Come on Jack! Get real.
Any sane person would not find such a statement remotely credible or take it seriously. Chick goes on to make the claim that Catholics burned everyone at the stake who believed the Eucharist was only a symbol.
In typical fashion, he provides no sources or evidence for such an outlandish claim. It is no wonder why. Since Chick’s above statement is purely fictitious, he attempts to explain away any objections by adding, “All of this has been covered up by history.”
Covered up by history?
Seriously?
Come on again Jack!
The only people who would believe these claims in the face of actual history are rabid anti-Catholics who desire them to be true. It seems Mr. Chick needed to make an odd after statement because he knows no history book or historian of any repute would support his bizarre claim.
In the tract, Are Roman Catholics Christians?, it states that when Catholics are baptized, they become the citizen of two countries, with two nationalities and two allegiances (the Vatican and their own).
Two countries, Jack? There is not a Catholic on earth who believes that he has dual citizenship or believes that they could pass as a citizen of the Vatican. It would be nice to see him quote a source or show where the Catholic Church teaches this. Honestly, there are no comments really needed here, just common sense and a sense of humor.
In Why is Mary Crying?, it makes the claim that the Catholic Church came into existence around 300 A.D. However, that proves impossible upon examining the historical record. One may easily peruse any encyclopedia and look under the letter “P” (for Pope or Papacy) and explore a list of 264 popes going all the way back to St. Peter.
History shows there were almost 30 popes before 300 A.D. So how could Catholics not have existed until that time? Pope Dionysus in 262 A.D. spoke out in defense of the divinity of Christ. Cyprian was the bishop of Carthage in the mid-3rd century. Justin Martyr was a Catholic apologist in the mid-2nd century.
This was all before 300 A.D. Jack! There were countless Catholics who lived before this time period, and we have their writings to prove it.
Chick then asserts that the Catholic Church invented Mary worship, including statues of Mary, so they could attract pagans who worshiped the pagan goddess.
Really?
Could you show us just one official Vatican document that teaches this, Jack?
Of course not. This is purely in his confused imagination.
The reality is that the Catholic Church condemns all idolatry while teaching worship of God alone. Anyone may read the papal encyclical, Domini Iesus (“The Lord Jesus”) or the Catechism of the Catholic Church to see what the Catholic Church really teaches about Christ.
The official Catholic Catechism states;
“The first commandment condemns polytheism. It requires man neither to believe in, nor to venerate, other divinities than the one true God. Scripture constantly recalls this rejection of idols. (paragraph 2112). It also proclaims, “No creature could ever be counted as equal with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer” (Paragraph 62).
Every week at the Mass we pray to Jesus these words:
“For You alone are the holy one, You alone are the Lord, You alone are the Most High Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit in the Glory of God the Father. Amen.”
In other words, the Catholic Church does not teach Mary worship, and spreading this slander is ungodly. Catholics do not worship statues either, also asserted by Mr. Chick.
Jack, they are made out of plaster and marble! (If you would like to watch our video demonstrating that Catholics don’t worship statues, click here.
As stated before, the claims grow even more outlandish and certifiable in his anti-Catholic cartoon comic books known as the Alberto Series. These books portray the Pope as the founder of several world religions like Islam, Mormonism, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, not to mention the KKK, the mafia, and communism.
Chick maintains that pretty much anything that is considered bad or evil, the Catholic Church is responsible for it. What really saddens me is when people actually believe these claims. Do not such outlandish assertions merit verification and corroboration?
Chick Publications Exposed
Even Protestants have looked into the claims of Jack Chick. They have not only proven them demonstratively false but to be outright fiction. They also revealed to the world the criminal conman, Alberto Rivera, who is Jack Chick’s source of “inside information” on the Catholic Church.
Rivera claimed to be a Jesuit bishop, though he never was. He feeds Chick countless lies and fabrications which Chick then puts into writing.
Rivera and Chick together are obsessed with the Jesuits, assigning to them every conspiracy theory imaginable, including being the masterminds behind the Inquisition. This is however impossible since the Jesuit order was started some 300 years after the Inquisition was started, but again, facts don’t matter to Chick.
So goes the innumerable empty claims and outright lies of Chick Publications. You know an anti-Catholic is fraudulent when Protestants and other anti-Catholics expose them. Any Catholic who may have been duped by Chick, Alberto Rivera, and their wild imaginations should see the light and come home!
Do not fear these anti-Catholic tracts and comics as they are nothing but empty wind void of substance and truth. Most anti-Catholics like Chick haven’t even read a single book written by a Catholic and yet believe themselves to be experts. One wonders how that is possible.
I suppose if you are listening to a conman like Rivera who promises you the whole inside story, and you don’t fact check anything, then anything is possible.
The bottom line is do not leave the Catholic Church that Christ Himself started. If you are confronted with an answer to a question that you do not know the answer to, look it up. Research it. For Catholics and non-Catholics alike, or for anyone who is interested in obtaining the real truth about Catholicism, read authentically Catholic books.
Additionally, check out our “Catholic Truth” YouTube channel where you will get nothing but authentic Catholic teaching and truth. At Catholic Truth, we help Catholics to discover, deepen, and defend their faith, to be transformed in Jesus Christ, and help non-Catholics to come home. Check out our video: Jesus Started the Catholic Church.
You may also be interested in our series of articles that debunk and answer anti-Catholic myths. This is one of many.
