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Childrearing, Satanic 47
reflected in an educational system that has ejected
prayer and that teaches the theory of evolution. To
Chick’s way of seeing things, Christians are
severely persecuted. Many of the Christian characters
in his tracts refrain from talking about religion
in public—and particularly at work—for fear
of being ridiculed or losing their jobs.
Chick wholeheartedly accepts the Satanic
ritual abuse hypothesis—that America, and
indeed the entire world, is permeated by a powerful
network of secret Satanic cult groups that
routinely sacrifice innocent babies to the Devil.
The churches have been infiltrated by witches,
presumably members of such Satanic cults.
Furthermore, liberal theologians and liberal
Christian ministers who dilute the Gospel are
demons in disguise, purposefully leading
Christians astray.
Chick is especially concerned about the threat
of rock music, which he portrays as Satan’s pet
project. Rock music, we learn, is derived from
ancient, demonic Druid music. (Druidism
appears to be the only form of extrabiblical paganism
he is aware of.) In the Chick comic
Spellbound, we see heavily guarded music studios
at which priests of the Devil conduct dark rituals
for every master disk. Ten demons are assigned to
each record album to insure that it has the desired
effect. In the tract “Angels” Satan notes that, “My
music pushes murder, drugs, free sex, suicide, to
destroy country, home and education . . . And
man... is it doing it!” Chick seems to feel that
Christian rock music is even worse—a wolf in
sheep’s clothing, designed to trick unsuspecting
Christians into turning off the straight and
narrow path onto the highway to hell. In the same
tract, Satan exclaims, “Who do you think started
Christian rock I did!”
Although these are but a few of the cultural
phenomena exposed to Chick’s one-dimensional
analysis, enough has been said to convey the sense
of his ministry. At the time of this writing, most of
his two-by-four tracts (though not his full-sized,
full-color comics) were posted at the ministry’s
official website so that the interested reader can
explore other aspects of Chick’s vision.
See also Demons; Heavy Metal Music; Satanic
Ritual Abuse
For Further Reading:
http://chick.com. Official website, containing
complete copies of active tracts online. One can
also find Jack T. Chick’s official biography and
Frequently Asked Questions that supply some
insights into Chick Publications.
http://home.flash.net/~twinkle/psycho/DARK/chick.
A Chick parody site containing, at the time of
this writing, almost two dozen Chick-related
links—mostly other parodies.
http://members.aol.com/monsterwax/chick.html. A
useful compendium of—and commentary on—
Chick tracts, including ones that have gone out
of circulation.
Childrearing, Satanic
Although the original perception of religious
Satanism by outside observers was that it was a
mono-generational phenomenon that most
participants would drift in and out of, it is now
clear that it has taken root and is being passed
down from parents to children. Satanists have thus
had to seriously consider what it means to rear
their offspring as Satanists, despite the fact that, as
one Satanist mother noted, the whole idea of
raising the next generation in the black arts has a
distinctly “tabloid quality” about it. In website
discussions, Satanists have grappled with such
problems as: at what age is it appropriate to begin
bringing children to rituals, what to do in a hostile
public school environment, how parents should
respond to their child’s request to go to church
with friends from school, and other such matters.
Satanic parents have also had to face the issue of
raising their children as moral human beings in a
religious tradition that has often explicitly advocated
antinomianism and lex talionis (the law of
retaliation: “an eye for an eye”). Rather than raising
little demons (figuratively speaking), Satanists
teach their children to be, in the words of one
parent, “decent human beings.” In “Ask Grandma
Gynna,” an advice column on the demonolatry
website, the pseudonymous Gynna informs an
outsider that, “we teach our children common
human morals (it’s wrong to steal, cheat, lie, kill,
etc.) just like Christian parents. We also teach them
religion is individual and there are hundreds of
belief systems out there.” In another item of advice
at the same website, Gynna counsels parents not to