Don't Chew Jesus

I have been sitting on this post for awhile. I just haven't had the time to fully dedicate my anger toward this on going issue. Well, look out bitches because I got the time now!

Recently while I was at work, a co-worker came up to me with some disturbing information. She said a customer had just came up to her with a book from our Gay and Lesbian book section that had a religious tract on the inside.
Don't know what a tract is? Here is some (quite) interesting information on tracts that I got from Wikipedia:

As religious literature, they were used throughout the turbulence of the Protestant Reformation, and various uphevals of the 17th century. They came to such prominence again in the Oxford Movement that it became known as Tractarianism, after the publication in the 1830s and 1840s of a series of religious essays collectively called Tracts for the Times.

These tracts were written by a group of Church of England clergy including John Henry Newman, John Keble, Henry Edward Manning, and Edward Pusey. They were theological discourses that sought to establish the continuity between the Church of England and the patristic period of church history. They had a vast influence on Anglo-Catholicism. They were learned works and varied in length from four to over 400 pages.[1] An important center for the spreading of tracts was the London-based Religious Tract Society.[2] Tracts were used both within England - affecting the conversion of pioneer missionary to China, Hudson Taylor - as well as in the cross cultural missions movements such as Taylor founded: the China Inland Mission. Charles Spurgeon wrote many tracts, and in addition to these evangelical writings, his "Penny Sermons" were printed weekly and distributed widely by the millions and used in a similar way.

The publishing of tracts for religious purposes has continued unabated. In the United States, the American Tract Society has continuously published literature of this type since 1825. As evangelistic tools, tracts became promininent in the Jesus movement. One of the most widely distributed was "The Four Spiritual Laws" authored by Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ and first published in 1965. "This Was Your Life" was the first of many tracts written by Jack Chick. Later Chick tracts followed the pattern vivid cartoon images and began to focus on vehement Anti-Catholic opinions.

In the 1980s and 1990s Last Days Ministries reprinted articles in the Last Days Newsletter by Keith Green and other contemporary and historic writers including David Wilkerson, Leonard Ravenhill, Winkie Pratney, Charles Finney, John Wesley, and William Booth. More recently Living Waters Publications prints tracts such as "The Atheist Test" or "Are You Good Enough to Go to Heaven?", as well as tracts which feature attention-getting illusions or gags. These include the "Million Dollar Bill", which caused a legal controversy in June 2006.

Brochure-like tracts, also known as pamphlets, advocating political positions have also been used throughout history as well. They were used throughout Europe in the 17th century. In the 18th century, they featured prominently in the political unrest leading up to the American Revolution. A well-known example of a far-reaching tracts from this era is Common Sense by Thomas Paine.

Tracts were used for political purposes throughout the 20th century. They were used to spread Nazi propaganda in central Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. According to Jack Chick, his impetus to design cartoon-based religious tracts was brought on by hearing of a similar promotional tool used by Communists in China to wide success. [3] In the months before the John F. Kennedy assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald handed out pamphlets promoting Fidel Castro and Communist Cuba on the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana.

I've never seen any political tracts, just the religious ones. They are fucking everywhere: under your windshield wipers, given to waitresses as tips, and books. This co-worker and I went through every single GLBT book in that section and found over 10 tracts folded inside various books. Many of the tracts had the words "Death" or "Heaven or Hell?" in big letters on the front.

I went to our New Age section, and by God, there were more of those suckers inside books on Wicca, Witchcraft, Magical Arts, Astrology and Occult. Let's just say I was PPIISSEEDD!!

Of course, there is not a whole hell of a lot that you can do to stop these terrorists. If you don't see them placing something inside of books, you can't punish them or stop them. I do understand that my employer can't set up signs that say "please refrain from placing your hate into our publications". I would love to know if anyone has ever been "saved" from reading one of these!

I just wish more can be done. It breaks my heart to imagine the poor person who innocently opens their Lesbian parenting guide book only to find a pamphlet telling them they are going to Hell. They do not deserve to experience that and no matter how hard you think your heart is, hate still hurts. To be honest it would make me not want to go back to that store, even if it wasn't the fault of the business but the fault of their ignorant, simple minded, hate-filled, inbred, hypocritical customers.

Don't get me wrong, I think religion can be down right beautiful. If you have that peace in your heart and you come from a pure place, then I can honor that. It is when hate and judgment are being thrown at people in God's name. He who is without sin, cast the first stone. If I need saving, I will find you. There is a fucking church on every corner. I don't mean to pick on the Christians because many religions have those holier than thou people who perform atrocities in the name of religion. By the way, what does Hell look like Mr. Fallwell?

So, what can I DO? Well, every week I go through those sections of the bookstore and remove any hate pamphlets I find and pitch them. I also thought about scanning the tracts I found to show you what they looked like, but I thought better of it. However, I think we should write, or call or e-mail these folks and let them know just how much their words mean to us. I even thought about grabbing a whole bunch of subscription cards from gay magazines and feminist magazines and signing them up for subscriptions. (wink, wink)

Those words should be burned and the addresses ... shared with all!:

"If you have decided to trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour after reading this tract, please write and let us know."
Fellowship Tract League
PO Box 164
Lebanon, Ohio 45036
www.fellowshiptractleague.org

"This prayer card answers a request from Our Lady that prayer cards be distributed throughout America so that all might know she has come here and wishes to be known as Our Lady of Light. To honor her request and help to distribute her prayer cards, write to:"
Our Lady of Light Prayer Card
PO Box 176236
Covington, KY 41017
859-331-9393


To all of you tract passers: As Frank Zappa once sang, "Jesus thinks you're a jerk."

**The title of my post comes from an actual book in the Christianity section. Don't believe me? Check it out right here. The title cracks my shit up every time!**