[Vision2020] Anti-Catholic Leaflet Stirs Holy War in Tennessee Town

[keely emerinemix]

Thankfully, not a single evangelical I know or have known since about 1973 thinks Jack Chick is anything other than a sad, angry little man who speaks neither for them or for Christ.

Keely
www.keely-prevailingwinds.com




From: deco at moscow.com
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 16:08:37 -0800
Subject: [Vision2020] Anti-Catholic Leaflet Stirs Holy War in Tennessee Town












Anti-Catholic Leaflet Stirs Holy War in Tennessee Town
Friday , March 05, 2010

By Joshua Rhett Miller




ADVERTISEMENT
A Baptist pastor in Tennessee says he now regrets that his church distributed 
an anti-Catholic leaflet that a local Catholic priest decried as “hate 
material."

Pastor Jonathan Hatcher, who leads Conner Heights Baptist Church in Pigeon 
Forge, Tenn., has removed the inflammatory leaflet, “The Death Cookie,” from his 
congregation. He says he will no longer distribute it.

“Looking back, I don’t think it was the right tract to give out,” Hatcher 
told FoxNews.com. “I have some others that wouldn’t have been as offensive. But 
I will continue to spread the gospel — that’s what I’m called by Christ to do. 
I’m still going to hand out tracts, but not ‘The Death Cookie.’”

The illustrated leaflet, distributed since 1988 by California-based Chick 
Publications, features an ominous character with a snake around his neck who 
advises a man that he can control the world by establishing a false religion 
based upon worshipping a cookie. Upon taking the control of the cookie, the man 
becomes the "papa" — a reference to the pope.

“The creation of the wafer god was the greatest religious con job in world 
history,” the leaflet reads. “ 
… This religious weapon is one of the most powerful idols ever created by 
man.”

“It says the devil has made a pact with the pope to take over the world 
through a false god,” Father Jay Flaherty, who heads nearby Holy Cross Catholic 
Church, told FoxNews.com.

Flaherty said the leaflet attacks the Catholic tradition of the Eucharist, or 
communion, and he’s afraid the document could lead to violence in Pigeon Forge, 
a small town of 5,000.

“Basically, what they’re saying is our Eucharist is of the devil, that 
Catholicism is not of the Christian church,” Flaherty said.

Hatcher said the leaflet is an “attractive comic book,” but he acknowledged 
that its message is perhaps a “little too blunt” in its critique of 
Catholicism.

“I don’t believe in attacking somebody’s church,” he said. “I believe they 
have a right to practice what they want, just as I have the right to practice 
what I want.”

Flaherty said he’s concerned that the leaflet could incite a troubled 
neighbor to harm one of his worshippers.

“It’s a very dangerous world we live in,” the priest said. “But you can’t 
argue with ignorance, it’s not worth it.”

Flaherty learned that the material was being circulated when a young 
parishioner brought it into his church last week, after she said she received it 
in high school.

‘She was very upset,” he said. “But I don’t understand the [pamphlet’s] 
reasoning — it has nothing to do with scripture. It’s anti-Catholic; it’s just 
hate material. It has nothing to do with theological discussion. 'You better get 
out and get saved' is basically what it says.”

Pigeon Forge High School Principal Perry Schrandt, who could not be reached 
for comment, told The Mountain Press that school officials do not condone the 
pamphlet.

Flaherty said he had considered contacting authorities about the publication 
and distribution of "The Death Cookie," but he has reconsidered.

“I pray for him,” Flaherty said of Hatcher. “That’s all you can do.”

Jack Chick, publisher of Chick Publications, was not available for comment 
early Friday. According to a biography on the company's Web site, Chick 
has written and published hundreds of illustrated gospel tracts that have been 
read by "hundreds of millions" worldwide.

According to the Web site, Jack Chick first realized in the mid-1970s that 
Roman Catholicism was unscriptural.

"After much prayer," the site reads, "he made the decision that, no matter 
what it cost him personally, he would publish the truth that Roman Catholicism 
is not Christian. He did it because he loves Catholics and wants them to be 
saved through faith in Jesus, not trusting in religious liturgy and 
sacraments."

Other tracts produced by Chick includes materials on Islam, Jehovah's 
Witnesses, Masonry and "Creation/Evolution." The site claims it's not being 
"intolerant," but rather compassionate with its critical literature.

"We are unwilling to lie to them and say that all gods are real, when we know 
this is not true," the site reads. " ... To do anything else would be 
dishonest."

For his part, Hatcher said the leaflet has become a distraction to his 40 or 
so active members. Distributing the pamphlet was intended to “share the 
differences” between Baptists and Catholics, he said.

“Obviously we don’t believe alike, or else we’d be going to the same church,” 
he said. “But people try to make it out like we’re crusaders. I thank God for 
America, because we can all practice what we believe. We don’t spread the gospel 
out of hate; we spread it because we love people.”

Hatcher reiterated that “The Death Cookie” will no longer be available at his 
church. He simply wants the small town controversy to go away.

“It’s like a sore,” he said. “The more you pick at it, the longer it’s going 
to take to heal.”



  Print
  
  
  

 
 Chick Publications
Pastor Jonathan Hatcher, of Conner Heights 
Baptist Church, says the leaflet will no longer be available at his 
church.
 
 		 	   		  
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