11AR16-23

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Apologia Report 16:23 (1,073)

July 2, 2011

Subject: The Gospel According to Jack Chick, 'God's Cartoonist'

In this issue:

CHICK PUBLICATIONS - 50th anniversary for the purveyor of viral conspiracies and ill-advised agent for questionable authors

DIVORCE - giving credit to the "breathtakingly egocentric" parents of today's culture

ORIGINS - the controversy involving Frank Beckwith and Synthese journal

SEXUAL IMMORALITY - are girls limited to faulty bait-and-switch options until "culture changes its taboo"?

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PCHICK PUBLICATIONS

"The Gospel According to 'God's Cartoonist'" by Troy Anderson -- described as "a pop-culture icon" and "notoriously reclusive," 85-year-old Jack T. Chick is declared "the world's most published living author." This brief item announces Chick Publications' 50th anniversary this month. Since he founded the company, Chick "has shipped nearly 800 million of his controversial tracts, comics and books. That puts him third on the list of the world's best-selling fiction authors - just behind William Shakespeare and Agatha Christie." Further, "Chick Publications Vice President George A. Collins ... estimates a billion people have read the tracts.

"Available in up to 100 languages, the tracts have played important roles in the explosive growth of Christianity in Asia, Africa and South America, experts say."

As for controversy, Anderson cites a "tempest of protest [which] began after Chick published a six-part, full-size comic series based on information provided by [self-proclaimed] ex-Jesuit priest Alberto R. Rivera. In the series, Rivera made allegations about the Jesuits, claiming the powerful group 'advised kings and toppled governments' and undermined Protestant churches." (All of which is quite tame in contrast to controversies which came later surrounding Alberto's wild conspiratorial claims and subsequent credibility gaps.) Charisma, Jun '11, p24.

See the Apologia AR-chive <www.j.mp/ar-chive> for more detail on Chick and his influence.

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DIVORCE

In Spite of Everything: A Memoir of Divorce, My Messed-Up Childhood, and the Fight to Make Everything Right, by Susan Gregory Thomas [1] -- "Former US News & World Report senior editor Thomas ... examines the zeitgeist of her generation in this compelling memoir.

"'For most of my generation - Generation X - there is only one question,' she writes. "When did your parents get divorced?" The author castigates the self-absorption of her own parents, who even before the dissolution of their marriage neglected her and her younger brother, virtually abandoning them to the care of live-in babysitters. 'One of the things I have always despised so intensely about Boomers and their divorces was how breathtakingly egocentric they were,' she writes. 'They were so eager to trade in their children's very sense of safety in the world for access to an unfettered sex life and a sense of "personal fulfillment."' The author blames her parents for her adolescent slide into a punk-rock subculture. At 19, she pulled herself together, enrolled in college and became a workaholic in pursuit of a career in journalism. She met Cal, her husband-to-be, at her first full-time job at a computer magazine. They lived together for six years, then married and had two children - divorcing in 2007 to her intense dismay. Until the birth of her children, she was bedeviled by an inner sense of worthlessness and depended upon her husband for emotional support. Their married life was built upon their devotion to their children - she scaled down her career, and they both worked from home - but as a couple they drew further apart. Thomas chronicles how, despite her critical view of consumer culture, they became enmeshed in home ownership and what she describes as nest-building. Major events such as 9/11 are only touched on as they impinge on her family and providing a secure environment for children.

"The author sheds light on an unresolved, multigenerational crisis in American family life, typified by the divorce rates." Kirkus, May #2 '11.

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ORIGINS

"Debate Over Intelligent Design Ensnares a Journal" By Mark Oppenheimer -- "This story began in March 2009, when a special issue of Synthese was published online, titled 'Evolution and Its Rivals' [www.bit.ly/kpGq2J]. It was guest-edited by Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education, and James H. Fetzer, a former editor of the journal. They included an essay by Barbara Forrest, of Southeastern Louisiana University, condemning the work of the philosopher Francis J. Beckwith, who believes it is constitutionally permissible, although not advisable, to teach intelligent design in public schools.

"But Dr. Beckwith says he is no ally of the intelligent design movement, whose mainly Christian proponents argue that certain features of the universe are best explained by a 'designer,' perhaps a god or deity, rather than by natural selection or other scientific theories. ...

"In language some would later criticize as unfit for a scholarly journal, Dr. Forrest also questioned Dr. Beckwith's qualifications, writing that he takes positions on church/state issues but has 'no formal credentials as a constitutional scholar.' She suggested connections between Dr. Beckwith and intelligent design theorists and the marginal, far-right Christian Reconstructionists, who believe that a theocracy under Old Testament law is the best form of government.

"In January, two years after the Synthese issue went online, the print version finally appeared - containing an addition, an unusual statement from the journal's main editors (not the guest editors). In it, they commented on the tone of the issue, a move that appeared to undermine Dr. Forrest and the guest editors who had solicited her piece. ...

"Last month, the philosopher Brian Leiter published on his blog a letter from Mr. Branch and Dr. Fetzer, the guest editors, who angrily wrote that they had not been consulted about the unusual statement in the print edition. ...

"Dr. Leiter titled his blog post 'Synthese Editors Cave in to Pressure from the Intelligent Design Lobby: Philosophers Should Boycott Synthese' [www.bit.ly/dYEMe4]. The next week he linked to a petition [www.bit.ly/kUsMPT] demanding that Synthese's editors 'disclose the nature of complaints and/or legal threats from Francis Beckwith, his supporters, and supporters of intelligent design' that they received after publishing the special issue. ...

"The dispute has titillated bloggers on both sides of the issue, in the Christian, secular humanist and academic camps." New York Times, May 13 '11, <www.nyti.ms/jiSQgf>

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SEXUAL IMMORALITY

Dirty Little Secrets: Breaking the Silence on Teenage Girls and Promiscuity, by Kerry Cohen [2] -- "Psychotherapist Cohen defines 'loose girls' as female teens who find self-worth only through the attentions of boys, and who pursue self-destructive and promiscuous behavior. Cohen, who wrote candidly of her own history in her memoir (Loose Girl [3]), now seeks to identify the loose girl experience and help girls gain power over their own lives. The author weaves stories of loose girls throughout the text, culling anecdotes from 75 American volunteers who e-mailed her after reading her memoir (to her credit, she admits that this is 'not by any stretch of the imagination' a scientific study). The girls' stories, however, lead her to conclude that they all share in common a 'dirty little secret' - the yearning to be needed. Cohen faults mainstream culture for giving girls limited options (virgin, slut, empowered girl) and promoting the message that young females should appear sexy without desiring sex. It is the culture itself, Cohen argues, that requires change, but until that happens (unlikely, especially with the added influence of the Internet and cellphones), she urges parents to help their girls find worth in activities other than the pursuit of boys, such as sports, academics, or the arts. Cohen also debunks abstinence-only programs, which, she asserts, compound the erroneous message that girls themselves are to be blamed and shamed for their natural sexual feeling." Publishers Weekly, May '11.

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - In Spite of Everything: A Memoir of Divorce, My Messed-Up Childhood, and the Fight to Make Everything Right, by Susan Gregory Thomas (Random House, 2011, hardcover, 240 pages) <www.amzn.to/m49kt9>

2 - Dirty Little Secrets: Breaking the Silence on Teenage Girls and Promiscuity, by Kerry Cohen (Sourcebooks, September 2011, paperback, 256 pages) <www.amzn.to/maBZWw>

3 - Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity, by Kerry Cohen (Hyperion, 2009, paperback, 240 pages) <www.amzn.to/kFG7Ve>

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