Yesterday I got back from a Blues festival and was feeling pretty good, pretty good that is until I decided to read a little tract that some people were handing out to the joyful crowd. I saw the cross on the cover page with the phrase “God Loves You” so I knew it was a religious tract of some kind before I stuck it into my pocket, but it wasn’t until I got home and really looked at it that I noticed just how utterly offensive this tract really is.
Hear is a scan of the inside page:
http://www.strike9.com/file.aspx?path=%2ffreeman%2ffullsize%2ftract.jpg
The first tip off that something is wrong is found the opening line “Please do not resent us for giving you this tract.”
Why does a religious tract need a disclaimer, why does it need a warning label?
Next they say that they love my soul? Just my soul? What about the rest of me?
And then comes the bad news… If you’re not with us pal, you burn. Oh boy, just what I need, death threats, or more precisely, eternal torture threats! The back of the track is stamped with the name and address of the church associated with this uplifting message, just in case you wanted to join. Oh yes the church just happens to be “Assembly Of God”, and it's printed by the "Fellowship Tract League"
You know it’s not that I don’t appreciate that they love my soul and all, but somehow that message of you better be on our team or else seems rather reminiscent of a group that I really would like to forget about. I think I’m leaning more towards taking my chances on burning rather then joining at this time.
You know it’s kind of sad, sick, and funny at the same time when I think about it. The Blues festival made me feel happy and the Good News contained in this little tract gave me the blues.