Reviews of Some of the UK's Best and Worst Religious Flyers

Walk through any major city and you'll find someone, somewhere, yacking on about religion. This varies from well-dressed, mild-mannered believers with literature, to sandwich boards bearing apocalyptic messages; stress tests that'll sort your life out and vigils outside abortion clinics, to street preachers shouting about eternal hellfire and Krishna followers banging on drums.

Around a decade ago, freelance London creative Charlie Bowden noticed a flyer touted by a group called Jews for Jesus, and since then has collected the publications as a hobby. Initially put away in drawers, Bowden then employed his professional skills to critique the flyers on a number of points, such as "clarity of message" and "persuasiveness". He posted many online, but has recently put them out as a publication called the Religious Flyer Review, which has been styled to look like a religious text.

I caught up with Charlie to discuss how his hobby evolved into a publication, his experiences with flyerers and whether or not the pamphlets are really just a waste of everyone's time.

VICE: Hi Charlie, how exactly did collecting flyers as a hobby develop into what it's become?
Charlie Bowden: I've always found pseudo-religion and pop philosophy interesting. One day I found a flyer from Jews for Jesus that said, "Have I lost my mind, no, I'm a Jew that believes in Jesus," and just thought it was great. It then turned into one of those things where, because I'd taken notice of this one, I started seeing others everywhere and I started collecting them. I never had an end goal. For the most part I just shoved them in a draw.

And then you started reviewing them.
I'd been collecting them for a long time and had well over a hundred, but no idea of what to do with them. I'd messed around with a few ideas but most of them seemed to get in the way of the actual flyers. I realised that most of the flyers are probably never read and that, although whoever is handing them out thinks they've got something important to say, the message rarely gets out there. So I decided to start reading them and writing reviews – the marks out of ten were an afterthought.

You rank the pamphlets on their aesthetic qualities – do any of them ever strike you on a more visceral level?
Honestly, no. I really try to approach the reviews in an open way, but I've yet to be converted or really feel moved. I actually think from a conversion point of view that the people handing them out stand a better chance than the flyer. I've had some great chats with the people handing them out. That said, I think some flyers do come closer than others. A few just quote from the Bible and I always find them a bit harder to buy into. Others use personal stories and I think they're more likely to win someone over. Call me a cynic or naive, but for years – like a lot of people – I thought if God really existed then why didn't he prove to the world he did and show all the doubters once and for all? I've since found a few flyers that state outright belief in God should be based on faith and not evidence, I'm not saying this convinced me, but I liked the fact they addressed it head on.

What are some of your more memorable encounters with flyerers?
There have been loads. The first one was with someone who told me that, when I asked God to present himself to me, I hadn't done it with an honest heart and so that's why he didn't. That made me laugh; it really reminded me that perhaps I haven't been looking to be converted. Another one was with a group of young Muslims – they were in their early twenties and intent on explaining to me all the physical evidence there was for the existence of a creator. Our chat went on for a long time but it didn't work. I've had so many chats with these people that it's hard to remember them all, but for the most part they're all really friendly and open to debate.

One hostile encounter was with two young Jehovah's Witnesses, I asked if they had any flyers and they were pretty suspicious and not very nice. That said, the best experience was also with Jehovah's Witnesses. Two followers knocked at my door; I had some free time so was happy to chat. We spoke for about an hour, they left me with reading materials and stuff, and I thought that was it. However, the following week I was out and they came back to my house and actually asked for me by name. I loved the fact that I made enough of an impression on them that they wanted to come back.

Do you think there's an overall aesthetic – a look – that Christian flyers fall under?
No, but you can definitely get a sense of where flyers have come from. Some obviously have designers working to create them, while others are basically just MS Word docs. You also get a sense of the budgets, with paper stocks and so on. There's a series of flyers that are great – they break the stories into comic books with illustrations and everything. The best bit is that they're all super sinister and paint the world in a really evil light.

Overall, do you think flyering is a good way to spread a faith's message?
No, I think action is much better, but from my experiences most flyers do come from a pretty genuine place. The people handing them out do believe in their message and want to have a positive impact on you.

Thanks, Charlie.

@finspo

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