Says Jeff Trexler:

Back in 1990, when I was researching my Ph.D. dissertation in religious history, I found a Christian tract featuring Bart Simpson as the sinner and Homer as the angry God. Simpsons counterfeit merchandise was ubiquitous. I sent it to Matt Groening and jokingly argued, since a Christian wouldn’t steal someone else’s intellectual property or falsely claim to have licensed it, that Groening must have plagiarized the Simpsons from the tract. As you can see, he copped to the charge but corrected the theology.

Transcript follows. Many thanks to Jeff for allowing me to feature his letter.

Transcript

THE SIMPSONS

JEFF TREXLER

409 PROSPECT ST.

NEW HAVEN, CT 06511

4-18-1991

DEAR JEFF,

IN ANSWER TO YOUR LETTER OF 7-6-1990, YES, THE SIMPSONS WERE STOLEN FROM THE HEALING STREAM DELIVERANCE CHURCH, AND NO, HOMER IS NOT GOD.

KRUSTY THE CLOWN IS GOD.

I HOPE THIS INFORMATION GIVES YOU SOME PEACE OF MIND.

BEST WISHES,

(Signed, ‘Matt Groening’)