Anne Rice Quits Christianity But Not Christ

[Neon Genesis]

I thought this might be of interest to you guys here if anyone here is a fan of Anne Rice: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/authors/anne_rice_i_quit_christianity_169196.asp?c=rss

In a dramatic series of Facebook posts, novelist Anne Rice declared that she is no longer a Christian.

 

Check it out: "I quit being a Christian. I'm out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of ... Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen."

 

Rice wrote Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession, a memoir about her own conversion to Christianity--making the post a bit more surprising. UPDATE: Our readers respond to Rice's post.

 

In another post, Rice also admitted, "I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being 'Christian' or to being part of Christianity." So far, her posts have drawn nearly 2,000 comments and well over 3,000 "likes." (Via Gawker)

[soma]

I thought this might be of interest to you guys here if anyone here is a fan of Anne Rice: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/authors/anne_rice_i_quit_christianity_169196.asp?c=rss

 

I am not a fan of Anne Rice, but I read the article somewhere else, I think, it was on Huffington Post. I left a comment that I was impressed with her comments, strength and spiritual guidance. I feel she is listening and following her spirit.

[Marsha]

I really understood where she was coming from on the "anti-gay" "anti-women" issues. I was shocked to learn that she had gone back into the Catholic Church..but, not really surprised to hear that she had left again.

 

I used to be a big Anne Rice fan, in the day. Loved her Vampire Chronicles.

 

I also read her first Jesus book, "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt". In typical Anne Rice style, it was quite good.

[Guest billmc]

I used to be a big Anne Rice fan, in the day. Loved her Vampire Chronicles.

 

Yep, I'm a big fan also. Twilight is nothing compared to classic Rice. "Lestat" was my favorite.

 

I also read her first Jesus book, "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt". In typical Anne Rice style, it was quite good.

 

I haven't read that one...yet.

 

I so wish it were possible for our culture and for our churches to separate following Jesus from Christianity. IMO, they are almost two completely different things. Jesus was none of the things that Rice feels characterizes Christianity.

[Marsha]

Yep, I'm a big fan also. Twilight is nothing compared to classic Rice. "Lestat" was my favorite.

 

Yep, Lestat was great, but my all time favorite was "Interview with a Vampire". Hard to beat that one. I haven't read any of the Twilight series, but my 15 year old granddaughter read them all, and enjoyed them very much. From her description, it sounded like they were written for teenagers, mostly. Didn't sound interesting to me.

 

 

 

I haven't read that one...yet.

 

I so wish it were possible for our culture and for our churches to separate following Jesus from Christianity. IMO, they are almost two completely different things. Jesus was none of the things that Rice feels characterizes Christianity.

 

That just sounds so....foreign...to what I am used to hearing about Christianity. I don't mean that in a negative way, at all. It's very intriguing. I am still having a difficult time wrapping my brain around the idea of separating Jesus from Christianity. But, I sure do agree with you that Christianity (shouldn't be, in my opinion) characterized by "anti-gay", "anti-feminist" sentiments. I have always been very liberal-minded, so this step back into fundamentalist Christianity has been a real struggle for me. I had been away for along time and I didn't realize there were so many different factions. I thought fundamentalism was (basically) IT...as far as being "real" Christianity, anyway. So happy to have come across the "new way" to define and follow Jesus. Really happy.

[Guest billmc]

Anne also has this to say (from her website):

 

My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn't understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me. But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been, or might become.

 

and:

 

I quit Christianity in the name of Christ on this page so that I could tell my readers I was not complicit in the things that organized religion does. I never dreamed others would be so interested, or that they would feel the need to talk about their own religious struggles. But they do. And the public conversation on... this is huge, and I think important.

 

Obviously, there are alot of readers, probably many Christians, who agree with Anne's views. On one hand, it would be nice to be able to offer those readers a place where they could meet up and discuss their journeys and their faith. But, on the other hand, attempts to organize such a thing would probably fall right into the trap of "organized religion" that Anne (and many others) detest.

[Marsha]

Thanks for the link, Bill. That's very interesting. Her new book looks kind of interesting, as well.

 

Again, I can really relate to where she's coming from. Especially the anti-gay, anti-feminism, anti-this and that attitudes of mainstream Christianity. I don't want to be "complicit" in those things, either....so, in that sense I do understand the disconnect between Christianity and Jesus.

[Marsha]

If I can figure out how to post this video, here is further explanation from Anne Rice on why she needed to leave Christianity.

 

Guess I will just post the link. It's a pretty interesting interview.

 

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/showbiz/2010/08/04/behar.anne.rice.christian.hln

[rivanna]

Hi Marsha,

 

thanks for the link.

 

On the one hand, I admire Rice’s honesty and courage in refusing to be “anti-gay, anti feminist, anti birth control, anti science, anti secular humanist, anit Democrat,” etc. Though she recognizes there are more liberal church communities available, she needs to distance herself from the “public fray.” To me, she hasn’t really “quit being a Christian” but is simply choosing to follow Christ in a more private sphere.

 

On the other hand - it is sad and misleading that the word Christianity is identified with the most repressive elements of the Catholic and fundamentalist mindset. This ties in with the current article by Fred Plumer (in the main tcpc site) on the reasons why we need the term progressive Christianity.

[Marsha]

Hi Marsha,

 

thanks for the link.

 

On the one hand, I admire Rice’s honesty and courage in refusing to be “anti-gay, anti feminist, anti birth control, anti science, anti secular humanist, anit Democrat,” etc. Though she recognizes there are more liberal church communities available, she needs to distance herself from the “public fray.” To me, she hasn’t really “quit being a Christian” but is simply choosing to follow Christ in a more private sphere.

 

On the other hand - it is sad and misleading that the word Christianity is identified with the most repressive elements of the Catholic and fundamentalist mindset. This ties in with the current article by Fred Plumer (in the main tcpc site) on the reasons why we need the term progressive Christianity.

 

Yes, I agree that is sad, and it's true that the negatives are what most people seem to associate with the word "Christian". Hope that will change one of these days soon...