Anne Rice Quits Christianity

Which just proves to me she never _was_ a Christian, in any depth or breadth. 90% of what she lists isn’t even part of the faith, for or against, the other 10% is primarily focused on what you do, yourself, not what others do.

It’s a shame so many otherwise intelligent people just don’t “get it”.

that’s what keeps me paying attention. the Vermont transplant declaring that “suburban republicans are the worst people in the world” is helped up to the communion table by the head of the Republican Women’s committee. And they embrace after communion.

She couldn’t let go of her real religion– PC.

[...] to Christianity.  It seems, however, she couldn’t let go of her real religion– PC.  Andrew Klavan responds to her public show of apostasy: Spanking porn author Anne Rice has announced on Facebook [...]

I’m not sure what happened.
Could be she didn’t really try. Could be that she was overwhelmed by (well meaning) church-goers with all kinds of rules that she needed to follow. Or maybe it was just too inconvenient…who knows? Any number of things can cause one to give up on Jesus.
But the fact remains that, at one point, her way of life wasn’t getting the job done in granting her peace. So she tried Christianity (more likely religion) and found it wanting too. And I don’t blame her.
Religion and rule-keeping cannot deliver us, relationship with Christ is what delivers us from darkness.
The better news is that, as long as she is on this side of the grave…? Then there is still a chance.

It’s the height of irony, isn’ it? That she asserts a broadstroke edict that conservative Christians (both Dem & Republican) are too bigoted and judgmental to associate with.

But I think that we need not be as immature in the faith as she apparently is. God willing, she will wade deeper into the waters of God’s love and find her eyes close enough to see her own unattractive reflection in the bath water… just as I have.

That she isn’t mature in the faith doesn’t mean she lacks a real, sincere faith in Jesus. But it may take time for her to realize that she too makes bath water wherever she goes. And at least she hasn’t chucked the Baby. May God bless her with eyes to see….

[...] http://www.andrewklavan.com/2010/08/04/anne-rice-quits-christianity/ Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Novelist Anne Rice says she’s leaving ChristianityFeed Your Brain / Rot Your Brain [...]

Good reason to go to church, Andrew. But the Lord didn’t say “don’t judge”, he said don’t judge unrighteously. Everyone has to make some kind of judgement (who to marry, where to work, etc). When you leave Christianity (as Sister Rice has) you wave your blockage of being judgmental.

Does anybody care what a hasbeen vampire writer chooses to embrace or reject? Reading one of her books was like tiptoeing through spoiled molasses, so who misses it?

It should be obvious to everyone that what she’s renouncing is not the heroic figure that is Christ but organized religion and the Christian Right who are responsible for so much of America’s divisive politics.

But isn’t all christianity, if followed to the letter of the bible, on the right of society? I find that those on the “left” are significantly more divisive than those on the “right”.

How sad. Partaking in the life of Christ entails being in a relationship, first and foremost, with the God who created us and fiercely loves us. The heart of the atonement is a reconciled relationship. It seems that Ms. Rice went to church but never experienced this – what a tragedy.

Gosh, Jack, thanks for that. By the way, is it only the Christian right that is responsible for divisive politics? What about the liberal left? Have you actually read some of the hate filled spew posted on Moveon.org?

This is truly Western narcissism that is so rampant in what we commonly call Christianity. Ms. Rice won’t believe in something that doesn’t conform to what St. Irenaeus called the “prepossessions of their hearts.” That is, what “Christianity” is to Ms. Rice has to conform to what she chooses to believe first, instead of recognizing the set beliefs that comprise Christianity (faith delivered once for all to the saints – Jude 3) and accepting them. To do this would be to crush her radical individualism and harm her “thinking for herself.” Her egocentrism, the spiritual/intellectual manifestation of human vanity/arrogance, won’t allow her to look at what she so desperately *wants* to believe and say – “That’s wrong, and I have to abandon it.”

Yes, we judge. We all do, it is a constant. And members of the Body of Christ, the Church – Christians – are called to judge, especially themselves and their own behavior and beliefs. We do not judge anyone’s eternal state, but we must judge behaviors and beliefs. Otherwise, there would be no reason to be a Christian in the first place.

the sinner,

Patrick

Why the snide remarks about leaving the faith? Why not pray for her? Perhaps one day she will return as did the prodigal son did and the Father will rejoice.

@fat albert-
Another odd thing I’ve noticed in Conservative thinking lately is that you have to be tolerant of intolerance otherwise your hateful too. In other words if you stand against those that discriminate against a group of people like say(and since we are talking about Christianity and the Church) homosexuals, you are in Conservative minds worse than the bigots themselves. This is moral relativity taken to it’s extreme which is odd in and of itself since the right is always accusing the left of exercising too much moral relativity and have little conception of right and wrong. I guess it’s ok as long as it works for them.

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” – GK Chesterton

If God asks, I’ll tell Him that Rice just stepped out for a bite.

While I have not read any of her vampire stories or the books that Andrew references above, I did read the two novels published to date from her ‘Christ the Lord’ trilogy and I found them to be extraordinary. She has mad skills as a story teller and it seemed to me that she really worked hard to research the history of Jesus in writing them.

Is this really what Christianity is all about, anti-everything? This sounds like the anti-liberal-left-progressive political and cultural agenda. If that’s what Christianity is about, sign me up!

I sort of figured that she was rejecting the identity rather than the faith on account of all the “guilt by association” that she was having to endure.

I tend to have the opposite reaction to people who try to portray Christianity as anti-everything and fundamentalists as loonies. The characterization is so unfair, even of actual fundamentalists, that I tend to say “Yeah, I am, what of it?” and let people think that I’m far more conservative about those things than I really am.

And bottom line, I’m amazed by the grace involved in the fact that God doesn’t reject us when we represent Him badly. Praise His name.

Take out religion. Take out common sense. Gay lifestlye is distructive. Gays die younger, suffer more sickness, and the human rights she talks about is political, not sensical.

It’s as simple as the fact that she is getting on in years, is a widow with diabetes, and the only person she has in the world is her homosexual son, who she loves dearly.

Her son is not denied the altar for communion in the Catholic church, but the church does refuse to sanctify same-sex couples in the sacrament of marriage.

I suppose this is where she gets the “anti-gay” stuff.

Now, in light of the new CA decision about gay marriage, I have always wondered…doesn’t this discriminate against bisexual marriage? Now bisexuals can’t get married to their respective “partners,” which would be a threesome, or maybe even a foursome to be really fair. Just wondering.

I noticed incredible venom when I happened to read a story about Rick Warren having some sort of accident. I was amazed by the number of scripture quoters who were screaming about his status as a false profit . The hostility mixed with scripture aimed at Warren shocked me. I have seen the guy, read some of his book and generally find him pleasant enough. I just wanted to know what happened to his eyes.
I thought the Christians who did not think Warren was Christian enough were bizarrely hostile so I went to look for the atheist take so I jumped to CNN and the Huffington Post to see their comments on the Warren accident. Frankly they were very vile as well. They seemed to take pleasure in his accident because he was too Christian. I could not tell the difference from some of the Christians and the atheists in terms of tone. I can make a case for atheists being demonically influenced but Christians who are supposed to know the Creator, the ultimate good , the source, also seemed so petty and filled with anger it just did not seem right and certainly not attractive.
The point of my tale is despite differences in beliefs it seems that if someone is quoting scripture and touting their Christian bona fides maybe a bit of a reflection on how one portrays oneself in terms of tone might do better than beating someone over the head with passages and a hostile “I know more than you attitude”. Only God can give the gift of faith. If someone is shaky or hostile toward faith maybe trusting in God’s plan for them might do more than insults. It isn’t easy to rise above petty humanness but maybe practicing faith rather than telling someone about it will work best.

I commented earlier, and then went about my day. And the question cropped up- where on earth does she worship? I thought she worshipped at the cathedral on Jackson Square in New Orleans. That cathedral, at least when I lived there, offered 4 (6?) services each day of the week, or was it four on weekdays, and several on Sundays. In any case, the early morning service- on the front row was the usual babushkas, and in the middle were all the people, and probably more than she imagined, that she is convinced don’t attend her church. That is, gay people still in leather gear and stinking of drugs, homeless people, drag queens in full drag, bar workers giving off alcohol fumes….there’s at least one priest in the quarter who would bless the tools of your trade- up to and including high heels for strippers- there’s at least one church where the lector fairly visibly was ravaged by AIDS- visible Kaposi’s sarcomas- when he went to the hospice, people in the church brought communion to him- so I’m a bit vague about which church she’s upset about. Maybe it was the time of service? The midday service was for uptownies and well-to-do. Maybe she’s uncomfortable there. She is of Irish background, and that gets looked down on in New Orleans.

I know that the divine listens with grace and forgiveness to all of our griefs, so I am hoping and praying that the Holy Spirit hears her beyond her pain, and calls her God’s own child.

@ Jack August 4, 2010 at 11:57 am

” It should be obvious to everyone that what she’s renouncing is not the heroic figure that is Christ but organized religion and the Christian Right who are responsible for so much of America’s divisive politics.”

I am sure you don’t know the slightest thing about this “heroic figure that is Christ”. Did you know He’s against gay marriage? No way! He’s against murdering babies. Get out! He’s against everything that Obama and his ilk stand for.

Do you still think He is “heroic”?

As for this accusation that it is the Christian Right responsible for divisive politics, prove it.

Not all who state they are Christian are- unless, you believe and know Jesus Christ as Savior and realize that you are a sinner needing salvation. When one becomes a Christian it is not some little trophy to put upon your shelf and say “Oh, I tried that”. Christianity is a relationship with Jesus Christ who is God- He does not care one iota about what one has done or what they “think or say”. He is to be revered and glorified, not patronized or fit the whims of man. Man is arrogant and proud and destined for destruction- Christ came and DIED on the cross to save humanity from death. Who has ever accomplished that? Obviously, it was too hard for Anne Rice to give her life to Him and in Him is true freedom.

There is no one more ‘tolerant’ than Jesus Christ. I don’t know how He puts up with us. He asks so little in return for His grace, and we whine and complain, and treat Him like some hippie self-help guru whose only there for our own personal fulfillment and aggrandizement. And when He tells us, ‘Look, I know how you feel – but I want you to respect Me. I want you to love me and trust my word, not in your own limited understanding.” We reply with excuses, platitudes and tantrums. I guess to JC, we’re all liberals.

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ironic and tragic . ironic , as most liberals are highly judgemental and ferociously critical . tragic in that IF she is truly renouncing christianity , there is no return . OH WELL. its a free country and Worshipping God is free choice as well . think it over Anne and enjoy life HERE while you can .

” Another odd thing I’ve noticed in Conservative thinking lately is that you have to be tolerant of intolerance otherwise your hateful too. In other words if you stand against those that discriminate against a group of people like say(and since we are talking about Christianity and the Church) homosexuals, you are in Conservative minds worse than the bigots themselves. This is moral relativity taken to it’s extreme which is odd in and of itself since the right is always accusing the left of exercising too much moral relativity and have little conception of right and wrong. I guess it’s ok as long as it works for them. ”

Actually jack you are the one whom is exercising moral relativism. It’s the divisive left that is making this a huge issue. Some conservatives are only using the tactics of the left (this) and for that I am sorry. Anyhow Christianity opposes adultery, pedophilia, extra marital sex, homosexuality, etc. Jesus Christ never said to not judge. He said not to judge without righteousness.

” In other words if you stand against those that discriminate against a group of people like say(and since we are talking about Christianity and the Church) homosexuals, you are in Conservative minds worse than the bigots themselves. ”

This only demonstrates flawed thinking. Are you saying that because I accept that marriage is only between a man and a woman that I am a bigot? You are also infected by liberal thought. That is why I stated that you are using the concept of liberal autonomy and indiscrimination/’tolerance’.

Mr. Klaven, could not agree more. I’m the web master for our Church’s web site and got into a slight kerfuffle with the Peace and Justice committee. They were holding a fund raiser for the farmers of “Palestine.”

I explained that in no way would I allow the web site to be used for political purposes. We can disagree and debate 167 hours a week.

But for that one hour on Sunday, when we all come together, politics stays out of it.

If we can agree on that one hour at Church, then we can agree on other things. But for that one hour, no politics. Period.

All one can do is Ppray for the fallen away.

I’ll leave the final words to G. K. Chesterton: “Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.”

Anne Rice was a Christian when?

When I listened to her testimony, I still did not see her coming from a place of repentance, but more of how it served herself. One can’t make the “cross of Christ crucified” all about us, though it was the greatest act of sacrifice by a Loving God, to reconcile man to him, it is all about God, as it should be. The thing that puzzles me is that God who sent his son to die for a self-centered and prideful world, isn’t that enough? I pray for Ann, may she humble herself one day at the foot of the cross–as we all must do.

Anne Rice is fairly typical of much of today’s populace in their search for meaning for their life. And, she is not untypical of most who look for a God or belief system that supports their personal desires and/or worldview. It’s a human thing.

She, like many others wants to pick and choose those dogmas of the Christian faith that support those personal desires. Its called tailoring God to validate my personal wants.”

If for the sake of discussion we divorce ourselves entirely from the proposition that Christ really was the Son of God, man and God married together in some supernatural union beyond our comprehension, and just consider what He said as the mutterings of an exceptional individual, Rice still faces the same dilemma. It’s picky choosey time and her God emerges no bigger than her own set of personal beliefs that work for her.

I always find it humorous when individuals tailor God to meet their wants rather than accepting the whole personage of Christ as presented in the NT. (The most tolerant and yet intolerant person who ever walked the earth)

In the end, it’s still between her and God, if God is really there. And, if a God is there, it won’t be the one that any of us designed.

…… and gates to the City are never closed… and the Lamb and the Bride say , “Come, Come”……. Final Chapters of Book of Revelation.

I’m not sure what this lady’s definition of “Christian” is.

In fact, Christianity is not a matter of our definitions, at all.

In a world of subjective realities and ready-to-wear (and discard)
“identities,” Christianity stands out as something which is objective
and consistently describable: something real.

A Christian is a person who has had a life-changing encounter
with Jesus Christ which has made him (or her) turn away from the
world mand its values to desire and uphold the values of the Kingdom
of God.

Accordingly, there is o such thing as a “Christian pornographer” any more than there is such a thing as a Hindu steakhouse or a kosher
pork-roast.

No-one can come near Jesus without having been affected by Him.
Miss Rice was apparently sufficiently affected to have wanted to
“hang out” with Him, but was not yet ready to let Him change her
life.

That doesn’t mean it’s too late. While we are living in time, it is never
too late until we have run out of it. Christ welcomes–and welcomes
back–all who come to Him. We need to pray for This lady, that she
will not ignore or try to subdue the Voice that will continue to invite
her.

I am not happy that she is not embracing Christianity.  She will go to hell when she dies.  However, if she is definitely not a Christian, I am glad she has made it public. I never thought she was one anyway.  We are told in the Bible that we will know them by their fruit. Matthew 7:20.  I thought she was a terrible witness.

She just one of many people pointing out the biggest problem society has, it continues to allow archaic beliefs in the divine allow for people to have an excuse to be bad people.  There is nothing wrong with deciding to believe in anything, when you allow your belief to give you an excuse for intolerance and hatred that belief becomes a threat to society.

For choosing not to stand for what Christianity today really is, and for being intelligent enough to realize what  it has become is truly dangerous I applaud her.

To any who feel it a bad idea to turn away from archaic beliefs in the paranormal, let me pose this:  If she had before believed in the possibility of vampires being real, and decided not to because the others who are in the same group stand for very dangerous practices, would you still feel this was a bad decision?  You have no more proof of your god even being a tangible, real being than of the belief in vampires.

If the rest of the world saw that Christianity has become an excuse for people to be evil, I think with open minds, and real wisdom we would have a lot less Christians, and a lot more sanity in the world.