Anne Rice is ditching Christianity.
The best-selling author of Interview With A Vampire, left Catholicism at the age of 18 and went on to marry a “passionate atheist.” After many years of soul searching she returned to her faith, stating in 2002, “I made up my mind that I would not write anything that wasn’t for Christ.” She then proceeded to write a slew of faith based books such as Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, and Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession.
But now she says she’s done with Christianity.
For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.
Those are some strong words, but don’t think I haven’t thought them myself. Some time ago I got on this kick of saying I’m a Christ-Follower, trying to ditch the word Christianity myself—it’s actually still on the small bio you see over on the right—and as recently as March of this year I was editing a really long blog post that still sits in my que titled “Rethinking Church”. I’ve never been able to pull the trigger on that one though. It’s simply a little too rabble rousing for me at this point in my life. I actually hope to get that post out one of these days. I’ve put a lot of time and thinking into it, and it’s sort of why I’m trying to get back into this forum.
All that to say that I empathize with her position. The global church, at least for me, has become a place of extremism and divisiveness. It’s politicized up the ying yang. We even have to make jokes about being a liberal just to stay sane. There’s back stabbing and power struggles, not to mention that when things don’t go our way we just move to another church. Where’s the community in that? To be brutally honest, I’ve been saying for awhile now that if the current church I attend ever ceases to be, my family and I are done with the corporate church structure. I’m not saying that I’d be done with “church” or God. We’d simply be a part of a small group or house church.
Anne has since followed up her statement with a few clarifications, the latest of which I find comfort in:
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.
I have so many questions myself involving church, religion, and God, but my faith has never wavered. Like Anne I have troubles with the group identified as Christians (of which I am one—as is she), but unlike Anne I think it will, and must, always include community. We simply can’t do this alone, nor should we. I just hope that one of these days our group will have a better reputation than it does now.
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. —Mohandas Gandhi
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