For those of you who don't know, Anne Rice, author of "Interview with a Vampire" and many other books, announced on her Facebook page last week that she is "leaving Christianity". Here are her words:
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.
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.
And here is a link to an interview she did with the LA Times after she posted her announcement. Please note that she said she is leaving "Christianity"... not Christ.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beliefs-anne-rice-20100807,0,5152082.story
I'm curious as to how you all feel about this. I have been intrigued by this ever since I heard about it and would like to start some discussion about it. Ready, set, go....
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I am glad you posted this....I have been thinking lots about it since hearing it. I am certainly living in a season of taking EVERYTHING out of the pretty boxes I have placed them in....words....words like "Christian", "church", "faith", etc. She bring up a great point with all the use of "anti___"-was Jesus "anti" anything other than anti-hate? If Jesus IS love and his message was all encompassing of LOVE then when did 'we' become so "anti"?
ReplyDeleteHow do you 'love your neighbor' if your only neighbors are those just like you? If you never leave the bubble?
Anne Rice's statements are a challenge to each of us. We can't be supportive of humanism, gay lifestyles, etc., but when did we lose our compassion for those who don't have the Spirit within them to discern truth? We're to be light to them, not judges and yet Ms. Rice, in her Christian infancy, may have encountered judging Christians instead of brothers and sisters wrought up with grief, concern, and compassion for every one of God's creations. Love demands more of us, yes? Thanks for sharing that news with us Melissa. Let's pray for Anne Rice and ourselves to be Christ-led only...xo
ReplyDeleteI'll try as best I can to articulate how I feel about this.
ReplyDeleteChrist left us 2 commandments: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself." That's it. Everything we do should fit into those two categories. But when we exclude, denounce and label, we are not loving our neighbor...nor God.
I believe that God created us to be in community with Him and each other. But when being in community with other Christians means compromising those commands to love, then our relationship with God trumps the communal relationship with Christians. I believe Rice is merely saying that if being a Christian means she must exclude and judge those who don't believe what she believes, then she is no longer going to associate herself with the label "Christian". I think she is a very courageous person for standing against the hate and discord that Christ came to abolish. In another interview she gave on CNN, she said, "I want to be a follower of Christ, not a follower of His followers." Wow. I love that.
I do think it's necessary for believers to find like-minded followers to commune with. I shudder to think of where I would be if I had not found this group. There is something about our discussions, our acceptance of where people are, and our coming together to break bread that is so holy. But unfortunately, I think what we have is very rare nowadays. I'd like to think that if Rice had something like our group, she would have had a different perspective.
This brings me to my last thought...it is our responsibility as followers of Christ to LOVE. Period. Even if that means loving someone who doesn't fit into our pretty little box. We need to remember that there are no prerequisites to accepting God's forgiveness. Remember Manning's words: "Forgiveness precedes repentance." It's no wonder the world sees Christians as hateful and divisive. When we deny homosexuals the right to serve in the military or the right to get married, we are telling them they are less than us. Which couldn't be further from the Truth. Why would they want to have what we have when we tell them you must do A, B, C to be a Christ-follower??
I don't mean to start a political debate. It's just one example of the "us vs. them" mentality that we as Christians have created. In God's eyes, there is no us and them. But it's this mentality that causes believers like Rice to abandon the fold. I pray we can rise above this. We are made of better stuff than this.
"How do you 'love your neighbor' if your only neighbors are those just like you?"
ReplyDeleteI like the question you pose here, Jennifer, because I believe it all comes back to transparency and authenticity.
I can empathize in so many ways with Rice. I have said before that I have a love/hate (of course, hate is probably too strong of a word here) relationship with Christians. So many well-intentioned Christians do not actually believe we are just like our neighbors. So many believers forget that we/me/I am NOT the actual light who must show others a better way. This presentation always turns into a better than, self-righteous, reach-the-mountain-top, hierarchical facade. That Light is Christ, not me. I am the transparent, authentic one where His Light will shine through. I am not the One showing others a better way. I am not the One who has reached the mountaintop. I am to be clear, transparent, real, authentic so that HIS LIGHT WILL SHINE THROUGH ME. And this results in others seeing humility, approachability, and most of all, love.
GREAT, AWESOME DISCUSSION! I LOVE IT!!!!
Don't you all remember that awesome discussion we had about what transparency really is? I remember it so vividly...I think so much changed in my heart that night.
In my inbox this AM:
ReplyDeleteBeing Living Signs of Love
Jesus' whole life was a witness to his Father's love, and Jesus calls his followers to carry on that witness in his Name. We, as followers of Jesus, are sent into this world to be visible signs of God's unconditional love. Thus we are not first of all judged by what we say but by what we live. When people say of us: "See how they love one another," they catch a glimpse of the Kingdom of God that Jesus announced and are drawn to it as by a magnet.
In a world so torn apart by rivalry, anger, and hatred, we have the privileged vocation to be living signs of a love that can bridge all divisions and heal all wounds.