Anne Rice
“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. 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.”
I couldn’t help, but be fascinated by the fact that religious identities and pronouncements on social networking sites now catch the eye of traditional news outfits. Anne logged into her facebook account and because of a status update was on television in a few days….a remarkable sign of our times.
And though I was disappointed that she allowed others (whom she characterizes as the “anti” crowd) to define her religious experience; I am thankful that she gave articulation to the reasons why she left. To be sure, people leave Christianity and the church (and other Faiths) all the time. But we aren’t always privy to the concerns that lead to departures. That’s not always articulated and especially as a pastor, it is important for me to regularly hear the unfiltered and sincere criticisms of those who are a part of Christian community and those who are not.
I’m thankful that Anne quit Christianity so publicly. I believe that the issues that she raised need to be seriously engaged by clergy and lay people alike. Initially, my approach to engaging it in the sphere in which I have influence, was to help people understand that there are many different expressions of Christianity. Based on one’s context, one’s personal experiences, and any number of other factors, people embrace and express their Christianity in remarkably different ways – even if they’re sitting side by side on the same pew! There is not total uniformity of belief in any church in the world. While there are shared beliefs there are boatloads of largely unspoken differing beliefs within any one congregation. That does not necessarily make the congregation any less a family of Faith much like differing opinions in your blood-family does not negate your familial status. Helping people become sensitive to that was something I attempted to do this past Sunday in worship.
Moreover, in future settings, I look forward to exploring this notion of Christ minus community. Rice was clear that she was quitting Christianity, but not Jesus Christ. I’m wrestling with that and hopefully can wrestle with others about it. Is it possible to fully experience Christ outside of community? That’s the question. Given the perspective that I have about Jesus; it is difficult for me to understand him detached from community. One of the ways that Holy Scripture characterizes him is as the Great Reconciler. Jesus was the catalyst for the calling together of radically diverse individuals who then shared in a certain connectedness because of the Christ. I’ll continue to try to understand Anne Rice and many others who see it possible to dislodge the Lord from the populace.
However the greatest assignment that Anne Rice’s defection from the Faith delivered to me was a responsibility to revisit the Baptist ministerial ordination process. In order for a baptist minister to become ordained, they must be examined by a council of pastors which vets them as it relates to their beliefs. In my experience, the bulk of the ordination process involves candidates being quizzed on doctrine and scripture memorization. The council expects to hear the candidate repeat accepted positions on baptist polity and then recite supporting scriptures from memory. While I hear of a time when these examinations were more engaging; the process today is considerably lax. So much so that a candidate need only memorize and regurgitate the “right” answers and they are pretty much guaranteed a passing score. The pressure to pass the aspirant is compounded by the planning of celebratory services scheduled immediately after the council’s examination. (What council of pastors wants to tell a waiting crowd, “Sorry, no party tonight. She failed.”)
However, Anne Rice’s comments remind those responsible for ordination today about the changing landscape of society and the pressing issues that any ordained Christian minister must be sensitive to. It should no longer be acceptable for aspiring ordinands to just recite John 3:16 and parrot accepted positions on theology. Ordained ministers today must be sensitive and skilled in thoroughly engaging issues such as homosexuality, religious plurality, post-modern thought, the social thrust of the gospel, and the regular controversies which surround our Faith. I’m not sure if Ordination Councils can just look for “right answers” from candidates anymore. Today, the candidate should have to show evidence of their ability to think critically and respond carefully to any number of issues that they are sure to encounter on any given Sunday (or any other day of the week). They should be pressed to articulate and defend what they believe as it relates to God, Christ, and Community. We don’t need “Reverend Robots” who regurgitate religiously accepted responses to the questions of yesterday. We need prophetic preachers who can rightly divide the Word of Truth today and carry themselves in this world with Christ-like conviction. And those of us who are ordained and especially those of us who are pastoring need to revisit the positions of our forebearers to ensure that they still have credible currency in our context. And if they don’t, we must have the courage to be led of God’s Spirit to sing unto the Lord -and the community- a new song.
Thank you, Anne Rice for quitting Christianity. I’ll be praying for your sojourn with God’s Spirit as you have helped me greatly on mine.
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I am perplexed by this post. I don't have an opinion yet, one way or another. Mr. Heber, you are a doctor, PH.D, professor, etc., etc. in religion and theology. I know nothing. Ms. Rice makes some very valid points in her reasoning. No argument from me on that. But my question is that , can you in your professional life dabble in the occult, curious arts, borderline porn, violence(even though its fiction) and still be forgiven? Once again, I am asking this as a total novice. A paradox for sure.
Someone told me to go back and read the previous post. What a dunce cap I wear. People are saved and forgiven every day doing the things that this lady writes about ficticiously, in real life. Never claimed to be genius, and my previous post proves that.
What I don't understand is how we can be so socially opinionated that we forsake and view the truths of God as garbage that can be simply thrown away or cleverly recycled into this new politically correct social "gospel". You can't serve two masters.
.
If I could meet her in person, I would
love to say "Thank you Anne Rice –
for so very articulately stating what
I have felt in my heart for years" !!!!
One's 'Faith-in-Christ’ should IN NO WAY
be tied into the man-controlled 'Religion'
that so many refer to as "Christianity"
(especially that apostate, psuedo-religious
political-movement called 'evangelicalism')
It took me forever to realize that my
relationship with God (as established
through Christ Jesus, God The Son) was
IN NO WAY dependent on the apostate
psuedo-religious movement sweeping
America in the name of the "church".
If Christ were walking the earth today,
a lot of these same "religious" types
would be the first to demand that He
be 'crucified' — and based merely on
who He chose as FRIENDS (women,
gays, foreigners, immigrants, the poor,
the rejected, the downtrodden, the rich,
men, old, young, happy, sad, and so on).
The "evangelicals" (not to be mistaken
for TRUE FOLLOWERS of Christ) and
other "church" types have essentially
hijacked the Christian 'Faith' in order to
turn it into a mammon-worshipping,
power-mongering, "Religion" of hate.
These people are more akin to a system of
ANTI-CHRIST (i.e. “against”-Christ) than
to anything tied into WHO CHRIST IS.
Their evil has reached such profound levels
that even people who know and love Christ
are turned off from them and their words
(again proving these “church” types are
really nothing more than anti-Christ,
self-righteous Pharisees and are not
even remotely related to Jesus Christ).
Never again will I waste my time stepping
into the psuedo-religious social-club that
is known as "church" or associate myself
with the political-clique that is known as
'christianity' — because FROM NOW ON
– I realize that I do NOT "need" either
in order to have a relationship with MY
LORD JESUS CHRIST (in fact, those
two entities were actually 'interfering'
with my relationship with God)
THROUGH CHRIST — GOD HAS OPENLY
EXPRESSED HIS LOVE TO 'EVERYONE'
(no matter if rich, poor, gay, straight, male,
female, sickly, healthy and so on) — AND
CHRIST (not the so-called"church") IS
'THE DOOR' and 'THE WAY' TO GOD!!
ALL ARE WELCOME TO APPROACH AND
TO ENTER THROUGH 'THE DOOR' TO GOD!!
NO ONE IS REJECTED BY JESUS CHRIST !!!
JESUS LOVED AND LOVES EVERYONE !!!
LET’S ALL TRY TO REMEMBER
THE BIBLE VERSE OF ‘JOHN 3:17’:
“For God did NOT send His Son
into the world – to condemn
the world, BUT that the world,
THROUGH HIM, might be SAVED !!!!”
JESUS CHIST – and *not* the institution known
as “the church” or the religion called “christianity”
— IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE!!!
LIKE MANY OTHER PEOPLE – I AM DONE
WITH THE CHURCH & WITH CHRISTIANITY
– AND FROM HERE ON OUT – MY FOCUS IS
ON (AND FAITH IN GOD RELIES IN) JESUS
CHRIST AND JESUS CHRIST ALONE !!!
.
It is true that Ms. Rice’s declaration of independence from Christianity did raise the discourse on a bunch of stuff that the number of people for who Rice has long been an opinion maker have failed to think about, but I became a ‘fan’ of her FaceBook page at the time, and I can tell you it was a very disturbing experience. There is much more to Rev. Brown’s observation that Ms. Rice had made her decision out of a desire to get away from something rather than move toward something, and her high-profile act galvanized the groupies who worship her into a community of (justifiable or not) anti-religionists and LGBT rights supporters (they view the main character of her vampire cycle as their hero because of his status as a social outcast; I’m not sure if he actually is gay). Anti-LGBT, narrow-minded haters posted constantly (and for SOME reason, FaceBook moderators refused to hold these posters accountable to the Rights and Rsponsibilities Agreement, in which they were often violently in breach, or even censure inappropriate comments). Pro-LGBT members posted equally indecorous comments (which were more often than not the ones that were censored). Anne sympathized continually (as though she never ate, slept, did any other writing, or even took the time to go to the bathroom, 24/7, 7 days a week, even replying “personally to all messages I receive.”) with the latter group and every now and again even managed to start another one of these conflagrations by asking her “People of the Page” their opinions on one or another inflammatory issue. It was disgusting, her puppetry of vulnerable, hurting people. I left after she commented that she was looking forward to the new PBS series that reenvisioned Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes as “a high-functioning sociopath” and afterward praised this depiction of the genius sleuth as a sympathetic character, making it seem as though sociopaths are nice, misunderstood people and not conscienceless and dangerous vipers all (www.lovefraud.com). But that’s what the job of an opinion-maker (such as Oprah) is: to support and promote the status quo (in Oprah’s case, the harmless goodness of elitism borne from self-absorption). She’s a very dangerous propaganda expert, and as insincere about her new-found Christian consciousness as she is about her support of society’s most weak and troubled people. Very sad.