I stumbled across Anne Rice’s decision to “give up” on christianity through the PatrolMag.com posting. She had originally made the declaration on her Facebook Fan Page. After reading her statement, I felt compelled to write the below letter:
Dear Anne,
I am sure that this post is one among many responding to your announcement that you are disassociating yourself from Christianity. You wrote that your disgust with “this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group” has led you to the conclusion that you “simply cannot belong” to us.
I feel you, Anne. I really do. I’ve had similar thoughts and even expressed them publicly. I don’t mind at all the desire or even the need to stand at some distance from the label of christianity. It may well have been worn through. But I take issue with the notion that you must disassociate yourself from ‘christian’ people. I mean sure, we’re a motley lot. Belonging to this family can often feel like you’ve adopted a few thousand drunk uncles. It’s incredibly embarrassing at times and frustrating at least as often. I get it. But I also read that you’re making your move “in the name of Christ” and that presents a rather perplexing dilemma for someone who wants to quit on people. You see, Christ hasn’t quit on us and if you choose to align yourself with Him, then neither can you.
Aligning yourself with Christ means aligning yourself with Someone who not only declared his love for all God’s children (believer or not), but suffered and died in order to establish and maintain a relationship with those children. It is this redemptive sacrifice that defines His love as characteristically His. Having chosen to follow His example, it seems that at least part of the redemptive sacrifice you are being challenged to make is to associate and identify yourself with this shabby batch of miscreants who are often quite bad at practicing the religion you love. It comes at the cost of your ego and likely some book sales. But that’s the nature of sacrifice; it costs you. It will cost you if people see you as being family to those “anti-gay, anti-feminist, anti-artificial birth, anti-Democrat, anti-secular humanism, anti-science” types among us. Just as it costs Jesus to be seen as their Savior and Lord. Just as it cost him to be seen with prostitutes and whatnot. It is the same social role-play with a different set of cultural lenses on. All your statement does is trade in “bigots” for “whores” when the heart of Christ is that they’re both beloved of the Father.
It’s simply reasonable that if you set yourself against people who set themselves against people you are only adding to the friction. If part of your issue with christianity is it’s exclusivity, you aren’t helping by only including those who “get it” the way you do. True christian inclusivity means embracing the homosexual and the gay-basher in the same embrace; working for the release of the oppressed while praying and working for the redemption of their oppressor; loving the beautiful game of baseball and yet, somehow, also loving the Yankees. It means loving the Lord with all of yourself and also loving those who grossly misrepresent Him.
I think you’re smart, Anne. I think you’ll hear some thoughtful feedback and realize you stepped across a line and might have to retract your statement. You will also likely have to speak directly with Christ about the way you roughly labeled and dismissed the ones He’s drawn to himself and suffered to love. Lucky for you, lucky for all of us, He’s incredibly forgiving and eternally patient.
In the name of Christ,
Justin McRoberts
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Something I have been reflecting on for a while and I repeat as an echo to your post…Isn’t it a Christlike thing to own and absorb the consequences of the sins of others? (i.e. he who knew no sin became sin).
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As a Christian dismayed with the state of contemporary Christianity, I find Anne Rice’s comments interesting. I grant her the freedom to follow her conscience; moreover, most of the comments lack any compassion for her spiritual struggles. Christians never tire of using God and Scripture to manipulate others and deny their freedom to follow conscience where it will lead.
I find her comments telling, and any Christian with humility will accept her criticism with grace and tact and thank her for her insights. Unfortunately, the ill that has taken so many Christians down is pride, and to get defensive over this issue is symptomatic of a larger problem that is a grave pathology.
On the other hand, it is refreshing to hear a rebuttal of Ms. Rice’s comments, as one wishes to hear from another’s point of view, and without bias arrive at a renewed unerstanding of our contemporary malaise.
I will say this: Anne Rice may be a saint of the unbeliever, a beacon of hope for those beyond the pale. Whatever she may say or do, I grant her the same spiritual liberty I would anyone impoverished, powerless and poor. Celebrity has nothing to do with it.
When will Christians stop using God’s name or Holy Writ to manipulate, to control, to bully or intimidate? This is the challenge posed by Ms. Rice’s defection from the ranks.
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Damn the typos!
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[...] As I have written previously, I found her analysis accurate but her response to be off the mark. Shortly after I posted the blog, I got to work on “Take One For The Team.” You can get the song or EP at iTunes. Lyrics are below the video but if you haven’t checked out the digi-book we put together for the EP, I’d recommend reading the lyrics there. [...]