A number of years ago, Anne Rice, author of Interview with The Vampire and other books, became a Christian. For her it was a rediscovery of a childhood faith. The writer of numerous books of erotica and dark, occult fiction had found a home again in the Catholic church. But, apparently a short-lived home.
She’s now renouncing Christianity.
She said on Facebook recently:
“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.”
When I read this, I knew that
a. A lot of “anti-institutional”, free-range Christians would applaud
and
b. Anne was missing the same point many of them do.
In one sense, I’m glad Anne can distinguish between Religion and Jesus. Those two things need to be disconnected. But in another sense, I’m saddened that she’s trying to disconnect Jesus from His Body, because those two things never are.
I want to have grace for Anne and I certainly wish her well. I hope she does remain committed to Jesus. But, in thinking about this, I can’t help but think that yes- It would be wonderful if all of our families, groups, networks never had disagreements or problems- if all the folks in them were just as we wished them… but then how would we grow? Where would be the opportunity to grow in patience, forgiveness, love? To opt out on account of the difficulty in a community is to miss both the point of the difficulty AND the community- especially in a redemptive community.
What is Jesus trying to do in the world? Get individual butts through the goal posts of heaven? Or create a redeemed community to live in a renewed creation in relationship with the One who saved them? The point of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus isn’t so much “me” as it is WE. And WE are a people in process.
Of course there are hypocrites and hostile people in the church… because there are people in the church. People on a long journey towards Christlikeness.
In some ways, when I read Anne’s statement I think about someone looking at an elementary school and saying “I can’t have anything to do with you people because you don’t know astrophysics and advanced calculus.”
Jesus calls sinners into the community He’s creating, and all who hear and answer that call are in varying states of growth and character-change. To expect maturity the moment everyone walks in the door is both unreasonable and lacking in the very grace Anne seems to want the church to show to others.
“Quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious”… Well, what else could anyone expect? Did we not hear Jesus when He said, “I come to call sinners, not the righteous?” Did we think He was kidding?
Our job is to follow Him along side and as a part of the Community He is creating. And being thankful for the grace He daily shows us in our “in-processness” means showing that grace to others as well. Even others “in” the church. Because to love Jesus is to love the people He loves- both the “lost sheep” and the “found Bride” that He is in the process of making beautiful.
Grace on our part looks like trying not to be upset that He’s still got a ways to go.
Thanks… A great perspective. I was proud to be amount those “anti-institutional” Christians. I better not close my “open” mind so fast.
I’m glad that you’re back in the blogging business.
Bob,
Here’s where I would push back a bit:
Yes, we need to love the whole Church, and pointing fingers “at them” as the reason the bride isn’t perfect is hypocritical, unhelpful, and ultimately the opposite of the grace and community of Jesus we are called to display.
BUT…
I get a serious gut check at just embracing people/streams that have (in my opinion) hijacked the name “Christian” and turned it into a moralistic crusade for their cause. Maybe this is just my “church cynicism” showing its face again (I’m really working on it), but it just doesn’t feel right to shoulder up to people that my be questioning my salvation because I’m not as “moral” as they are (don’t laugh, it’s really happened to me).
I understand Ann Rice’s comment. I’ve said things similar like that my self. I don’t think the solution is to flee the institution. People that I strongly disagree with I will still gladly call brother and sister… but I do have a reservation at not (at some level) setting my self apart from them because I see what they are doing as so harmful and anti-gospel.
Aaron- There’s a difference between disavowing the name Christian and having anything to do with church and embracing the crazy-uncle stream of church wackiness.
I don’t have to say “I’m no longer a Christian” to be able to say that what certain Christians are doing misses the point of the Gospel.
As in the case of MLK and Southern White Christian Segregationists- the idea is not to distance ourselves from the other and from the Gospel they claim to embrace, but rather to call them to embrace it more fully, and understand/live out its implications more completely.
Was recently in NOLA and visited the Catholic church Anne Rice grew up in and has helped out in recent years. Met a docent there who might just be one of the most grace-filled people I have ever met. He gave us her family’s background and pointed out where she crawled as a baby,walked as a toddler, and sat as an adult who had returned.
She’s wrong in her emotional response to the Body’s ills of course. But I think she’ll return to a community of believers at some point. If preacher’s can be allowed to have “blue Mondays” then we’re going to have to allow our fellow travelers the same emotional range.
Bob, I agree with Aaron, and I mostly agree with your response to Aaron. I draw the line at church leaders who agitate for anti-Christian causes in the name of Christ, or who like the Pharisees put stumbling blocks in the way of people who want to come to Christ. The best response, however, is not to disassociate oneself from the Church but to encourage the Church to disassociate itself from those leaders.
But let’s be clear- Anne Rice is talking about “some” Christians. Or even some “Christians.” She’s talking about Christians and as such, I think misses the point.
I didn’t see it as Anne giving up on Christian people, just that she is tired of the institutionalized faith, and announcing that she is going to live something different. And she’s not alone. In living out the faith differently, I see people more drawn to the biblical examples and truth it hold – minus all our horrible western plastic wrap. I am one who applauds her and pray that there are more people in the spot light sharing this type of revelation. America needs something new before all is lost. I quit calling myself a Christian years ago and simply describe myself as a follower of Jesus.
“I didn’t see it as Anne giving up on Christian people”
Huh?
“It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group.”