Thursday, July 29, 2010

Anne Rice Breaks Up With Christianity via Facebook

From Beliefnet:

http://blog.beliefnet.com/idolchatter/imgs/annerice.jpg "Well, some stars like Amanda Bynes use technology like Twitter to tell the world they are retiring. Some stars like Kelsey Grammar announce the end of his marriage. But today Anne Rice became the first pop culture figure I know that decided to break up with Christians, and she did it using facebook.

On her official website she posted the following announcement via her facebook feed this afternoon:"I quit being a Christian. 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 am not sure what sparked this outburst or if it is just a rant that will later be tempered with something else a little less emotional. I know that she has long spoken out in interviews that she struggles with some of the Catholic Church's stands on issues . But she has also eloquently spoken out about her deep spiritual need for Christ..."

6 comments:

Marquis said...

I was planning to buy her books about the life of Christ, well that is out.

Rachel said...

It was so recently-- two years or less?-- that she declared she'd be Christian again, and that declaration coincided with a huge marketing push to Christians to buy her new book about the life of Jesus. I remember the ads she ran in First Things and the interviews she gave to Christian media. And now we have this dramatic statement, which smacks of marketing and posturing just as much as her reversion did. I guess she's done manipulating the Christian audience and is now deliberately winning back the secular audience. I didn't know she was so cynical and craven.

Anyway, the lesson for faithful Christians is not to be pathetically eager to approve anything a new convert does. I cringed that her book on the life of Jesus got favorable reviews in Christian publications, because I had the impression (though I never read it) that it crossed boundaries of respect that shouldn't be crossed. Anyway, an author who'd written blasphemous stuff in the past and wasn't declaring her repentance or fidelity in the present-- such an author should at least have been on probation in the eyes of Christian publications.

Rachel said...

Reminds me of Mel Gibson-- I wasn't comfortable with how my Evangelical church actually played a video of him *during Sunday worship* to promote his movie. This guy glorified fornication in Braveheart, and now we were broadcasting him above the pulpit?

Christians need to be discerning! We so long to be viewed as legitimate by the secular world that we embrace anyone who deigns to bear the name of Christian if they've been successful in that world. We need to scorn and despise the opinion of the world, and instead care only for the integrity and truth of the Christian message, which both Mel Gibson and Anne Rice were compromising even before Gibson's scandals and Rice's announcement.

Okay, done ranting for now. :)

Vincenzo said...

Rachel, I have decided that you are perfect.

Rachel said...

And I have complete faith in your judgment, Vincenzo. :)

Cathy_of_Alex said...

I didn't even know they were dating