Atheist Tuesday: Anne Rice Leaves Christianity

Aug 10, 2010Steve Sanchez22 CommentsFamous Lost Words

Gothic writer Anne Rice, a former atheist and most famous for her “Interview with the Vampire” series of books has announced that she is leaving Christianity. This is what she posted on her FACEBOOK fan page:

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.
As I said below, 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.

My question: What does she mean by this?

Comments (22)

BathTub
August 10, 2010
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What does this have to do with Atheism?
Garrett
August 10, 2010
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Well, she’s hardly an atheist if she still invokes the name of Jesus. I guess that makes her a false convert or whatever.
robert moss
August 10, 2010
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After reading this I was listening to a Calvary Chapel pastor(Greg Laurie) on the radio and talked about the seeds on stony ground. Sounds like that is what may have happened to A. Rice…..still will pray for her….don’t stop praying til they are dead in the grave.
perdita
August 10, 2010
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Well, it doesn’t mean she’s an atheist. Steve, Tuesday’s supposed to be our day!
Steve Sanchez
August 10, 2010
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I was in a hurry when I posted this and neglected to mention that Anne Rice was an atheists before her conversion, then came her de-conversion or whatever you want to call it.
My thoughts are that you cannot be a follower of Christ and not be a Christian. In other words, there are things you cannot condone as a Christian because they are clearly in violation of Scripture.
Steve Sanchez
August 10, 2010
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I’ve since corrected the post to include the atheist fact. I’ll give the attribution later. (I have to locate the article I cut out.)
Thomas Moore
August 10, 2010
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Hey Robert right on! Keep praying for those who are not saved until they are dead in their grave!
Garrett
August 10, 2010
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I don’t what it makes her, but she clearly isn’t an atheist if she can’t follow the ONLY tenet of atheism. When I read about this a few weeks ago, I wasn’t sure if she was being sarcastic or not by referencing Jesus, but her follow-up facebook posts seem to suggest she believes in a divine Jesus.
We can debate whether or not she’s a Christian, but she definitely a theist.
BathTub
August 10, 2010
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It’s pretty simple, she refuses to carry the baggage associated with being a Christian.
It’s the apparent quote from Ghandi goes “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ”
Richard Chavarria
August 10, 2010
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Sounds to me that Ms. Rice is drawing attention to herself inorder to sell her up coming book. The title will be something like, “Leaving Christianity for Jesus”. She’ll sell millions of copies then her conscience will get to her and she’ll repent. Christians who say they love Jesus need to walk the walk and hate what God hates and love what God loves. The Bible says that if you love Jesus then you will obey his commandments.
All the time…not just on Sunday.
Jesus said go and sin no more. O Lord, how long will man continue to love delusions and seek false gods? How long will they turn your glory into shame?
perdita
August 11, 2010
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I don’t know what she thinks, but I kind of think you ran out of ideas for the series.
You sure last week’s post was the start of a series and not just you getting frustrated with Azou?
And who’s this Garrett guy anyway?
😉
Steve Sanchez
August 11, 2010
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From Kevin Eckstrom of the Religion News service: “My conversion from a pessimistic atheist… to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me. But following christ does not mean following his followers, she [Anne Rice] said.
To Perdita: Lots of ideas, but I want to keep it interesting for my Christian readers too!
To BathTub: Too bad for Ghandi. Apparently, he was turned away from a rich type church and told to worship with his own kind. Too bad he didn’t love Christ enough to “endure hardship like a good soldier.” Too bad I’ll probably never see him in Heaven. I hope to see you there someday, Bathtub! 🙂
cranium
August 11, 2010
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Is your question serious or are you being facetious? If you are being genuine:
What she means is that she no longer wants to be associated with the patriarchal, misogynistic, homophobic, anti-choice practices and assertions of the evangelicals.
She wants to embrace scientific facts, not creationism. She wants to allow contraception, not power over women. She recognizes that morals and ethics exist without ‘god’. She desires an equitable society, not right wing nut-job inequity.
Clear enough? Bathtub summed it up well with the quote from Ghandi.
Steve Sanchez
August 11, 2010
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Well thank you, Cranium, for your clarification! I’m not being facetious, just soliciting opinions. Appreciate it.
Garrett
August 11, 2010
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Steve seemed upset that I didn’t share my name, so I figured I can at least give my first name if he’s willing to give his full name.
Richard Chavarria
August 12, 2010
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Anne Rice is a Judas. Judas hid it well too, acting like a Christian, following after Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Messiah. Jesus called him a devil.
Gandhi was a false convert.
The problem with the human condition is sin. It is in our nature to sin. We love to sin. It gives us pleasure. We lie, we steal, we use God’s name in vain, and we lust.
We have all broken God’s moral standard. We are criminals in his sight. Liars, thieves, adulterers, and blasphemers. We are guilty. Anne Rice and me included. There is no one good. We deserve God’s righteous judgment.
perdita
August 12, 2010
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Re: Anne Rice. She may be one of those that says, “I’m not a Christian, I’m a follower of Christ.” You guys probably find this more interesting/controversial than me. I do think most Christians pick and choose the parts they want to believe or emphasize. This is one reason why there are so many denominations of true believers. (I know, I know – everyone else is wrong!)
Garrett: I realized that, but I think it got a little confusing on one of the other posts. At least I hope that’s what happened.
Richard: Gandhi was never a convert, therefore never a false convert.
BathTub
August 12, 2010
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Ghandi was a false convert to Hinduism? Really Richard?
And Judas is a Christian Hero, he was doing God’s work, fulfilling God’s plan from before the world was created. What’s with all the hate?
It’s like you’re trying to sound crazy.
Tom Nance-Ulrich
August 12, 2010
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Seems to me Ms. Rice is saying she is tired of being associated with people who are so often “anti…” fill-in the blank. Seems similar to Steve Sanchez’ position in regards to Rubin Israel in the long post about gay pride parades. I used to be one of those angry-young-men-druggy-hippy-ancharist-atheist guys who was “anti” most everything. Yet I can say in my 20 years as a Christian (follower of Christ) I have encountered more “Christians” who are as Ms Rice said.”quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious” than anyone or anyplace else. People who are supposed to be Brothers & Sisters spend more effort attacking one another, or defending ones pet “doctrine” or “interpretation” than anything else. So I can sympathize with her frustration; even though I may not come to the same ultimate conclusion.
BaDonna Chybyonn Oparaocha
August 16, 2010
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A pastor once told me, “Standing in a church, doesn’t make you a Christian, anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car”
You cannot be a follower of The Way, and not obey His commandments. He commanded us to Love one another. And demonstrated such a Love when He dipped His piece of bread in the bowl and offered it to Judas in Love. It was the custom of that time to do this as a act of affection. So Jesus was reaching out to Judas Iscariot, already knowing the deal he had made, and what he was going to do.
There are 3 kinds of Love in the Greek language, Eros, Phileo and Agape. Eros is the feeling of Loving someone, we call it “chemistry” or being “turned on” by someone. Phileo is a natural obligation to Love someone, such as Mom or Dad, someone that you would automatically Love. And Agape Love, is unconditional. It isn’t based on feeling, or a person’s lovable characteristics, it’s a decision. The thing is lovable because God Loves it, not the other way around. For more details on this kind of Love refer to 1 Corinthians 13. God Loves us because God is Love, not because we have some characteristics that surprise Him or endear us to Him. God Loves the human soul, He created it to be an object of His Love. God’s Love is the only thing that makes us lovable, not the only thing around. If Anne Rice can learn to Love those who hate, regardless of what side of the fence they are on, then she will know what God goes through with all of us, including herself, and that will give her a new appreciation for God’s Love, first for her, then in her and finally through her.
It’s common to tell people to “go to hell”, if we could understand and see what hell is really like, we would never tell anybody that. And that is the point, it ain’t about anti-nothing, it’s about trying to stop people from going to hell. That is what Jesus was doing when He dipped that bread in the bowl and offered it to Judas, He was trying to save him. And that is the point, trying to get people saved.
In the back of my Open Bible, there is guide to christian workers. And what it has, is some comebacks, to peoples’ common excuses, as to why they don’t receive Jesus. One of the excuses is; “people in churches are hypocrites” (one of my personal favorites when I was an unbeliever), the comeback is; “hypocrites are lost, and if you let them stop you from getting your salvation, you will spend eternity in hell right along with them”
Rayford Cerino
August 19, 2010
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1 Corinthians 15 talks about Christ’s resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15 vividly describes what the resurrection involved and presents to us the hope in salvation through Christ that is available to all of us.
Kyle
April 14, 2011
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Anne Rice was Catholic. What she means is that she is still a Christian, but refuses to follow church doctrine. She still believes in Jesus, she has simply decided that her morals are superior to those of the church. Whether the Catholic Church, or any church for that matter, is in line with the teachings of Jesus, is up to the individual to decide. Anne Rice has decided that in her opinion, Jesus is fine with secular humanism, artificial birth control, homosexuality, feminism, life, and science. I certainly agree with the life and science portion, but the other areas I’m not so sure about. Secular humanism I’m pretty sure would be contradictory to Christ’s teachings, though a moderate femist might be on the same page . . . radical femisim not so much.