Quitting Christianity

This headline just came across the newswire: "Anne Rice Leaves Christianity."

And here's the rest of the story:

Legendary author Anne Rice has announced that she’s quitting Christianity.
The “Interview with a Vampire” author, who wrote a book about her spirituality titled "Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession" in 2008, said Wednesday that she refuses to be “anti-gay,” “anti-feminist," “anti-science” and “anti-Democrat.”
Rice wrote, “For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian ... 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.”

Rice then added another post explaining her decision on Thursday:
“My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn't understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me," Rice wrote. "But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been or might become.”

 My two cents:

When I first saw the headline, I thought, "Oh no. That's a shame. Guess she didn't have enough endurance to continue following the faith. I hope she reconsiders."

After I read the article, I thought, "Great point. I'm glad she's still a believer and I really can't blame her for wanting to separate Christ from His people in America."

Of course, Anne, the saddest thing is that even though Christ is represented — many times very badly — by His people in this country you cannot separate Christ from His Body, the Church. Removing yourself from association with other believers because of their political agendas really hurts both parties. They can stand to learn from you and you can stand to learn from them.

I hate the judgmental attitude of the church in America, too, Anne, but they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. I must learn to live with them and focus on modeling Christ-likeness before them to the best of my effort. It hurts me, too, when I see so-called Christians showing up at the funeral of a homosexual man with protest signs that say, "God hates (slur)" or "(Slurs) are going to hell." It hurts when die-hard political junkies say that God wants me to only vote Republican. Straight ticket. Or that anyone who supports (or is silent about) abortion is lost on the highway to hell.

I understand that you don't want to get wrapped up in the Western-based sociological judging that has given Christians a black eye for centuries. I don't either. You say, "following Christ does not mean following His followers" and you're very right. Follow Christ! Read the Gospels. Live out His example. But also look for His example in the lives of the saints and those who are truly following Him. Following Christ means rejecting what you know to be false and cleaving to what is true.

I wish you the very best, Anne, as you continue to follow Christ. But please do what His followers so often fail to do by showing them some grace and the love of Christ. You don't have to follow them. Follow Christ. Leave religion behind and engage Him in a lasting relationship.

As one of my fellow ministers said, "Follow the Christ who IS rather than the Christ we want him to be."

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