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Anne Rice, the bestselling novelist most popularly known for "Interview with the Vampire" and her other creepy vampire novels, announced on Wednesday via Facebook that she has officially renounced Christianity. It's a bold move for the author who has become well-known for her vehement religiosity; the majority of her frequent tweets are related to religion in some way. The author has also recently launched a new series of novels about angels, which debuted in October 2009 with "Angel Time."

Rice declared on her Facebook account that she is "an outsider" in the Christian community:

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.

Rice affirmed that though she has decided to leave the Christian institution, she "remain[s] committed to Christ as always."

(via GalleyCat)

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Comments

[Stacey Hoffman]

Ms. Rice would feel quite at home in the United Church of Christ. www.ucc.org We believe that God is still speaking to us and that Jesus would not turn anyone away. We welcome all believers in Christ, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, etc., and regardless of where they are on their spiritual journey. It's more about being "Christ-like" than it is about being a "Christian."

[CPAwADD]

Ann Rice didn't really quit being a Christian, she just decided to stop following a deeply flawed institution. I continue in the flawed institution for two reasons. First I find it helpful to be reminded of how we should live. Second the church as an institution provides countless acts of spiritual and corporal mercy.
I cannot say that Anne is wrong because I agree with her though I follow a different path.

[BlackTantalus]

I was a fan of Rice, although nothing she has done ever approached the success of "Interview," and it was downhill with "Lestat" and following works. Still, I bought everything she published under her real name for years. But Rice became increasingly "strange" and an uber-Catholic who was more Catholic than the pope and, to paraphrase Monty Python, she wasn't fun anymore. My wife and I welcome her return to Planet earth if she is, in fact, returning home. But let's have fun again.

[glesslib]

My sister, who is a Catholic nun, worries that I am so angry with my (ex?)church and most of the Christian sects here in America. But what can I say. Ann is correct. They dislike women, unless it is to be on committees and make the place run, they dislike Democrats, they dislike minorities, they dislike the idea of free thought or exploring rather than believing without ever questioning. Therefore, they dislike me as a person, in every way shape or form. So, I didn't really quit the Church...the Church quit me.....just as it did Ann Rice.

[mtaylor90028]

Gratz Anne Rice for making the right decision! By not being part of some mindless cult, now perhaps you can find spiritual enlightenment.

[EBELE ORANUBA]

the mistake people make is imputing man's failings to God.. we've all been given d freedom of choice. u choose good or bad but do not by any means make God d fall guy for every bad choice a person makes.. Christianity is devoid of any religious affiliations. it is simply a relationship between you and Christ regardless of denomination.
I feel u Anne Rice.. but unfortunately u have made d same mistake almost everyone makes... U look unto man's standards to judge Christ..When Christ himself is your role model instead of man, then nothing that man does can shake your faith..Maybe if u read your bible more often, you'll have learnt the truth for yourself..

[IndianaMeg]

WOO HOO!! Love you, Anne Rice!! Well said! I agree with and understand what she said exactly! I stopped considering myself a Christian several months ago. Although I do believe Christ to be a wonderful spiritual figure and I think we all have many lessons to be learned from him, I think most "Christians" (quotes used intentionally) have gotten completely away from Christ's message. And if not Christians, at very least many of the Church's leaders have sort of hijacked Christ's message and used it for their own selfish and misguided purposes. And I love that Ghandi quote that I'm sure is or will be posted on here several times. The one about him liking Christ, but not liking Christians who are so unlike Christ. Could not agree more.

[BlackTantalus]

Could that be because Jesus was a Jew who lived and died before the invention of Christianity?

[mambosmom]

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Mohandas Gandhi

[Amanda Peters]

Its not about Catholicism alone. Its about how christians have been known to go against even the simplest teachings that Jesus spoke about. Its about backing away and not wanting to be apart of the atrocities that christian's have been involved in. About the constant shutting out, prejudices and hate that is coming out of a lot of christian's mouths. I applaud her because you can be a christ follower without being a christian!

[bigmacha]

The Anne Rice Manifesto -

Sign me up.

[trinity]

She just realized that the current Twilight craze is overshadowing her vampire series and she wants to get back into Vampire mania...

[MNTom]

I left about 10 years ago, for the same reasons as Anne did.

[asgspifs]

I just became an Anne Rice fan!

[ddanimal]

Something that will cure many people (logical people) of christianity is reading the bible from cover to cover. LOL.

[AwShucks]

I disagree.

I believe that reading the bible is important .

It is an interesting book which allows one to see how Man (literally various men) thought about their God.

The mistake which most people make is to not understand that this book was written by normal, ordinary,everday, regular human beings.

It was NOT written by God.

It was not even inspired by God.

Catholics, in particular, should be leary of taking the bible literally because, as you remember, the RCC had to take a vote on deciding that Jesus was divine (having the nature of God) or not.

Don't remember if it was the Counsel of Trent or which Counsel it was decided at, but it was years after Christ had died.

[bigmacha]

Thanks for a reasoned approach to what is otherwise an obsession amongst the "devout" - the infallibility of the bible. I've never known Man to be infallible about anything and certainly, a document written over hundreds of years by who knows how many people, reflecting the mores, beliefs and superstitions of the times during which it was written is anything but a "holy" book. It is an account of life through the prism of "belief" during a specific time period in Mankind's development/existence.

Not to mention the specific political agenda of the church and European monarchies.

[LoveEnduresForever]

I know what she & others mean -- it's mostly been disastrous...but it's all because of man, not God. With all due respect to all, when you just go by the nonCatholic Bible, you see where men went astray from the pure teachings from DAY 1 and made their own man made traditions & interpretations & was warned about in the New Testament. Unfortunately, too many chose to follow them & Catholicism became the largest growing "denomination" with a bunch of man made "rules" not found in the Bible. However, Anne is wrong about the "anti" list - she has misunderstood also & must have assumed all Christendom teaches same as Catholics. Wrong. The ones I know are all for science (& can be proved to agree with the Bible in many things), believe it's ok re birth control, we love all people, including gays (but believe it's also a sin IF practiced which is a choice- like hetero sexual sins; not a sin to just have those preferences & God can heal, help when asked) ; we're anti anything against Christ's teachings, which includes the whole New Testament - Dems embrace a lot of anti-Biblical policies. We're expected to stand up against them, with all due respect. I'm just as disgusted with all these so-called "Christians" too, as is God. The "church" has gone into apostasy as Christ predicted. You can start your own "house church". I pray for us all, including myself.

[Aardvaark]

If you read the Bible as well as other, earlier texts, I think you'll discover most the stories are borrowed from earlier religions and that even in the New Testament, Jesus really said very little. The gospels are the result of oral stories, and the Letters to the various churches were Paul's take on everything, which was his effort to get people to conform to his vision of what the church should be,

IMHO, the longer that Christianity was around after Jesus, the more elaborate the afterlife and present spiritual world became. Jesus never mentioned purgatory or placed Peter at heavan's gate, married anyone, or presided over a funeral. Look at what he said eternal life was. The whole hierarchy of angels and devils was not a real concern of his.

Whoever wrote Revelations was on acid, IMHO. The Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity doesn't even include it in their Bible.

[bigmacha]

And reflected the specific agenda of those who commissioned the writing - just like art.

[dancucich]

" Dems embrace a lot of anti-Biblical policies. I'm just as disgusted with all these so-called "Christians" too, as is God. The "church" has gone into apostasy as Christ predicted. You can start your own "house church".
------------------------------------------------
You are correct,on all counts, and I am fanning you.

Yes, too many of the dems are often hostile to God, morality and decency. That said,
politically minded christians like Jerry Falwell did enormous, and possibly
irrreparable harm to the cause of Christ. Its a real shame; Jesus said:
"My kingdom is not of this world". John said "Love not the world system, netither the
things of the world; for if anyone love the things of this world system (like politics)
, the love of the father in not in him."

You can be a Christian and be either a democrat, re;publican, green, socialist,
or whatever-so long as God and Christ are first in your life.

However, if they are *not* first in your life's priorities, whatever your
political philosophy is, it will slowly erode your spirit
and slowly change you and make you arrognant, hateful and bitter-just like the
PC liberals and Christian haters flashing us with their ignorance
and indwelling bitterness..

Due to backsliders like falwell and reed, we now have to listen to to all the anti-christian bile
and hate some of these idiots in this thread who spread all kinds of lies
about what the Paul and the New Testament says...

[Aardvaark]

I'll repeat what I've said before. Go back to the earliest Greek scriptures and study them, raw, then compare what is there with what is in the New Testament (pick your own translation). You'll find that along the line, decisions were made as to the meaning of each text that affected how it was interpreted.

One interesting theory is that the common term for an unmarried woman was virgin - regardless of their sexual status, and, when applied to Mary, simply meant that she was not married to Joseph.

This creates a number of conundrums if one is to insist that Jesus' birth truly was of a virgin and conceived by the holy spirit, because then he could not be of the house of David.

One Christmas eve, I read the story of the birth of Jesus to a bunch of mostly non-believers and atheists out of, I believe Matthew. It is a beautiful, simple, story. Even the most staunch atheists found the story beautiful. What was done to it afterwords is almost criminal.

I grew up with the King James Version of the bible, and I still have a great appreciation of the poetry of the language, but the more scholarship that I study on the bible, the more I have come to believe that there has been a lot of meddling with the words of Jesus.

[BlackTantalus]

Men invented all of it, so . . .