Posted on 08/18/2007 12:45:49 PM PDT by Renfield
To my readers:
Some time ago, I made an effort to remove from this website all political statements made by me in the past. Many of these statements were incomplete statements, and many were dated. And a good many of the emails I received about these statements indicated that they were confusing to my newer Christian readers. I felt, when I removed the material, that I was doing what was best for my personal vocation --- which is, to write books for Jesus Christ.
My vocation at this time remains unchanged. I am committed to writing books for the Lord, and those books right now, are books about His life on Earth as God and Man. I hope my books will reach all Christians, regardless of denomination or background. This has become my life.
However, I have come to feel that my Christian conscience requires of me a particular political statement at this time.
I hope you will read this statement in a soft voice. It is meant to be spoken in a soft voice.
Let me say first of all that I am devoutly committed to the separation of church and state in America. I believe that the separation of church and state has been good for all Christians in this country, and particularly good for Catholics who had a difficult time gaining acceptance as Americans before the presidential election of John F. Kennedy. The best book I can recommend right now on the separation of church and state is A SECULAR FAITH, Why Christianity Favors The Separation of Church and State, by Darryl Hart. However there are many other good books on the subject.
Believing as I do that church and state should remain separate, I also believe that when one enters the voting booth, church and state become one for the voter. The voter must vote her conscience. He or she must vote for the party and candidate who best reflect all that the voter deeply believes. Conscience requires the Christian to vote as a Christian. Commitment to Christ is by its very nature absolute.
My commitment and my vote, therefore, must reflect my deepest Christian convictions; and for me these convictions are based on the teachings of Christ in the Four Gospels.
I am keenly aware as a Christian and as an American that the Gospels are subject to a great variety of interpretation. I am keenly aware that Christians disagree violently on what the Gospels say.
I am also keenly aware that we have only two parties in this country. Only two. This point can not be emphasized enough. We do not have a slate of parties, including one which is purely Christian. We have two parties, and our system has worked with two parties for generations. This is what we have.
I feel strongly that one should vote for one of these two parties in an election. I suspect that not voting is in fact a vote. I suspect that voting for a third party, when such parties develop, is in effect voting for one of the major parties whether one wants to believe this or not.
To summarize, I believe in voting, I believe in voting for one of the two major parties, and I believe my vote must reflect my Christian beliefs.
Bearing all this in mind, I want to say quietly that as of this date, I am a Democrat, and that I support Hillary Clinton for President of the United States.
Though I deeply respect those who disagree with me, I believe, for a variety of reasons, that the Democratic Party best reflects the values I hold based on the Gospels. Those values are most intensely expressed for me in the Gospel of Matthew, but they are expressed in all the gospels. Those values involve feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison, and above all, loving one’s neighbors and loving one’s enemies. A great deal more could be said on this subject, but I feel that this is enough.
I want to add here that I am Pro-Life. I believe in the sanctity of the life of the unborn. Deeply respecting those who disagree with me, I feel that if we are to find a solution to the horror of abortion, it will be through the Democratic Party.
I have heard many anti-abortion statements made by people who are not Democrats, but many of these statements do not strike me as constructive or convincing. I feel we can stop the horror of abortion. But I do not feel it can be done by rolling back Roe vs. Wade, or packing the Supreme Court with judges committed to doing this. As a student of history, I do not think that Americans will give up the legal right to abortion. Should Roe vs Wade be rolled back, Americans will pass other laws to support abortion, or they will find ways to have abortions using new legal and medical terms.
And much as I am horrified by abortion, I am not sure -- as a student of history – that Americans should give up the right to abortion.
I am also not convinced that all of those advocating anti-abortion positions in the public sphere are necessarily practical or sincere. I have not heard convincing arguments put forth by anti-abortion politicians as to how Americans could be forced to give birth to children that Americans do not want to bear. And more to the point, I have not heard convincing arguments from these anti-abortion politicians as to how we can prevent the horror of abortion right now, given the social situations we have.
The solution to the horror of abortion can and must be found.
Do I myself have a solution to the abortion problem? The answer is no. What I have are hopes and dreams and prayers --- that better education will help men and women make responsible reproductive choices, and that abortion will become a morally abhorrent option from which informed Americans will turn away.
There is a great deal more to this question, as to how abortion became legal, as to why that happened, as to why there is so little talk of the men who father fetuses that are aborted, and as to the human rights of all individuals involved. I am not qualified as a student of history to fully discuss these issues in detail. I remain conscientiously curious and conscientiously concerned.
But I am called to vote in this, our democracy, and I am called, as an American and a Christian, to put thought and commitment into that vote.
Again, I believe the Democratic Party is the party that is most likely to help Americans make a transition away from the abortion crisis that we face today. Its values and its programs --- on a whole variety of issues --- most clearly reflect my values. Hillary Clinton is the candidate whom I most admire.
I want to say something further. I am aware as a Christian writer that making a political statement like this is not a particularly wise marketing move. But my Christian conscience compels me to make this statement. My Christian conscience demands that I not lie in order to sell books. Lying to sell books, pandering to a Christian market --- these things would mean the deepest betrayal of my vocation to live for and write for Jesus Christ. I repeat: I won’t lie to sell books.
I have felt a certain pressure of late to express my feelings here; that pressure is mounting. That pressure has come from watching political debate on church and state in the media, from private emails from strangers and friends concerning these issues, and from conversations, often heated, with my fellow Christians and Americans.
My commitment to Christ compels me to respond to that pressure and to speak out on issues that I think are of crucial importance: whether or not we vote, and how we vote, and how our vote reflects our deepest moral concerns.
I repeat: I am a Christian; I am a Democrat. I support Hillary Clinton for President of the United States.
If I receive emails on this issue, I will do my best to answer them.
Anne Rice August 10, 2007
Wait! How can you have a name like “GiveMeGoth” and not know about Anne Rice? She’s a goth classic!
Welcome to FR, btw! :D
I think you mean Peter, he denied, Judas betrayed. Although she probably does both in this incoherent manifesto of the woefully uninformed.
That's what you get when you allow just any old improperly educated halfwit to publish her opinions online.
She keeps talking about being a 'student of history'. Even a special-ed student of history would know that the principles of the Democratic Party applied behind the Iron Curtain led to the deaths of more than 100 million souls and the impoverishing of better than 1 billion, while at the same time conservative principles led to the prosperity of the Western world and the highest standard of living for the poor in history...
>She is a great writer and quite intelligent.
why are democraps in the media always “intelligent”
but republicans are not?
i know democraps that still laugh at ronald reagan’s intelligence and george w bush’s.
gerald ford was always portrayed as a bumbling idiot that hit his head on his helicopter.
meanwhile, one of the most “intelligent” presidents of my life, jimmy carter, was a failure as a president.
of course, no one is as intelligent as the clintons.
You're forgetting Dennis Kucinich.
Ok then, she is not a great writer anymore than Roseanne is a great comedian. They might both make a ton of money, but they are nothing close to being great.
circular female logic....
how do women transcend this...women here anyhow?
i suspect another good works Christian here....
Is this kind of crap really necessary?
I suppose it's nice to be ecumenical about Christianity with Jews just out of old fashioned politeness but that has nothing to do with good books on Christianity.
Haha I wouldn’t be surprised.
I’m so glad I sold her books on ebay many, many years ago.
I mean to write long complex paragraphs, the purpose of which is to showcase my politically correct, yet mystically arcane personal beliefs, collected from various shamanic works, and the long-suppressed femine side of Christianity, yet not neglecting the wisdom found on the exquisitely art-directed packaging of herbal teas which are good for the soul, yet totally organic and in the collective wisdom of tribal peoples whose very wit and wisdom itself would best be shepherded to its full potential by Hillary Clinton. These long and complex paragraphs, which show the rigidity of thought in people who toss about intimidating terms like "non sequitur," are then to be "paid off" at the end by a short and dramatic sentence that proves their eternal truth because I said so. It's true because I feel it and said so.
Every small town in America has at least one of these nut-wad "Christian-Wicca" people. However, they are not multi-millionaire word processors like Anne Rice. They might be found selling "Dreamcatchers" at church craft fairs.
she's obviously a screwed up dumoCrap!
I respectfully stand corrected.
It was Peter.
And you are correct further in that Anne Rice has taken both roles on. Peter and Judas. She apparently lies about her motives for writing up a personal endorsement and getting it published, and mentions selling a book three times.
I didn’t know she was writing a book.
She needs a bumper sticker:
I SUPPORT HILLARY
(don’t ask me about my new book)
One size fits all bumper sticker for all:
I SUPPORT HILLARY
(I sold my soul to the devil)
In 1998, after spending most of her adult life as a self-described atheist, Rice returned to her Roman Catholic faith, which she had not practiced since she was 18. In October 2005, as she reaffirmed her Catholic faith, Rice announced in a Newsweek article that she would “write only for the Lord.” She called Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, her first novel in this genre, the beginning of a trilogy that will chronicle the life of Jesus.
In an interview with Christianity Today, headlined “Interview with a Penitent”, Rice declared that she will never again write another vampire novel, saying; “I would never go back, not even if they say, ‘You will be financially ruined; you’ve got to write another vampire book.’ I would say no. I have no choice. I would be a fool for all eternity to turn my back on God like that.” Some of her fans reacted with shock to the news of her religious and literary conversion, admonishing her in magazine articles, internet weblogs and reader reviews found on the web. Rice responded in a post on Amazon.com (see below) that stated: “And yes, the Chronicles are no more! Thank God!”
Whether Rice would continue to be a supporter of causes like gay rights (her son Christopher is openly gay) was much debated; she has said that Christianity’s stance on homosexuality was something she wrestled with as she considered converting. She remains a passionate supporter of the rights of homosexuals and their right to participate in religious worship. She was adamant about all her convictions. Her pattern of political contributions since 1998 suggests that she continues to identify with the Democratic Party [2]. For example she endorsed John Kerry for president in 2004 and she opposes the War in Iraq. On August 10, 2007, Anne Rice affirmed her support of the Democratic Party and declared her support for Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for President [3].
If Ms. Rice has truly been born again, it is only a matter of time until she realizes that supporting Hillary Clinton is supporting the wholesale murder of innocent babies which is obviously not something God approves of.
I'll pray that her eyes be opened sooner rather than later.
As a fan of fantasy books and an admirer of the original vampire novel by Bram Stoker, I read the first few of Anne Rice’s vampire books. I thought they were rather good, but that she was somewhat uncertain which side she was on. Then her books started to go off the deep end, and I quit reading them.
I was surprised when she announced that she had repented and would now write about Jesus. I had no particular desire to read her new book, as I doubted she would have anything useful to say.
Now it seems that my doubts are confirmed. She is about as much a Christian as Osama Obama. In other words, IMHO, she doesn’t even begin to understand what being a Christian means. Too bad.
How can she call herself a penitent Catholic and endorse Hillary Clinton who has spent her entire life promoting abortion?
But not as the Catholic that you claim to be, Anne.
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