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Locked on 08/18/2007 7:42:05 PM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason:
Wrong title. Has been posted twice before |
Posted on 08/18/2007 6:17:01 PM PDT by seanrobins
An example of pulitzer-prize-winning hypocrisy from a top purveyor of popular literature, who has been experiencng crisis of religious confidence over the past several years -- and who apparently has good reason to experience such a crisis -- when she acknowledges abortion is wrong, but will vote for it anyway . . .
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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.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic Ping List:
Please ping me to all note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
But her books have amply demonstrated that.
Too bad she has such a prominent and public position to demonstrate her mental and moral confusion.
How pretentious. What theater.
Those are all things the gospel commands YOU to do, Ann. Open your purse and do those things. The fact that you want the state to do them is the biggest cop-out of all. It is un-Christian, as it allows you to simply pay your taxes, and wash your hands of all those nasty hungry, naked people.
Considering how little the average American reads, Anne Rice’s opinion is not likely to affect many votes.
She seems to have good intentions, and to be sincere about her conversion to Christianity, as she understands it. That counts for something, somehow.
And she prefers the interpretation that tells Christians to sacrifice their children to Moloch.
PLEASE be patient with her. God is not finished with her yet. You cannot reasonably expect a new Christian to come to a full and complete understanding about God’s methods in the world instantaneously. There are no instant-Sanka Christians. We are all in process. We all are learning. We all have shortfallings in various aspects of our thought. Rather than call her names like “hypocrite,” please pray that God will show her that you don’t end the horrible practice of abortion by supporting political candidates who wish to continue it.
I think a vampire missed your neck, bit your head, and sucked out your brains, lady.
She modeled the vampire child "Claudia" after her own little girl.
I'm not offering an opinion on her beliefs, just a bit of background for what it's worth...
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Those people have a disproportionate influence on politics and public policy, especially as they grow older.
Absolutely no doubt that her conversion from a sort of Goth-Emo Satanism is a GOOD thing . . . but her trumpeting of her conversion as thought it were complete is not. Nor is her confusion about the meaning of the Gospels or the Christian life, or her mixing it with politics.
We all know which road is paved with good intentions . . . .
I know nothing of Anne Rice, but could it be she is new to Christianity? If so, it may just take a little more time before she is able to justly apply principle to real life. I was a Christian earlier than I was a conservative. There was a buffer period.
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.
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hmm Hillary won’t feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit those in prison and love one’s neighbors...
but she sure loves our enemies!
>>>She modeled the vampire child “Claudia” after her own little girl.
Interview is the one Anne Rice book I have read.... if this (the above) is true, this is one sick woman.
She cannot be pro-life and be pro Hillary........that is an oxymoron! She may be swift with words but her thinking is very shallow.
I expect those most likely to care what she thinks are already going to vote Democrat.
Her conversion is recent, in the last two or three years, iirc. I’ve experienced ongoing conversion, myself, and continue to find ways I need to change to be consistent with my profession of faith. I hope Anne Rice will, as well.
I don’t think Anne has read “Screwtape Letters” just yet.
She came a long way from Vampires to Christ the Lord Out of Egypt. I really love that book. She’s a great writer. She’ll come around. She still has a long way to go on her journey.
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