Folks, in a rather confused, angry, yet poignant declaration posted on her Facebook page two days ago on Wednesday, author Ann Rice renounced Christianity “but not Christ”:
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.
In the past, I had reviewed a number of Ms. Anne Rice’s works, particularly her Christ the Lord works, as well as Memnoch the Devil, and Servant of the Bones. One such review earned a place of honor on her website. I found those works genial and congenial, and evidence of a gentle, inner evolution of thought, heart and soul. If Ms. Rice’s declarations hold, her evolution has come to an end.
Ms. Rice is a gentle person. My very few exchanges with her have shown me that and the very few times I expressed my disagreements on her Facebook site I did it respectfully, without attacking her person, but questioning her stances from the viewpoint of the Catholic faith she said she had embraced, and natural law. In the end I saw the futility of it and not liking to be embroiled in long, protracted arguments, I left her to the mercy of God, to whom I cling every day for my own sins and shortcomings.
Ms. Rice is not an ignorant. To say that she’s well read would be an understatement. She’s a genius, she’s an artist. But whether she likes it or not, Christ left us a moral code, that is not anti-human nor anti-life, but well to the contrary and this teaching is proclaimed by the Church He left behind, unapologetically, in season and out of season.
We should take this opportunity for introspection. Did Ms. Rice leave because of her convictions or because we drove her away? Without absolving her of the personal responsibility of her choices, we should ask ourselves that question. We should ask ourselves how many from among us failed to be Christ for her and carefully, gently, try to show her why a number of her deeply held convictions were contrary to the Gospel she said she embraced. Did we also show her the breadth and the depth of the mercy of God to her? I think that many of us didn’t. Those who didn’t also share a measure of responsibility for her apostasy. Think about that one too.
I mourn Ms. Rice’s exit and pray that she comes to her senses. If not, I wish her well, and I want to let her know that the door remains open for her again, awaiting her return. For that we should all pray.