My association with Anne Rice began innocently enough. I recall seeing "Interview with a Vampire" many years ago. I enjoyed the film, but don't recall being overly influenced by it. I can't say that I read all of her books or was inclined to become Goth. While incarcerated I read several of her novels because they were available. They were a bit dark for me but I remember being impressed with her ability to paint detailed pictures of other time periods. I was more of an observer from a distance. I actually became more interested in her when I had heard of her return to Catholicism. I looked up her website and read with interest her desire to devote her writing skills to fictional accounts of Christ in His early years prior to any recorded history. I still recal how she used Ava Maria as her music on the webpage.
I was greatly impressed with her book "Christ The Lord: Out of Egypt". I recommended it to my mother and several friends. I even sent her an e-mail welcoming her into the fold of Christiandom. To my surprise, she wrote me back. I guess it was then that I came to think of Anne Rice as a friend of mine.
Recently, she denounced her involvement with Christianity, while retaining her belief in Christ.
"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.”
I left a comment on her page after she made these declarations stating that I loved her for stating what was in my heart. I also have come to feel that the message of "love thy neighbor" was being lost in the mandates to remove myself from humanity and to hold myself somehow better than the rest of my fellow humans, because I knew God and they didn't. I have since followed the multitude of discussions and comments that have arisen out of her declaration. They run the gamut from those who are grateful to hear this message from so prominent a figure, to those who declare that she never has known Christ, and that her salvation was never genuine. In the darker comments I hear the echoes of the very thing she is rallying against.
And yes, she has written me back and thanked me for my comments.
Anne posts criticism and interviews,comments, both good and bad,and a variety of other things including her favorite TV shows and actors, or pieces of music that had struck her fancy that day. In all of these thing, she shows herself to be a thoughtful, warm, and genuine human being, who is seeking to understand her place in this wonderful creation of God's.In all things, she attempts to be frank and honest.
I am honored to call her my friend. I believe Jesus Christ smiles upon her and loves her, as he loves us all. And I thank her for being the lightning rod that has brought the issues that I have struggled with in my heart to the point of public discourse.
Whether you agree with her or disagree with her, it is well worth looking her up on Facebook, and following her journey. I am certain that one day, we will sit down and share a joke and a smile. Even if that day is on the other side of eternity in the presence of our Lord Jesus.
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