by Novelist Anne Rice, who had famously converted to Catholicism, has issued the following statement: “I refuse to be anti-gay … to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control … to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism … to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.”
When I first read this statement, it really hit me hard. I refuse to be all those things as well! (Well, I’m not really sure what she means by “anti secular humanism” — if that means I’m “against” systems that exclude the notion of God, I suppose I am “anti-” that. And I’m not “anti-gay,” although I do hold to a “traditional,” covenantal Christian view of human sexuality…)
Are there days (hours, minutes…) when I doubt, and wonder why I keep identifying with the body of people that sometimes are “anti” all these things — indeed. But I identify with Jesus, or better he identified me, and so I’m joyfully part of the mixed up mess that is his body in this world!
And this is what I really don’t understand about Rice’s statement: many Christians have managed to find other Christians with common sentiments — heck, I recently earned a theological credential in a seminary that, Praise the Lord, takes this kind of concern seriously! Why couldn’t Rice have done the same thing? I teach in a Catholic school, and those of my colleagues who are serious Catholics, including our campus Priest, aren’t anything like what Rice describes — not even close! (Well, a few of the really devout Catholics are “anti-artificial birth control” but for some very serious theological and spiritual reasons that I’m not going to rail against…)
Anyway — it seems to me that Rice could have just picked up an issue of Commonweal or Sojourers and many of her worries would have been put to rest, or at least she would have found some food for spiritual thought. Why some people leave instead of digging deeper, I don’t understand.
I refuse to read vampire stories.
Marc — ha! And I refuse to take my theology from people who write vampire stories! But still, for better or worse she’s a cultural voice who gets press…
Dave — I really did not mean to come off as flip — sorry.
But I do wonder, more seriously, why we should expect, or even want, a cultural voice of the kind Ann Rice is to “dig deeper.” I think your comment (at least interpreted in a certain way) is exactly right — that is, one should not put any stock in the fact that Ann Rice has repudiated what she believes and understands to be “Christianity.” One should not expect it, and one shouldn’t even want it. There are many cultural voices out there — some of them say and think interesting things, and for those, perhaps we ought to pay attention. But a great mass of them chatter on noisomely and without much thought. Why should someone like you — learned in theology and law, committed to an intellectual life of “digging deeper” — care in the least about what they reject or accept (perhaps if one knew what Ann Rice accepted about Catholicism, one might even welcome the repudiation)? Even more than this, is it part of a Christian ethic to hope for deeper intellectual and spiritual engagement from *all* people, including those whom one would not expect would be otherwise intellectually engaged? Many people are committed Christians for reasons that have exceedingly little to do with their views about birth control, or the Democratic party, or the latest new atheist publication (if they’ve read even it). And if one is prone to conversions and renunciations for such reasons and with such facility, is it reasonable to think that reading a few issues of Commonweal would make a bit of difference? (Not to denigrate in the least the exceptionally able writing produced by that magazine, of course).
Marc — you’re right of course. I think what bothers me about Rice’s comments is that I see this dynamic bubbling up constantly, at least in my evangelical branch of the Church. Some of the things she said sting because they ring true: so often our posture in the Church towards the world is just angry and quarrelsome. And here I do think that every Christian has at least some obligation to dig deeper. Not to attend seminary, of course, but at least to seek some level of understanding about the tradition and the scriptures and the God to which one has become committed. If Rice had done that, I can’t help but think that her public platform (whether deserved or not) would have been employed differently — still with some lamentations but with hope and faith and charity as well. The loss of that sort of voice always grieves me, maybe because I know how badly my own tiny little public platform falls short of giving proper glory to the God in whom I trust.