Anne Rice Walks
 

Author Anne Rice has decided to walk away from organized religion. Apparently she was born Catholic, became an atheist, then returned to Catholicism 12yrs ago. She recently used her face book page to announce she could no longer accept many of the church's views and policies. According to her "the last straw" was the bishop of Phoenix "publicly condemning a nun named Sister Margaret McBride for authorizing a life-saving abortion for a dying mother in a Phoenix hospital." In this article she lays out a lot of the what and why. I like her response to this part of the Q&A-

If you take the name of Christ out and put in any number of other deities and that pretty much sums up feelings on organized religion.

Obviously since that's my opinion I do not attend regular services, though I have joined friends when asked. I respect others right to believe whatever they wish. But I also reserve the right to think it's bat shit crazy to use religion to kill, judge and/or hate others.

So do you attend services?

If so how often?

Any of your religions policies or views you disagree with?

I'm a non-denominational Christian. I haven't been to church for a few years, I believe that I don't need to go to a priest or attend church to have a strong connection with God. I can do it on my own without any medium.

I saw Anne Rice in an interview saying it wasn't the people who are bad and made her leave, it was her own personal beliefs and morals that influenced her decision. Instant respect for her saying that. It seems like whenever someone leaves religion (or any organization) they blame it on the people in that religion. People are fucked no matter what they believe, so that argument doesn't fly with me.

I pick and choose what I want to believe in from the different branches of Christianity. I'm pro-choice (read: pro-abortion), so that's one place where I differ from the church. Divorce is acceptable, sex before marriage I'm a fan of, and I support gay marriage. The defining factor of Christianity is believing in the Holy Trinity; Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. My theory is that as long as I believe in that, I'm a Christian and I'll recieve the benefits I'm told of by the Bible and Christian theory. I guess I'm more on the left/liberal side of Christianity.

Interesting, thank-you.

I went to church regularly when I was younger. My parents are Protestants but do not attend services. I know my dad keeps and regularly reads a bible next to his chair and in his bedroom.

I have no issues with Christians or any other form or religion. I've always thought it was intriguing that your faith is usually predicated on the geographical location of your birth. I mean if you're born in Saudi Arabia it's a pretty sure bet you're gong to be Islamic. Born in Utah, most likely Mormon.. India, Hindu etc... not sure what I make of that, just find it intriguing.

I work at a United Methodist church. As I (jokingly) say, "Someone has to do the Lord's work" and so most Sundays I cannot attend services. I probably wouldn't attend services at the church I work at, although I like their mindset (asking lots of questions is encouraged, people should reach their own decisions about faith, reconciling congregation, etc). Their service is just a little too hippie for me. I prefer attending services at the Episcopalian church, as they have a very traditional service (combined with liberal beliefs) and I can get the Eucharist regardless of what Sunday it is. They too open their doors to lesbians and gays, and the Presiding Bishop is a woman (Katharine Jefferts Schori is her name, and she used to be the assistant rector at the Episcopalian church I occasionally attend).

Generally, though, I find that I prefer to go for a hike in the woods and see the miracles around me than to sit in a church. God is everywhere, after all.

And yeah, I agree with Anne Rice--the Sister Margaret McBride case really burned my biscuits as well.

This reminded me of a column by Nicholas Kristof that I liked: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/op...18kristof.html

I also enjoyed his column on the Sister Margaret McBride issue: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/op...27kristof.html I particularly liked what one doctor who worked with Sister Margaret had to say about the whole thing: "'She is a kind, soft-spoken, humble, caring, spiritual woman whose spot in Heaven was reserved years ago,” he said in the e-mail message. “The idea that she could be ex-communicated after decades of service to the Church and humanity literally makes me nauseated.”

“True Christians, like Sister Margaret, understand that real life is full of difficult moral decisions and pray that they make the right decision in the context of Christ’s teachings. Only a group of detached, pampered men in gilded robes on a balcony high above the rest of us could deny these dilemmas.'"

I think the faith you're born into has more to do with the parents than geography. A child born in Saudi to non-Muslim parents will probably end up being non-Muslim, and the same could be said about Utah or India or anywhere else.

I'm merely looking at the statistic here. You're of course right it has a lot to do with the parents religion most of the time, maybe over 80-90% of the time. But the odds of being born to a Christian family in Riyadh are pretty slim. According to Wiki it's about 97% slim. That's pretty much "Slim to None and Slim left town yesterday" territory.

TBH, I'm more interested in the story of how she went back to religion after being an atheist.

I'm in church right now. I'll be there when I go offline, or leave the building, or start considering Anne Rice's religious views relevant to anyone other than her.

...I find "infinite grace" very hard to disagree with.