Anne Rice's Catholic Soul

In the wake of her public Facebook announcement that she has quit Christianity, Anne Rice, famed author of "The Vampire Chronicles," has spoken out in interviews and televisions appearances, as you might expect, to elaborate upon and clarify what prompted such a bombshell. The only thing that she really makes clear is that, no matter what, she will always feel like a Catholic.

I watched her on the "Joy Behar Show" on Wednesday, August 4, 2010. Joy Behar began by reading the statement Anne Rice made on her Facebook on July 28, 2010:

"Today 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 a Christian. Amen."

Joy asked Anne Rice what brought her to this point of quitting her religion. Anne Rice said that there were "a few last straws." She had been living as a Christian for 12 years -- publicly for about five -- yet there was always something happening somewhere in the world in the name of Christianity that caused her "considerable moral discomfort." She said she did not want to feel complicit in any of these things that she feels come about through organized religion. Joy Behar asked whether the decision had anything to do with her son, Christopher, being gay. Ms. Rice indicated that was not the catalyst by any mean, saying she "had a gay readership, gay friends, lived in a gay neighborhood ... when Christopher was a very little child. ..." She said she was concerned with gay issues long before she even knew her son was gay.

When asked to elaborate on her accusation of the church being 'anti-feminist,' Ms. Rice said "I saw a lot of it in the Catholic church ... a lot of rhetoric that condemned radical feminism, and feminism." She explained that the people she is speaking about blame radical feminism for abortion practices, taking care to note that she is also anti-abortion. She feels, however, that "radical feminism has done an enormous amount to improve the lot of women all over the world in the last 20, 30 years."

She spoke of her many years, claiming to be an atheist but when returning to religion, choosing Catholicism: "I went rather spontaneously through the doors of the Catholic Church back to God, because that was my childhood, my childhood church. That was my mother tongue, as a Christian."

She reiterated this insight into the formation of her soul in an interview with Mitchell Landsberg of the Los Angeles Times: "You know, when you're brought up the way I was brought up in the Catholic Church, you really remain culturally a Catholic all your life. Your whole approach to art, your whole approach to music, to architecture, to literature, all of this has been shaped by Catholic thinking and the Catholic tradition. So that's not something that you can put aside. I mean, my novels were Catholic novels when I was calling myself an atheist."

It's quite possible that this is why Anne Rice chooses to walk away from organized religion and practice her beliefs independently, despite being wooed by other denominations. She would rather renounce organized religion altogether and become, whether she admits to the terminology or not, what is generally called a "fallen away" or "lapsed" Catholic. Although some people understand the term to mean anyone who has left the Catholic church, my own understanding of it (as a former Catholic myself) is anyone who stopped being a practicing Catholic for whatever reason, but did not really reject the Catholic religion in the sense of joining another church.

There's even an old joke about it when one Irishman asks another if he is Catholic or Protestant. "I'm an atheist," replies the other. "So am I," the first one says, "but are you a Catholic atheist or a Protestant atheist." Anne Rice did reject Catholicism and religion altogether when claiming to be an atheist, but as she herself points out, the imprint of her early training was still very much with her.

William Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in the United States,found Rice's stance disingenuous, if not hypocritical: "Rice came back to the Catholic Church in the 1990s, but only the day before yesterday did she learn that the bishops are not fond of guys marrying. She said in 2008 that Catholicism is not anti-gay, but in 2010 it was so anti-gay she had to quit. She is pro-life, knows abortion kills, but sides with the agenda of Planned Parenthood. She wants Christ without the Christianity."

Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries, however, takes a much harsher view, telling Anne Rice: "You Can't Quit Christianity Unless You Are a Christian," charging that the Christ she believes in is one of her own construction.

Both of these statements reflect another Christian stereotype that gets thrown around a lot -- the 'cafeteria-style' Christian -- but these leaders fail to see that Anne Rice's statements show a conflict experienced by many members of organized religion. Obviously, if they can't find answers that make moral and spiritual sense, they are going to become former members.

Sources: embedded