Anne Rice”s Decision Makes Me Sad

Anne Rice and the Church: A Reflection on Disillusionment

Anne Rice and the church prompt Mark A. Taylor to reflect on the sadness of seeing people damaged and disillusioned by Christian community. He considers the brokenness of believers, the pain caused by quarrelsome Christians, and the hope that the church’s story is not all bad.

• Anne Rice’s comments reveal the pain some feel toward Christianity and the church.
• The article acknowledges real disappointment with quarrelsome and hostile Christians.
• Taylor emphasizes that believers are forgiven at conversion, but becoming whole is a process.

By Mark A. Taylor

Perhaps you’re familiar with Anne Rice, the world-known novelist who left the Catholic faith of her childhood to become an atheist and then returned to a vibrant belief in God. Perhaps you know about her Facebook post July 28.

A Painful Public Departure

“Today I quit being a Christian,” she wrote. “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.”

The next day she added, “My faith in Christ is central to my life. . . . But following Christ does not mean following his followers.”

If you’re not familiar with Rice—if you’re reading these words for the first time—then perhaps your instinct is to become defensive or combative. But my first response is to be sad—sad for Rice and thousands like her who have been damaged and disillusioned by the church; and sad for the church, the bride of Christ, that has allowed its perfect mission of redemption and reconciliation to be hidden or forgotten. I’m sad because Satan, the father of all lies, has succeeded once more in blinding many to the truth.

Not that there’s no truth in the disappointment Rice expressed. Most of us have experienced “quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious” Christians. And that’s sad, too.

When Christians Wound One Another

I’ve sat with ministers frustrated by shortsighted leaders or hurt by immature church members given to meanness. I’ve talked with Christians disillusioned by sin in the lives of other Christians they once viewed as heroes. I’ve read the stories of Christians who love Christ and want to follow him in spite of a shocking secret they’re afraid to tell anyone in the church. And I know about a suffocating negative spirit that stifles joy and has driven away many, long before Rice decided to leave.

The problems she saw in the Catholic church may be different from the problems in the congregations you and I attend. But the core causes are the same. The church is full of broken people whose attitudes and actions are sometimes inconsistent with the demands of Christ and what they themselves espouse.

Forgiven, Yet Still Becoming Whole

These folks were forgiven when they were converted; but becoming whole is a process, not an event. Encountering these in-process saints creates frustration. (That we likewise frustrate some of our fellow-believers too often doesn’t occur to us.)

The fact that Rice and her kin haven’t seen the good makes me saddest of all. But the story isn’t all bad, and that’s what I want to write about in this space next week.

Author: Mark A. Taylor

Mark A. Taylor, who served as Christian Standard editor from 2003 to 2017, retired in June 2017 after almost 41 years with Standard Publishing (Christian Standard Media).