Oh Ms Rice

I have always loved everything about Anne Rice. She is just, wonderful. All throughout my intermediate and high school days I read her books, I fell into her world, of new orleans and vampires and the supernatural. I have read all of the Vampire Chronicles, and the majority of her other novels... I think Violin might have been one of my favourites. I still love her, even though I havent read one of her novels for years. I even quip to the twihards about reading real vampire stories, and direct them to the Anne Rice section in their libraries and bookstores... {because she write about REAL vampires...obviously} In 1998 Anne returned to Roman Catholicism, from which she had left when she was 18, leaving because she began to question her faith and the reasons that she held her beliefs. She defended her writing of the Vampire Chronicles when many within Roman Catholicism called them out on anti christian values. Her response, as with much of what she says, impressed me hugely.

"My vampire novels and other novels involve a strong moral compass. Evil is never glorified in these books; on the contrary, the continuing battle against evil is the subject of the work. The search for the good is the subject of the work. Interview with the Vampire is about the near despair of an alienated being who searches the world for some hope that his existence can have meaning. His vampire nature is clearly a metaphor for human consciousness or moral awareness. The major theme of the novel is the misery of this character because he cannot find redemption and does not have the strength to end the evil of which he knows himself to be a part.

She goes on to say "In 1976, I felt that the vampire was the perfect metaphor for the outcast in all of us, the alienated one in all of us, the one who feels lost in a world seemingly without God. In 1976, I felt I existed in such a world, and I was searching for God. I never dreamed that the word, vampire, would prevent people from examining this book as a metaphysical work. I thought the use of the word was a powerful device... The entire body of my earlier work reflects a movement towards Jesus Christ. In 2002, I consecrated my work to Jesus Christ. This did not involve a denunciation of works that reflected the journey. It was rather a statement that from then on I would write directly for Jesus Christ. I would write works about salvation, as opposed to alienation."
Source

Recently she has been the center of some rather interesting religious debate. {Oh gosh thats a bit serious for this blog... but stay with me.. its interesting I promise} Two weeks ago, Anne released a statement renouncing her dedication to the church...

"For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. 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. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.

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.

My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn't understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me. But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been, or might become."

There is something that rings so true in her courageous words. I actually love what says about Following Christ does not mean following his followers. Im not sure that I have made it known, but I am a believer of Christ. I wasnt raised religious but came to a relationship with Jesus in 2005 {but thats a long story for another day} However for the last couple of years, I have struggled with finding a church that accepts me for me, and finding a church that has a pure heart after God. You see, Im not the cookie cutter christian a lot of people are looking for. I have tattoos, I drink, I am opinionated and educated and Im not afraid to tell you what I think. So much of what Anne Rice has to say resonates in my heart. Like her, I refuse to be Anti many of the things that 'christianity' {read, the church} calls for. I refuse to see myself as better because I have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and I refuse to pressure people in my life to have that relationship too.