The news that celebrated novelist Anne Rice is quitting Christianity is no doubt be taken lightly by most of the world.  In the same way that I reject caring about the gossip of celebretries, it would be quite easy to dismiss this announcement.  And there might even be a few people out there that are thinking “I didn’t know Anne Rice was a Christian”.

Rice’s public conversion was a decade ago and she has written several books (that I haven’t read) on the subject, including a memoir.  Her wrestling with faith is actually a good story—one that should have been celebrated.

In distancing herself from Christianity, Rice stated:

“For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian … 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.”

She also made clear that to be a part of the group, she wouldn’t be “anti-gay,” “anti-feminist,” “anti-science” and “anti-Democrat.”

The couple of responses I’ve seen have been interesting.  An online friend responded by affirming the feelings and sentiments that Rice raises, but that being an insider is valuable in itself.  There’s a Facebook ad that Anne Rice should join the United Church of Christ, since they aren’t anti-gay, -feminist, -science, or -democrat.

As I reflect on this question, however, I wonder if we aren’t missing the meta-message.  Rice’s statement of quitting Christianity (but not her faith in Christ) isn’t simply a statement about her local congregation or  the Roman Catholic Church, but on the entire way we go about our business.  It is about her local church.  It is about the Romans.  It is about televangelists.  It is about cranky Mainliners.  It is about the people that blow up abortion clinics.  It is about the people that solicit and picket on the highway or at funerals (like this guy).  It is about Politicians using their religion for personal gain and moral pride like this one and this one.  It is about the guys who conflate political ideology with theology on a nightly basis.  To much of the country, this is being a Christian.  And to much more of the country, that is not what we want to be.