ARE YOU "ANTI-" ANYTHING?

I am going out on a limb (again) to talk about an article I read on the Internet. It came from the NY Times, and concerned the author Anne Rice and her quitting organized religion. If some of you aren't familiar with her, she is a best-selling author of a series of vampire books! Yes, vampires. You may have heard of the movie, "Interview With a Vampire", starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. That was one of her books. Now I am not a fan of vampire stories -- not since I was a kid and hid in the closet with a flashlight to read "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. Remembering that book still gives me the shivers. I read one or two of Ms. Rice's books to see what all the fuss was about. I don't think I finished the second one. I understand that the new "Twilight" books and movies are about vampires as well.

You would think that Ms. Rice's books and their topics would preclude being a Christian. I remember being surprised about ten years ago to read about her taking up the Christian faith of her upbringing and becoming a practicing Catholic again. When I read this article this morning, I was equally surprised.

"Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out," 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. For 10 years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.... 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."

Whew! Even though I am repulsed by some of the practices she has written about in her books, I can relate to her statement above about modern day Christianity. I, too, feel I am an outsider when the Christians I am around start talking about those same issues. I know that is what is behind my inability to find a church home in the last two towns I've lived in. I, too, to borrow her words, "refuse to be anti-gay, anti-feminist, anti-artificial birth control, anti-Democrat, anti-secular humanism, anti-science, and anti-life"! Personally, I do not have to quit being a Christian for these opinions. The Christ teachings I follow didn't discriminate against these issues. Jesus the Christ taught tolerance, acceptance, forgiveness, and love, and his ministry was all-inclusive. He did not discriminate.

I wish more people -- especially those with a less controversial profile (is that being discriminatory?) than Ms. Rice -- would speak out about what is happening to Christianity in this country. Separation of church and state has never been more needed.I am aghast at the so-called Christians in such movements as the Tea Party. I am ashamed when I read of the white supremacists who claim to be Christians. I am ashamed when school boards like ours in Texas are filled with "Christians" who try to force their beliefs into textbooks that will sway the minds of little children into believing history was something other than it really was. This country may be "One nation, under God", but that does not mean we are all Christians. Christians do not have a monopoly on God! Nor were the founding fathers all Christians. We were founded to establish a country of freedom -- and that meant freedom of religion, too. Not freedom to become a Christian only.

If Jesus were here today, he would not be in the hallowed halls of our Christian churches. Or stirring up a political movement. You can bet he would be on the streets ministering to the homeless, the sick, the unemployed. Encouraging us to love and take care of our neighbors -- here and abroad. He would be pointing out what is good and right in people, not what is wrong or evil. He would tell us to celebrate our differences. And you know what? I'll bet he would be a Democrat. At the very least, he would be called a "left-wing liberal"!

Some people got it right. Like Mother Teresa. When asked to join in an anti-war march and protest, her answer was "No. But when you have a march for peace, let me know and I will come."

May we all be known more by the things we are for, rather than the things we are against!Peace and love,
Marilyn