Common Ground

Whatever the question, love is the answer...

Noel Albertson

Anne Rice and the Future of Common Ground

My wife Carolyn has been deeply moved by the books of Anne Rice, the hugely popular author of many vampire books including the best-seller series of books called the Vampire Chronicles. Her books are deeply spiritual and at the same time openly "heretical" (in the eyes of the institutional church). So it was with some surprise that a few years back, Anne Rice announced that she had converted to christianity.

Recently, she came out with another surprise announcement: "I quit Christianity". But interestingly, she still has faith in Christ. She announced it publicly on Facebook. She has since made many very profound posts, some of which I quote below. They speak, I believe, to the future of Common Ground. I believe Ms. Rice would feel very comfortable at Common Ground... Where else can you follow a spiritual path without having to subscribe to all the dogma and without having to support the institution?

Her posts generated a voluminous debate with hundreds of comments on each post and thousands of people indicating that they "liked" her post.

Here are some of the posts, ranging from beautiful to profound, but always plain spoken and passionate.

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.

And another:

As I said below, 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.


Amen indeed.

Peace,

Noel

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Irene Boychuk Comment by Irene Boychuk on September 9, 2010 at 7:37pm
And amen to that Noel. Thank you for bringing me Anne Rice's blog posts because I didn't know this. I have, like Carolyn, been a huge fan of Anne Rice's work and found them deep and powerful on a very meaningful level as well as richly entertaining. And what her posts bring up for me is the importance to know your values and let them guide you. I remember again and again to let go of the need to belong if where I find myself belonging is no longer aligned with my values. We already belong to everything anyway--no separation, right? And so we can live our lives aligned with what is true for us and watch the tides rise and fall around us. It seems like the most loving thing to do--first towards myself and from there towards the world.
I applaud her for making her views public, using her noteriety to take a stand in the simplest way--by living her life in integrity.
Jack P Roddy Comment by Jack P Roddy on September 5, 2010 at 3:57pm
Anne Rice may have believed there are certain rules and dogmas to Christianity & maybe for some sects there are. More important is not to betray yourself and your instincts in the name of some religion. If you love the life of Christ then follow Him without any need to name yourself a Christian. No religious sect owns anyone. I am mentored by Christ and appreciate the beauty of the life he lived, yet I am not a Christian. I am also mentored by Buddha, Gandhi and Martin Luther King among others. Belief can be a very slippery slope and ultimately comes from a fear-based mind when it becomes "conviction"..
No Christian sect worth its salt would ever demand belief in anti-gay, anti-feminist or anti-artificial birth control. Can you not feel the "need to control" coming from such a man-made church/system? Its hipocritism is so obvious. Some of my Buddhist friends often quote Jesus in their appreciation for His life. Some Moslems follow the sacred life of Christ as well. Our work in this life is to undo the fixed conviction of "belief". For such a consciousness makes one person right and another wrong. The beginning of spiritual progress would be to undo the idea of right and wrong in "belief". Otherwise "belief" becomes the great divider and separates us from each other. There is more than a semantic connection between belief and guilt. Whenever we believe we know something for sure in this uncertain, paradoxical world, we will be perilously close to convicting ourselves or others of unpardonable crimes. "Forgiveness" gradually and carefully relieves us of our dependence on believing, increasing enabling us to "be". Then our actions can arise from an instinctive wisdom that draws from our practical knowledge, yet transcends our limited grasp of truth. Jack Roddy
John E. Thomas Comment by John E. Thomas on August 1, 2010 at 4:47pm
I can relate to her journey. My experience was similar all though over a much longer period. Thank you for sharing. Peace and Light, John

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