How Anne Rice Is Kind of Like Gandhi

by Michael Jones · 2010-07-29 12:51:00 UTC
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I'm guessing this might be the first and last time that someone compares novelist Anne Rice to peace activist and Indian politician Mahatma Gandhi. After all, Anne Rice writes books about vampires, and Gandhi led a nonviolent revolution of one of the largest countries on the planet. Not necessarily comparable fields.

Yet both of them have a very similar take on people and religions that use their connection to God to oppress or demonize others.

Gandhi's infamous quote goes a little like this: "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Ouch. Scathing. But pretty spot on when it comes to people or organizations that pretend to be immersed in faith, but then do things that advocate violence, oppression, or discrimination.

Anne Rice is having a similar epiphany, too. Rice made a high profile conversion to Christianity several years ago, writing in the Washington Post that during the late 1990s, she felt as if faith had just returned to her, and that God was calling her to be reborn, so to speak.

Apparently God has left the building. Because Anne Rice has now announced that she's leaving the organized part of her religion behind, because too many in the faith world are quick to condemn people, including gays and lesbians.

"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," Rice said on her Facebook page.

We're guessing that the Pope probably won't include an excerpt from it during his homily this Sunday ...

Rice makes clear that she's still going to be a religious person. It's just that too many institutional religious bodies in the country today don't practice what they preach.

"I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being 'Christian' or to being part of Christianity," Rice said, to the tune of more than 3,000 likes on Facebook (and probably thousands more by now).

Sounds like Rice is channeling some inner Gandhi.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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