Anne Rice Renounces Christianity
Anne Rice, whose early vampire novels are so good as to make “True Blood” and “Twilight” seem kindergarteners, yesterday announced: ‘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.’ Rice, whose fictional themes changed when she went back to the Catholic Church a few years ago, explains her renunciation in terms that seem patently obvious to me but that apparently Rice had to re-learn for herself: ‘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.’ James Wolcott comments: ‘I will now become a devoted Anne Rice Riceroni, promising to buy your next novel, whatever it is, and read it on the subway, holding my copy high so that everyone can see the cover, a form of free advertising almost as good as “word of mouth.”‘