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Anne Rice stunned the literary world in 1998 when she announced she had become a Christian.
As a self-described “pessimistic atheist” and the author of the supernatural thriller Interview With the Vampire and its sequels, Rice seemed to be one of the least likely celebrity converts.
She acknowledged that many of her novels “reflected my quest for meaning in a world without God.”
Her search led her back to the Catholic Church she had abandoned as a teenager. In Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession, she writes:
“In the moment of surrender, I let go of all the theological or social questions which had kept me from [God] for countless years. I simply let them go. There was the sense, profound and wordless, that if He knew everything I did not have to know everything, and that, in seeking to know everything, I’d been, all of my life, missing the entire point.” Then she added, speaking of the Church’s track record, “No social paradox, no historic disaster, no hideous record of injustice or misery should keep me from Him.”
The author who had sold nearly 100 million books, and who had helped transform Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt into two of the best-looking vampires of all time, had crossed the line of faith.
It seemed to be a happy public vindication for the Church.
Then, in 2010, Anne Rice became one of the best known celebrity de-converters. She announced on her Facebook page: “Today I quit being a Christian.”
What was going on here?
Rice provided an important clarification: “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 ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”
Like countless others, Anne Rice was drawing a line between Jesus and his followers.
She was more than happy to surrender her life to the former, but weary of trying to make life work in the company of the latter.
Right up until her death in 2019, Rice stated that she remained “absolutely committed to the core of Christ’s teachings.” She added, “Following Christ does not mean following His followers,” and, “My devotion to Jesus remains fierce.” A fierce devotion.
But as many have gently pointed out, one of the core teachings of Jesus is to “do life” with others who are also trying to follow him as best they can – even when they seem to get everything wrong.
Let’s face it: A number of people who follow Jesus do indeed present themselves as quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous.
Americans, when asked, make it clear they have few problems with Jesus of Nazareth. He is endlessly fascinating and inspiring. His followers? Not so much.
Author and activist Brian McLaren observes that many of those followers try to save the day with adjectives.
Maybe I can get off the hook if you just realize that I’m not one of those Christians. I’m a real Christian. Or a born-again Christian. Or a Spirit-filled Christian. Or a Catholic Christian. Or a social-activist Christian. Or an evangelical Christian. Or a missional Christian.
I’m, you know, the right kind of Christian.
And what kind would that be?
Anne Rice spent virtually all of her life searching. She yearned to resolve the mystery of what it means to know God and walk with God.
What the world needs now are Christians who can actually help searchers find what they are longing for, without accidentally sabotaging the search along the way.
And what kind of Christians can do that?
The ones who are grace-filled, hopeful, humble, and increasingly aware that they will be always be unfinished.