Dude, you're allowed to dump a religion because you can't handle the gaps between their morality and yours. You're even allowed to dump all organized religion, if that's what you want.
Yes, this. You're definitely allowed to keep the spirituality, too, and her decision should be entirely hers.
On the other hand, I do think there are a lot of liberal Christians out there who are less annoyed with Anne Rice specifically and more annoyed with… not getting acknowledged in general. I have mixed feelings on that, but it is really frustrating to hear the repeated subtext of "you're not really [identification] because you don't believe x, y, or z," and that's what Anne Rice is saying with her "I refuse to be anti-[xyz]" diatribe when she claims that being Christian… is being anti-those things. And that's just not true to plenty of other people who do identify as Christian, so in that sense, she's making it not just about her decision, but also about other people's belief systems, which brings hurt feelings.
Or, I should edit to add, it's also not about Anne Rice, but about the fact that the huge public face of Christianity is the anti-[xyz]. Which is why every time something like this comes up, there's a huge protest of "you can still be [x] and a Christian!"
That's how I understand it, at least.
This is my only icon even vaguely related to Christianity, and I could not resist. I have a terrible sense of humor.
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Yes, this. You're definitely allowed to keep the spirituality, too, and her decision should be entirely hers.
On the other hand, I do think there are a lot of liberal Christians out there who are less annoyed with Anne Rice specifically and more annoyed with… not getting acknowledged in general. I have mixed feelings on that, but it is really frustrating to hear the repeated subtext of "you're not really [identification] because you don't believe x, y, or z," and that's what Anne Rice is saying with her "I refuse to be anti-[xyz]" diatribe when she claims that being Christian… is being anti-those things. And that's just not true to plenty of other people who do identify as Christian, so in that sense, she's making it not just about her decision, but also about other people's belief systems, which brings hurt feelings.
Or, I should edit to add, it's also not about Anne Rice, but about the fact that the huge public face of Christianity is the anti-[xyz]. Which is why every time something like this comes up, there's a huge protest of "you can still be [x] and a Christian!"
That's how I understand it, at least.
This is my only icon even vaguely related to Christianity, and I could not resist. I have a terrible sense of humor.