A Short Dialog with Anne Rice
Last week, Interview with the Vampire author Anne Rice made news when she publicly left Christianity… but remained “committed to Christ.” Pretty soon after her announcement, I wrote an Examiner article on the subject. I even started to follow Anne Rice’s facebook page. I was surprised at how approachable she was for someone of her level of fame. The following is a very brief conversation we had on facebook:
Anne Rice:
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.
Me:
I’m an optimistic atheist and live a very happy life without the need for deities and vicarious blood sacrifices. Not all atheists are pessimistic. Just follow reason Anne. You don’t need superstitions or to believe in anything without sufficient reason (i.e. faith). The universe is a wondrous place without the magic of bronze-aged myths.
Anne Rice:
Staks, I understand. There are many optimistic atheists. I wasn’t one of them. But I brooded constantly on history and suffering. And of course when I came to Christ, I did not really know anything about Christian pessimism. And still don’t embrace it, of course. But I am sure you are right. There are many happy atheists.
I will be writing a longer and more thought provoking letter to Anne Rice shortly. Let me know what you think of this first exchange.
Filed under: conversation, de-conversion, facebook, Progressive Christians, Vague Higher Power
