I remember reading in the news recently that Ms. Rice had left Christianity so I looked her up on the internet to understand why. I found she had not left God or Christ, but only the church. I was happy for her, because I believe one can worship God without going to church. This is one quote from her I found on Huffington Post, but there are many others online explaining her reasons.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/29/anne-rice-i-quit-being-a_n_663915.html
"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-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ I quit Christianity and being a Christian."
I loved this book. The part that spoke to my heart the most was when she wrote of love. Here is a quotation from the book.
"Loving our neighbors and our enemies is perhaps the very hardest thing that Christ demands. It's almost impossible to love one's neighbors and enemies. It's almost impossible to feel that degree of total giving to other human beings. To practice the daily love of neighbor and enemy calls into question one's smallest and greatest competitive feelings, one's common angry reactions to slights both great and small. In sum the will to love all human beings must pervade every thought, word and deed. One has to love the rude salesclerk and the foreign enemy of one's country; one has to love those who are "patently wrong" in their judgments of us. One has to love those who despise us openly and write and tell us so by e-mail. One has to love the employee who steals from you, and the murderer excoriated on national television."
"I'm a baby Christian when it comes to loving. I am just learning..."
I am just learning too, and Ms. Rice's book helped me in that learning.
