Quitting Chistianity In The Name Of Christ

I commented the other day on author Anne Rice's announcement that she was leaving Christianity - although not her following of Christ - because Christianity has become, at least as practiced by the Christianists and Bible thumpers, something truly vile. Rice has received many brickbats for her statement/decision - particularly by whiners who find it easier to attack Rice than stand up to and confront the truth about their own denominations and/or those who are increasingly making Christianity something obscene and the act of being a Christian far worse than an embarrassment. Too many church leaders are either haters themselves or too cowardly to stand up to haters in their congregations. Viewing things from the pews, members of congregations continue mindlessly give contributions to churches and denominations that pervert the Gospel message. In an interview with NPR, Rice gives more details on her decision. Here are highlights (I particularly agree with the part about when good people fail to act):
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"This is something that had been going on really almost from the beginning of my conversion [her return to Catholicism]in 1998," she says. "From the beginning, there were signs that the public face of Catholicism and the public face of Christianity were things that I found very, very difficult to accept."
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"I didn't anticipate at the beginning that the U.S. bishops were going to come out against same-sex marriage," she says. "That they were actually going to donate money to defeat the civil rights of homosexuals in the secular society.
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"... When that broke in the news, I felt an intense pressure. And I am a person who grew up with the saying that all that is needed for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing, and I believe that statement."
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"You know, I don't really like disappointing all my Catholic friends," she says. "I don't really like disappointing all my Christian friends and contacts. I really don't like it. It's painful. But I did what I felt I had to do."
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Amongst the whiners belittling Rice is John W. Kennedy, a Catholic, at Beliefnet, and E.D. Kain on his blog. The irony is that Rice's critics utterly ignore the image of Christ in the Gospels. He raised Hell with the existing religious authorities of his culture for their greed, hypocrisy, hatred toward their fellow man, and thirst for power and control. That's right, Christ condemned the same things that have come to be synonymous with Christianity, particularly as practiced by the fundamentalist Christians, Catholic Church hierarchy, Southern Baptist Convention, and Mormons. If one is really a follower of the Christ of the Gospels, then there ought to be a furor going on against what institutional religion has become. But not so with Rice's critics. They meekly surrender to the modern day Pharisees about whom Rice seems to complain. Here's highlights from Kennedy's BS:
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Ms. Rice's frustration with some Christians is understandable but there are a lot of sincere, loving Christians in this world who don't deserve to be lumped together with the worst acts of those who fail to uphold the faith's true ideals. It's no more right to do that to Christians than it is to hold all Muslims in disrepute because of the actions of al-Qaeda and other radical Islamic terrorists.
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While it's proper for mainstream Muslims to condemn the heinous acts of those committing murderous acts in the name of their religion, we don't expect them to declare themselves no longer Muslim.
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And where is condemnation that Mr. Kennedy expects from Muslims when it comes to Christians condemning the misdeeds of their fellow Christians? It's nonexistent or a faint whimper compared to the braying of the Christofascists. And even in denominations like the Episcopal Church and the ELCA that have move towards doing the right thing in terms of being gay accepting, too much worry is still being given to maintaining "unity" as opposed to calling out bigotry and an anti-knowledge mind set for what they are. Obviously, the Christ of the Gospels wasn't worried about maintaining unity with despicable religious leaders. And then Kain has this drivel that suggests he puts his personal spiritual ease ahead of condemning wrongs:
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Certainly I disagree with much of what is said and done in the name of Christianity. Certainly I get a knot in my stomach every time the Catholic hierarchy bungles yet another sexual abuse crisis, and the more revelations of how un-Christian so many priests and pastors and others have been while peddling the words of Christianity the more angry and saddened I become over the whole state of affairs. But then I go to mass and everything is different. There are no politics. There is no divisive language, no hell and brimstone, none of this. There is the message of love and redemption and community and charity that drew me back to Christianity in the first place. It seems to me Rice isn’t doing this in the name of Christ at all. It seems she’s given up on Him altogether.
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I don't know what Catholic church Kain is attending, but it sure as Hell isn't any of the Catholic Churches that I attended over the years. And as for "no politics," with bishops writing and priests reading letters to parishioners about voting against gay rights and other political issues and the Church giving thousands upon thousands of dollars to anti-gay causes, I would suggest that Kain get his head out of his ass and open his eyes.

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I suspect that Kennedy and Kain - along with Pope Benedict XVI, the College of cardinals and many other Christians are precisely what motivated Anne Rice to make her statement. These individuals are either actively perpetrating evil or sitting back and allowing it to happen. Rice is 100% on the money in doing what she did. Millions more need to do the same.