Resistance to Trump/Pence Is Patriotic — and Christian

Many Facebook "friends" will not like this post if I decided to cross post it on Facebook, but given the danger I feel now grips the nation, hurt feelings are not enough to make true patriots silent.  In keeping with this mindset, I must once again state that I generally hold most Christians, especially judgmental, self-congratulatory evangelical Christians in extremely low regard.  The same holds true for "scamvangelists" enriching themselves by shaking down the ignorant and/or gullible and, of course, the Catholic Church hierarchy that feigns piety while still covering up the molestation and rape of children and youths. Contempt might even be an apt description of my view of such "Christians," all of whom share one attribute: they claim the Christian name, but when it comes to living the Gospel message they are anything but true Christians.  Indeed, they make the Pharisees of the Bible look like rather upstanding individuals in comparison.  Disgustingly, politicians and far too many in the media  continue to give deference to these false Christians and act as if there is something righteous and noble about them when in fact they are foul and sully the Christian name. Author Anne Rice once said that if these people are what it is to be a Christian, then she wanted nothing to do with being a Christian.  I concur with Rice 100%.  Sadly, I believe that if you were to put a group of whites, blacks, Asian, Hispanics and Middle Easterners in a row, these "godly" people would only see the whites as human.  The rest would be something "other" and "lesser."  

With a majority of Catholics and 81% of evangelicals having voted for Donald Trump, the moral rot of these people has placed, in my view, a dangerous, narcissistic, pathological liar in line to occupy the White House.   And now these same people want to the rest of us to normalize the sickness and danger that they have unleashed on the nation and the world.  A piece in Sojourner makes the case that resisting the Trump/Pence/Republican agenda is not only truly patriotic, but also truly Christian.   Here are excerpts: 

A conservative evangelical national leader called me during the election campaign. He reminded me how much he cared about abortion, religious liberty, and the Supreme Court. Then said, “But in Christian conscience, I cannot help put a man in the White House who is intellectually incompetent, has lived an amoral personal and public life, is dangerously immature, and is a racial bigot. I just can’t do that.” This evangelical leader’s refusal to support Donald Trump was genuinely prophetic, unlike the 81 percent of white evangelicals for whom Trump’s incompetence, immorality, immaturity, and racial bigotry was not a deal breaker.

[B]ecause the majority of white Americans, and white Christians, decided Trump’s great defects and dangers were not disqualifiers, he will soon be inaugurated president of the United States.

Power always produces accommodation, and already Trump is being normalized by the media and political world — with the elites adjusting to the new situation of power as they always do. Celebrity has replaced leadership, chest pumping has replaced unifying, tweeting has replaced press conferences and international policymaking, and profiteering looks to become a presidential business. The president-elect’s denials of facts — like intelligence community reports of Russian intervention in an American election — are breathtaking.

Many of us in the faith community have real moral concerns as we enter into this new administration, so how do we relate to it? Accommodation and compromise are not the only responses to power. And we cannot just sit with hope that the president-elect’s words and promises are not to be taken seriously — or that he doesn’t really mean all of his attacks on people for their race or ethnicity, their faith, their gender, their physical abilities, or their identity as Americans. A better response is resistance to all those things, in defense of vulnerable people in particular, in the hope that such resistance might deter, or obstruct, or defeat such behaviors and policies.

Our resistance to the political language and proposals that concern us must go beyond prophetic utterances and symbolic actions. Resistance must include a strategy to block dangerous and destructive public practices and policies and turn public opinion against them.

Here are six points for a resistance strategy. 

1. Engage Legislative and Legal Decision Making

This past Tuesday proved in just over 12 hours how righteous outrage can be channeled to change the minds of members of Congress. House Republicans were ready on Monday night to gut the independent office in charge of investigating ethics complaints against members of Congress. By Tuesday at noon, they had been flooded with so many calls from outraged constituents that they reversed course . . . 

Just next week, the Senate plans to vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act without, at the same time, replacing it with a comprehensive alternative. Repeal without replacement would endanger the health care of up to 22 million people who were uninsured before the passage of the ACA, and jeopardize many others with pre-existing conditions or other vulnerabilities. We need to mobilize all of our constituencies and allies to flood Congress with calls next week, calling on them not to repeal without simultaneously replacing the ACA.

Republican plans already afoot for the spring will require us to mobilize a fierce fight for the existence of the safety net itself, and the most basic nutrition and health care protections for our most vulnerable citizens. Legal battles against expected efforts to disenfranchise minority votes will also become imperative, and will need support from the faith community in particular.

2. Mobilize Your Church

It is high time for white churches and pastors to understand and confront why they failed in this election season to teach and preach about racism, and to be faithful to Christian principles about loving our neighbors and welcoming the stranger. Our original sin of racism in America — how it still lingers in all of our institutions and how it was effectively used in this election — was not faithfully addressed in the pulpits of white American churches. 

3. Use Media and Social Media for Moral Purposes

Engage the media, especially in your own communities. Letters to the editor, op-ed opinion pieces, radio show call-ins, and regular feedback to your local newspapers, television, and radio shows are more important than ever. . . . .  it is also time to engage your friends and relatives and fellow congregants who disagree with you on the issues now at stake in this country in thoughtful, useful, civil, and constructive ways.

4. Stand Up to Hateful Words and Acts

Verbal attacks and physical threats against people of color, including their children, are dramatically on the rise since the election. I continue to hear reports from black church leaders who find themselves under attack, and from African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American young people being assaulted with words and actions, and from believers of other religions being singled out for abuse. That means that we, white people, and white Christians in particular, need to step up and stand up to such attacks.

5. Prepare for Civil Disobedience

The day after the election, my youngest son asked me, “Dad, how many days before you are in jail?” My 13-year-old understood that such issues were at stake. We don’t begin with civil disobedience; we start by taking personal, public, and legal actions to engage our deepest concerns. But we need to prepare and train for civil disobedience for whenever the times and circumstances call for such moral confrontations. We should enter this administration with the expectation that those who resist the Trump agenda may likely spend time in jail. 

6. Take Action

Resistance means putting faith into action. . . . . in standing up and speaking out for moral politics and for the people God has called us to protect.

"Godly Folk" Freaking Out and Lying About End of Boy Scout Gay Ban

It would almost be amusing to watch the rants of the Christofascists over the Boy Scouts of America's vote to end its ban on gay scout leaders.  The amount of hyperventilation and flying spittle is truly off the charts.  Unfortunately, these same "godly folk" who follow the Ten Nine Commandments - they don't observe the Commandment against bearing false witness and lying - are likewise off the charts in the anti-gay lies that they are disseminating.  The common thread being disseminated is that all gays are would be pedophiles and that all molestation of boys is done by gays.  The REAL truth is that HETEROSEXUAL MEN have been documented to commit the vast majority of sexual molestation.  Thus, both claims are total lies, but sadly we are indeed to a point were if these folks' lips are moving, it's about a 99.99999% likelihood that they are lying.  The big danger is that the ignorant and gullible fall for these lies and that gays will suffer violence as result.  Among those spouting this anti-gay animus are some of the usual suspects (all of whom are welcomed with open arms by the GOP):

Don Blake, president of the Virginia Christian Alliance, a coalition that encourages Christians to stand up against the rise of secular culture, told a central Virginia NBC affiliate that Christians who are involved with the Boy Scouts of America need to protect their children by either starting their own scouting programs or joining already existing programs that do not permit openly gay scout leaders.  "All the church people who believe in the Bible need to drop out of the Boy Scouts and start their own program," Blake asserted. "There are existing programs out there."

Robert Jeffress,who leads the 11,000-member Dallas First Baptist Church, urged parents to "run away" from the organization."My advice to parents who are asking me about this is: If you are concerned about the safety of your boys, you should run, not walk, away from the Boy Scouts as quickly as possible," Jeffress stated. Jeffress then contended that "100 percent" of child sex abuses cases in the Boy Scouts have been committed by "homosexuals."

Not to be outdone, anti-gay hater extraordinaire Bryan Fischer pulled out all the stops and, utterly lied about gays and sex abuse:

"The percentage of child sexual abuse cases in which men molest boys is many times higher than the percentage of adult males who are homosexual, and most men who molest boys self-identify as homosexual or bisexual." . . . . homosexuals are responsible for a staggering "one-third of the total number of child sex offenses." 

 

Ponder that: one percent of the population is responsible for 33 percent of all sex crimes against children. This is just another clear indication that there are unmistakable pathologies associated with the homosexual lifestyle. This is not a lifestyle any rational society should celebrate, endorse or promote, let alone sanction with the term "marriage."

[I]t is the height of irresponsibility to deliberately place homosexuals in positions where they have frequent access to young boys. It is inexcusable and virtually criminal.

It is the same kind of campaign of lies that the Nazis used against the Jews and that Vladimir Putin is currently employing against gays in Russia.  If you want to know why the number of "Nones" is exploding in this country, look no farther than these "godly Christians."  They are foul liars and modern day Pharisees - and most make a plush living as parasites preying on the ignorant, uneducated and gullible.  Yet people wonder why I no longer want to call myself a Christian.  Anne Rice got it right.  If this is what Christians are, count me out.

 

Quote of the Day: Anne Rice on Christian Bigots

Time and time again we see anti-gay hate and bigotry spewed by far right Christians who try to justify their horrible conduct under the smoke screen of "sincerely held religious belief."   It is little different than the hate and bigotry demonstrated by white Southerners in the past - and in some circles today - who used the Bible to justify behavior that ought to be unconscionable among decent people.  Yesterday, on her Facebook page author Anne Rice congratulated actress Ellen Page for her courage in coming out as gay.  Not surprisingly, the "godly folk" left their trademark hateful comments in response.  Rice did not countenance the batshitery and let loose stating in part as follows:

Our post commending actress Ellen Page for her courage in coming out as gay attracted a lot of hostility and hate and hate speech --- as well as positive and substantive comments. I have banned many from the page today. I will no longer tolerate hate speech in the guise of Christian belief with the usual irresponsible pick and choose bible quotes and talk of "sin" and hellfire. I have had enough of it, and I think the world has had enough of it too. 

Again, I commend Ellen Page for her bravery in coming out. I hope more celebrities and public figures will be inspired to do so. Anyone who thinks this does not matter is deceiving himself or herself. It matters very much. Gay people in all walks of life suffer from bigotry, bias, superstition, and ignorance. Hats off to Ellen Page! (And please do NOT come here to tell us publicly that you “don’t care.” If you don’t care, don’t expect us to care that you don’t care!).

I agree with Rice.  I will no longer give hate-filled bigots a pass simply because they try to hide their foul hate and bigotry under the guise of religious belief.  These people are toxic not to mention utter hypocrites.

Anne Rice on the Allure of Vampires

I will confess that I have read every one of Anne Rice's vampire novels. I love the homoerotic subplots and I identify with the need to deal with being "other" that the main characters such as Lestat grapple with. While the vampire genre had always been around, Rice was one of the first authors to take it to new levels with The Vampire Chronicles. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Rice talks about the derivation of her own books and her thoughts on the burgeoning genre in the form of True Blood and the Twilight series. It is noteworthy what she has to say about the parallels between gays and vampires in society. Here are some highlights from the interview:

So what’s your take on the Twilight series? It really does seem to go against the grain in its depiction of vampires.

I think the concept is so rich in itself. It’s like the concept of the cowboy or the detective. Vampires have become almost like a genre, like the Western. What I see happening, with writers like Charlaine Harris and Stephenie Meyer, is the domestication of the vampire. I was more interested in a powerful, Old World figure that had a lot of knowledge, experience, and was surrounded by a lot of glamour and mystery. I wanted to keep the romance. I loved the idea of these people gaining wisdom as they aged, and how that might cause them to be ever more tormented by the fact that they don’t really belong in the world and they prey on human beings, who they’ve really come to appreciate. Charlaine Harris is doing something different by imagining what it’s like if vampires are legal and you have them living in your Southern town, and I think she gets a tremendous amount of energy out of that.

True Blood is set in your native Louisiana, and it really uses vampirism as a metaphor for outsiders, including the gay community. What are your thoughts on using vampirism as a metaphor for the disenfranchised?

It’s a given! The vampire is an outsider. He’s the perfect metaphor for those things. He’s someone who looks human and sounds human, but is not human, so he’s always on the margins. When I write and assume the point of view of the vampire, I understand the agony of being a public outcast—someone who doesn’t belong anywhere, yet longs to be part of something and gravitates to other outcasts of his own kind. I remember the year Interview With the Vampire was published, a young man came to me at Berkeley and told me he thought Interview With the Vampire was “the longest sustained gay allegory in the English language.” I was kind of amazed and honored that he was unpacking that from it, but it wasn’t a conscious thing.

I saw your cheeky Facebook post about how your vampires would “feel sorry for vampires that sparkle in the sun.”

[Laughs] Oh, I was just joking. People ask me what I think about that, and I finally pretended that Lestat and Louis were real and gave their opinion on what they thought of the vampires in Twilight. Unfortunately, I think some of Stephenie Meyer readers took it the wrong way, came to my Facebook page, and were quite unpleasant. But I think they’re very … young. It was quite a ruckus!

Back to True Blood, how do you feel about the show’s depiction of vampires as these uninhibited, primal, sexual beings?

I’m a fan of the show. I see it as a logical part of it all. [Harris] has expanded the sexuality that’s inherent in that idea. I didn’t think of that, but as my books went on, I involved my vampires in more sexuality. But I couldn’t go as far as Charlaine Harris did, because I had said that my vampires can’t have sex; that the act of drinking blood is orgasmic for them. She’s doing it a different way. She’s saying that this blood drinker must also be dynamite in bed. Makes sense!

"Loving Christians" Pile On Saying God is Punishing Japan

Frankly, if anyone is deserving of God's punishment, it would seem to be the hate-filled modern day Pharisees of the Christian Right who increasingly seem incapable of common decency much less empathy or concern for their fellow humans. These people make Christianity an uglier and uglier cult with ever passing day. Given the immense human suffering that is at this moment transpiring in Japan, one would think some minimal modicum of decency would prevail. But such is not the case. Not amongst the "godly Christian" set. Exhibit A and Exhibit B are Cindy Jacobs (pictured above), a self-congratulatory nut job Christianist and Malcolm McGregor III, a candidate for El Paso, Texas, City Council. As Right Wing Watch reports, Jacobs is bellowing that God is punishing Japan for its "deep idolatry and the worship of hundreds of idols under the guise of Shintoism, Buddhism, and allegiances to being "sons of the dragon." Meanwhile McGregor - who is vitriolic anti-gay - is likewise chiming in that God is punishing Japan for its failure to be blessed by protection. If Jacobs and McGregor represent the face of Christianity - and they certainly do represent far right Christianists - my query is who would want to embrace such a foul and inhuman belief system? First a sampling of Jacobs' foul verbal diarrhea via Right Wing Watch:
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Like her close colleague Chuck Pierce, who yesterday declared that the earthquake and tsunami in Japan was an attempt by God to topple "a stronghold of spiritism," Cindy Jacobs weighs in on the tragedy to declare that Japan has always been a "hard group for the gospel" because it was rooted in idolatry - even the island itself "looks like the head of a dragon" - and so God is trying to shake the nation because "the Holy Spirit wants to breathe the wind of revival across Japan and bring a mighty spiritual awakening to the land of the rising sun with healing in His wings":
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My interpretation of this is that while God did not want people to perish, He is going to use this to "pierce" the darkness surrounding the Japanese people if we will cry out to God for them in the midst of this crisis ... If we respond correctly, the darkness and the grip of idolatry of all forms that has blinded the eyes of so many in Japan will be broken off of them. The faithful believers in Jesus Christ will be strengthened as they are used for great harvest across Asia and the face of the earth.
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Then there's McGregor. Here are highlights from the Advocate on the mindset of this "loving Christian" who wants to be on El Paso's City Council:
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One of several antigay candidates running for the El Paso city council says he believes the tsunami and earthquake in Japan are a curse from God.
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“Japan had built tsunami walls along their coasts but this tsunami was bigger than that. No matter what you say, they either weren’t blessed with protection or they were cursed with an earthquake,” Malcolm McGregor III told ABC7.
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According to the Dallas Voice, McGregor is a member of the antigay El Pasoans for Traditional Family Values, which sponsored a successful ballot initiative to rescind domestic-partner benefits that had approved by the city council.
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Once again, I find myself firmly agreeing with Anne Rice: If these individuals are what being a Christian involves, then I have absolutely no desire to ever be considered a Christian ever again.

The Christian Right Continues to Disseminate Paul Cameron's Discredited Lies

It will soon be thirty (30) years since the American Psychological Association revoked Paul Cameron's membership because of his ethical violations (Cameron is pictured at right). Later, in 1986, the American Sociological Association passed a resolution condemning his "research" work - because it was fraudulent and falsified. And those in the leadership of Christian Right/anti-gay hate groups cannot help but be well aware of the thoroughly discredited nature of Cameron's anti-gay propaganda. Yet they continue to quote from it and disseminate it to the ignorant and uninformed in an obvious effort to breed hatred and contempt towards LGBT individuals. It's amazing how those in the Christian Right and individuals like Maggie Gallagher believes that they somehow have a special dispensation from abiding by the Commandment against lying and bearing false witness. Brady's Notes & Scribbles has a piece on Cameron's extremely vile "Medical Consequences of What Homosexuals Do" which is still in wide circulation. In the instance that prompted the reference post, the brochure was being disseminated at an information counter at a local Christian school in Reno, Nevada and is likely made available in many other venues. Here are some highlights on this toxic piece of propaganda:
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I never expected to find out that “Medical Consequences of What Homosexuals Do” is not only still in print, but widely, and I do mean widely used and quoted. . . . His “research” and “facts” are still being told over and over and used as proof by other “Christian family” groups and churches . . .
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A further simple google search for only 2010 lead me to a vast number of sites and organizations that post, quote, link and publish in full Mr. Cameron’s work and deem it as scholarly and scientific. These groups include: pro-family groups in multitudes of countries, ProLifeBlog, The Road to Emmaus, countless churches in many denominations in the US and worldwide, Aryan Nation/White Supremacist groups, people running for political offices in the US, Life & Liberty Ministries, BibleBelievers.com, and American Family Association, The Family Research Council, the Illinois Family Association, Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, Concerned Women for America and Coral Ridge Ministries.
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[I]t is extremely important to bust these myths wide open. Here at home, in places like Uganda and in places where Mr. Cameron has and is spreading his poison. As you read it, remember, this is being presented as scientific fact today.
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The tract is broken down into sections:
•Oral sex and the “fact” that almost all homosexuals “verge on consuming raw human blood”. Delightful, Paul.
•Rectal sex with carrots, bottles and even gerbils. Yup, gerbils. I even heard Mr. Cameron say it in a talk in a 2010 video.
•Fecal sex. Hey, did you know that 80% of gays “admit” to ingesting “medically significant accounts
•The medical consequences of homosexual sex and the effects on lifespan. Did you know less than 2% of gay men make it to “old age”? And they are 116 times more likely to be murdered and 18 times more likely to die in car accidents. Could I possibly make this stuff up?
•The “gay legacy” of AIDS will destroy most gay people.
•The “biological swap meet” of saliva, urine, feces, blood across country borders will be exported by this “drunken and high” uber-traveling population.
•Watch out for “the pattern of infection” of not only HIV/AIDS, but scarlet fever too (which, by the way, is not a sexually transmitted disease.)
•“Genuine compassion” must be shown to this group of people who are “troubled people engaging in dangerous activities”.
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This is dangerous stuff. This divides families and churches, this alienates people, this kills others, this poisons the minds of those that think they are “protecting the family”. This is utter deception and demonization and completely non-Christian.
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Un-Christian is an understatement. Cameron and those who peddle his trash as "science" are despicable hate merchants. They make a very strong argument for walking away from Christianity if they now embody what it represents. I'm 100% with Anne Rice on that point.

Catholic Know Nothings Freak Out Over Anne Rice Interview

Over the weekend I wrote about and posted video clips of Christopher Rice's interview with his mother, author Anne Rice. Personally, I thought the interview was well done and directly on point in terms of citing the deficiencies - and in my view, down right evil aspects of - of the Roman Catholic Church. True to form, the predictable elements in the Church who prefer to act as mindless sheep and grovel to the morally bankrupt hierarchy have their noses out of joint over Anne Rice's all too true indictments of the Church. God forbid that one engage in independent thought or question the writings of uneducated nomadic tribesman and/or a self-hating Jewish Pharisee (i.e., St. Paul) that some suspect was sexually attracted to other males himself. Symptomatic of this phenomenon is a post on the Ignatius Inside Scoop where Rice gets roundly attacked. Here's a sampling of the hissy fit whining of the Catholic Church apologists:
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Since announcing to great fanfare last summer that she was ditching the Church, Rice has revealed that she possesses a wealth of emotional baggage and a poverty of knowledge about Church history, practice, and theology.
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Note that Rice never, as far as I've seen over the past five years, provided any reasoning or arguments for her stances on issues such as "same sex marriage," contraception, and women's ordination. She simply assumes her position is correct and she apparently believes that clichés and emotive sound bites are all that are needed to demonstrate the validity of her position.
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It is increasingly obvious that Rice's hatred (and it does appear to be hatred) of the Catholic Church flows from her conviction that her son's homosexuality is not only perfectly fine, it should be celebrated and proclaimed good by the Church. Like so many others, she makes it personal, as if the Church has pinpointed her son; yet the Church has consistently, from the start (Romans 1, anyone?), understood homosexual acts to be sinful.
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Given the Catholic Church's nearly endless record of being wrong on everything - e.g., the Church insisted that the earth was flat, maintained that the Sun revolved around the earth, denied the laws of gravity, supported slavery, and has of course long subordinated women - if anyone needs an education, it's this snarky writer. Meanwhile, Rice is among brilliant company. Here is a brief passage on Thomas Jefferson's views on religion which are not far different than those of Rice (Jefferson believed that St. Paul, author of Romans I had ruined the message of Christ):
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He considered Jesus the teacher of a sublime and flawless ethic. Writing in 1803 to the Universalist physician Benjamin Rush, Jefferson wrote, "To the corruptions of Christianity, I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence, and believing he never claimed any other."

Christopher Interviews Anne Rice on Her Decision to Leave Christianity

The last couple of days at work have been insanely busy and somehow I managed to miss this interview on The Advocate. I want to thank the reader that directed me to it. It is excellent and in it Anne Rice lays out many views that match my own including why the Christianists are so viciously anti-gay because normal, loving gays in committed relationships threaten the Christianist house of cards faith tradition. She also correctly describes Catholicism under its current leadership as immoral and sums up the lunacy of William Donohue and his more or less one many operation Catholic League. She likewise notes that some denominations such as the Episcopal Church, the ELCA and United Church of Christ are gay accepting even if they contain continue to retain reactionary elements and fail to challenge the message of hatred that is the predominant message of far too many denominations. The interview is in four separate video clips, but well worth the roughly 20 minutes it takes to watch the full interview.

Anne Rice Again Slams the Catholic Church in Guardian Interview

Earlier in the year Anne Rice, author of the Vampire Chronicles, made a media splash when she publicly stated that she was leaving the Roman Catholic Church and Christianity because of the homophobia and other forms of hatred and discrimination that seem to be the principal hallmarks of the faith. In an interview with the Guardian, Rice elaborates on her thoughts and why she felt morally compelled to split with the religion in which she was raised. I very much agree with Rice and despite the efforts of and speaking out by some strong Christian allies to the LGBT community and the more gay-accepting stances of denominations such as the ELCA, I largely view Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church as malevolent forces in the world. Here are highlights from the Guardian interview:
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Her recent, angry split with the Catholic church made as much news as her sales figures . . . Earlier this year, Rice, who was raised a Catholic, lost her faith and returned to it in middle age, posted a message on Facebook. "I quit," she wrote. "In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. 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 Christian.
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For years, she thought, if she studied the Bible hard enough she might work out the contradictions. "But then, as I increasingly saw what I thought was sophistry and lies, I thought: 'I can't abide this.' I can't remain with this. This is crazy. There is no basis in scripture for any anointed hierarchy, let alone a male hierarchy. It's just not there. And how in the world did this man-god die, preaching against the temple, and then we wind up with St Peter's in Rome? How did that happen? There were so many issues where I thought the church was flat-out immoral. I had to leave."
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Looking back, she sees her vampires as metaphors for outsiders to the faith, although she was an atheist when she wrote them. "I only saw that as I went on – how fascinated I was by outsiders.
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I've always had gay characters in my books with no effort or plan. They just happen. Characters fall in love with people of their own gender or the opposite. Very early on I was surprised to discover that I had a large gay audience, and a faithful gay audience. They kept my books alive in the beginning when they might have gone under."

Anne Rice is in Good Company

I have noted in several prior posts author Anne Rice's recent decision to leave Christianity yet not abandoning her reverence of Christ. The Christo-fascists and others have tried to beat her up on the issue. Bob Felton at Civil Commotion notes that she's in pretty amazing company in terms of disdaining the toxic, hate generating cult that Christianity has become for many of its alleged adherents. Here are a few who Bob identifies as being of the same mindset as Rice. It is indeed, good company:

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[Anne Rice] thinks the world of Jesus but don’t, by golly, call her a Christian. She’s in good company.

•Thomas Jefferson famously decided that Bible needed some improving, edited out all the crazy stuff, and re-ordered the red-letter parts, creating what is now known as the Jefferson Bible. He approved mightily of Jesus, but was relentlessly contemptuous of the churches.
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•Friedrich Nietzsche’s Antichrist is probably the last thing that need ever be written on the subject of Jesus and the churches that exploit his name. He, too, admired Jesus — but as for the churches: I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct of revenge, for which no means are venomous enough, or secret, subterranean and small enough,–I call it the one immortal blemish upon the human race.
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Ray Bradbury assumed a stance similar to Rice’s: Bradbury doesn’t call himself a Christian, but says “Jesus is a remarkable person” and considers him a wise prophet like Buddha or Confucius.
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•Gandhi: I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
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With company like that, Rice - and others who adopt her stance - ought to be flattered, not embarrassed. As for the Christianists who have denounced Rice, it is they, not Rice and others like her, who will be responsible for the ultimate death of Christianity.

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.

Christopher Rice's Reaction to Mom's Announcement

Last night I wrote about author Anne Rice's decision to "Quit Christianity" because of the increasingly un-Christ like behavior and agenda of the most vociferous self-congratulatory Christians. Most people that I've spoken with agree with Rice's analysis of not wanting to be a "Christian" because they don't want guilt by association. Now, Karen Ocamb at LGBT Pov has caught the reaction of author Christopher Rice's reaction to his mother's decision. Yes, not all Christians are bad, but more and more they good Christians if you will are allowing the Christian brand to be turned into something vile and hateful. Here are the younger Rice's comments:

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"For ten years I watched my mother bravely attempt to engage the hostile fundamentalist forces that dominate the leadership of almost every popular Christian denomination. She was met, in most instances with an iron wall of derision and scorn. Her departure from organized religion is a testament to the moral rot that exists at the politcized core of most church leadership. Throughout it all, her love and support of me as a gay man has never wavered and I love her just as much today as I did when she considered herself a member of the Catholic church.”

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Oh, and I did modify my own Facebook page since I have given up Christianity as practiced by most alleged Christians.

Why One Would Quit Being A Christian

I will admit without reservation that I love Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles - I guess I identify with the otherness of the vampires and the homoerotic undertones as well. I have enjoyed her son Christopher Rice's books as well, especially A Density of Souls. I have not read Anne Rice's more recent books, but suspect that like the Vampire Chronicles a theme of spirituality is present in them as well. Now, as a number of blogs have reported, Rice has announced that she has quit being a Christian. Why, because more and more the name Christian applies to those who act like the Pharisees in the Gospels and act in an overall manner that is diametrically opposed to the theme of love of neighbor. Today's professional Christians are more easily defined by who they hate - which is almost everyone be they gay, black, Hispanic, of foreign birth, non-Christian, etc. I very much feel as Rice does. If the Christian Right and the Catholic Church hierarchy exemplify those who are Christian, then count me out too. I guess the big question is what do those like Rice, myself and others who want to relationship with "Christians" call ourselves? Here are some highlights from Box Turtle Bulletin that look at Rice's statements:
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But her embrace of Catholicism was of a personal and spiritual nature, and as is not unusual among Catholics, didn’t extend to social issues: Her views will not please all of the devout. Rice favors gay marriage. She believes the church position regarding birth control is a grievous error that is not supported by Scripture. She repudiates what she sees as intolerant, “sex-obsessed” church leaders, and says she does not find support in the message of Jesus for their focus on sexual orientation or abortion. She argues for a more inclusive church.
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“Think of how the church bells would ring and the pews would fill if women could become priests and priests could marry. It would be the great resurgence of the Catholic Church in this country.”

But Rice was ultimately unable to reconcile her belief in Christ on the one hand, with the actions of fellow Christians and how those actions have stained the Christian “brand” on the other. She appears to have hinted at this with this post on her facebook page which appeared on Tuesday: Gandhi famously said: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” When does a word (Christian)become unusable? When does it become so burdened with history and horror that it cannot be evoked without destructive controversy?
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She answered her question yesterday morning, when she posted this to her facebook page: For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. 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.
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As I said below, 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-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. 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 Christian. Amen.
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Rice is 100% on the money in my view. So again, what do we call ourselves so as to not be confused with those who have made Christianity something vile and evil?

Lestat Lives, Says Anne Rice

OK, I confess. I am a huge fan of Anne Rice's vampire chronicles series and have read every one of the books. In contrast, I never really got into the Witches of Mayfair series. Perhaps it is because the vampire chronicles have a much stronger undercurrent of homoeroticism and a strong sense of the vampires being "other" just as gays are viewed as being "other" by much of society. Whatever the reason, I am happy that Anne Rice is going to write another book in the vampire series. Here is what Time is reporting (http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1716849,00.html):

"One more book." Those are the words Anne Rice fans have been dying to hear about the Vampire Chronicles ever since her shocking — and dismaying to many of his followers — turn to religious writing. Long seen as a committed atheist, four years ago the best-selling author drove a stake through the hearts of her followers when she vowed to abandon her sinister stories and instead write only of the Lord.

In an interview with TIME, the best-selling author of Interview with the Vampire and The Queen of the Damned, has revealed that she plans to write one last book about Lestat, the feared, yet beloved, blood-sucking main character in her gothic novel series. "But I have one more book that I would really like to write. It will be a story that I need to tell."

While Rice justifies her decision by saying the book will have a definite Christian framework and a focus on the theme of redemption, she admits that the future chronicle will once again involve the character Lestat and a fictional organization known as the Talamaska that is responsible for investigating the supernatural. Much like the author herself, Lestat will be wrestling with the existence of God throughout the story.