Leaving Christianity in the name of Christ

There are times when I really do have so much sympathy for this: "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,' Rice wrote. '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."
At the end of the day what keeps me 'Christian' (and 'Evangelical' for that matter) is a cussed refusal to cede the label and the history to the headbangers. But the idea of dissociating from the institutions and the negative stereotypes which are based on viewpoints which I do not share, well, that's very attractive.

I guess the other thing that keeps me is a sense that both Christ gives other Christians to me/us, and we are to learn to receive their gifts. And the mirror image of that: if I depart, then what I have to give is removed from potential influence. Oh and that is assuming that my influence is good; and of course, that's not always to be taken for granted; sometimes I may need the challenge and correction and keeping-me-on-my-toes-ness ...

And then there is the issue of being able to make use of the collective weight of Christian institutions for good. There is no getting away from institutional dimensions of life if we want to use our collective weight for good... individualism is not a plan to improve the world. But, yeah, the downside of that is where we started ...

Anne Rice leaves Christianity – The Marquee Blog - CNN.com Blogs: