{"id":6130,"date":"2010-08-13T05:00:52","date_gmt":"2010-08-13T09:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/?p=6130"},"modified":"2010-08-13T05:00:52","modified_gmt":"2010-08-13T09:00:52","slug":"ucc-is-going-after-anne-rice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/08\/ucc-is-going-after-anne-rice\/","title":{"rendered":"UCC is going after Anne Rice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I guess this is an admission that liberal churches have quit being Christian too:<\/p>\n

The United Church of Christ is trying to get Anne Rice to join its flock after the Interview with the Vampire author announced her highly-publicized decision to \u201cquit being Christian\u201d this past week.<\/p>\n

Just days after Rice\u2019s announcement, the 1.1-million member UCC launched the\u201dYou\u2019d Like the UCC, Anne Rice\u201d campaign on Facebook to offer support for the acclaimed author and to introduce her and others to the historically liberal church body.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of us who are Christian share Anne Rice\u2019s values of inclusion and reason,\u201d remarked UCC\u2019s communications director, the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, who initiated the Facebook campaign. \u201cIt\u2019s important that she and others know that a church like the UCC exists.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

via UCC Makes Pitch to Ex-\u2018Christian\u2019 Author Anne Rice | Christianpost.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nI think it highly unlikely that Anne Rice will join a liberal Protestant church.\u00a0 Even in her disillusionment, a version of the church that seems to agree with her will hold little appeal.\u00a0 Hunter Baker<\/a> makes this point:\n

What fascinates me about the way she has done this is how Catholic she is in her rejection of the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

If Anne Rice were a Protestant of almost any kind, she would surely flee to a denominational group or congregation which embraces Jesus while more closely approximating her values. \u00a0There is no doubt it would be possible to do so. \u00a0There are liberal Baptists, liberal Lutherans, liberal Methodists, etc.<\/p>\n

But Rice doesn\u2019t avail herself of that opportunity. \u00a0And I think I know why. \u00a0Anne Rice movingly wrote of her Catholic childhood and of her dramatic return to the church. \u00a0At no point did she apparently consider returning to faith as a Protestant. \u00a0She clearly believes that the Catholic church is the only true manifestation of the Christian church. \u00a0And thus, when she rejects it, there is no other church for her to join. \u00a0She is affirming the church at the same time she loudly and publicly is slamming the door and running away.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I guess this is an admission that liberal churches have quit being Christian too: The United Church of Christ is trying to get Anne Rice to join its flock after the Interview with the Vampire author announced her highly-publicized decision to \u201cquit being Christian\u201d this past week. Just days after Rice\u2019s announcement, the 1.1-million member […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,47],"tags":[169,1290,1919,2283],"class_list":["post-6130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-theology","tag-anne-rice","tag-liberal-theology","tag-roman-catholicism","tag-united-church-of-christ"],"yoast_head":"\nUCC is going after Anne Rice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I guess this is an admission that liberal churches have quit being Christian too: The United Church of Christ is trying to get Anne Rice to join its flock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/08\/ucc-is-going-after-anne-rice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UCC is going after Anne Rice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I guess this is an admission that liberal churches have quit being Christian too: The United Church of Christ is trying to get Anne Rice to join its flock\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/08\/ucc-is-going-after-anne-rice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-08-13T09:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/08\/ucc-is-going-after-anne-rice\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/08\/ucc-is-going-after-anne-rice\/\",\"name\":\"UCC is going after Anne Rice\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-08-13T09:00:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-08-13T09:00:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"I guess this is an admission that liberal churches have quit being Christian too: The United Church of Christ is trying to get Anne Rice to join its flock\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/08\/ucc-is-going-after-anne-rice\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/08\/ucc-is-going-after-anne-rice\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/08\/ucc-is-going-after-anne-rice\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UCC is going after Anne Rice\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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