Anne Rice has released a statement this week saying that she's leaving the Christian faith again.
I've followed her career for the last 24 years (I discovered her works when I was 12 when she published Vampire Lestat and have been captivated ever since) and can understand why she would be unsatisfied with things. I believe personally, that real spiritual focus and desire in faith, will lead you down many religious paths at different points in your life. Sometimes you get more out of one path then you will out of another. If it resonates with you then it's what you need to be learning from at that point. Right now, Mrs. Rice might not be getting what she needs spiritually from the Christian path.
If you've read my stuff over the last while, you know that I consider FAITH to be the one common element, and religion is just the vehicle to how you get there. It does not matter if you are Pagan, Wiccan, Christian, Buddhist, or praying to the Holy Right-Eyed Bug-Eaters Of The Trees on Your Sidewalk.
Faith is the reason we have prayers and meditation and rituals and bible study. The desire to reconnect with the Universe/Source/God/Goddess/Creator. How we do it is personal.
The press release was put up on Yahoo only about 2 hours ago, and already there are hundreds of comments mostly angry ones. Everyone is focusing on the fact she's leaving the religion, and no one is asking why, they are just bashing her and each other in comments. The rest of the comments are from fans of her Vampire Chronicles asking if this means she will start writing Lestat stories again?
I for one hope she does, only if she feels she can do Lestat justice. Lestat is by far the most influential character I've ever come across in my 36 years on this planet. To write another Lestat story just for the sake of doing so, would cheapen not only a beloved icon but Mrs. Rice herself.
At the end of the day, Mrs. Rice is still human, and we the fans have put a lot of pressure on her.
