I read every night before going to sleep. Right now I have half a dozen novels piled up beside my bed, every one of them mysteries. Favourite authors include Peter Robinson, Charles Todd, Ruth Rendell, Martha Grimes, Ian Rankin, Elizabeth George, Dorothy Sayers, Ellis Peters and, of course, the grande dame of them all, Agatha Christie.
My wife is afraid that my mind, or what's left of it, will wither away completely if I don't find something more intellectual to read once in a while. I suggested John Grisham and she just rolled her eyes.
I wonder how she would feel if I told her that my new favourite author is known for her books on vampires, and that under a pseudonym she wrote adult-oriented fiction and erotica. I am speaking, of course, of Anne Rice.
Rice, who was born in 1941, abandoned the Roman Catholic faith in which she was raised at age 18, and described herself as an atheist until 2005 when she renewed her relationship with God and announced that from that point on she would "write only for the Lord."
I read her first novel for the Lord, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, this year and was greatly edified in so doing. While fictional, it is a marvelous story of what it could have been like for Jesus as a little boy as he returned with his extended family from their sojourn in Egypt. Apparently she plans to write two more books on the life of our Saviour. Buy them!
Rice is a deeply convicted Christian and a member once again of the Roman Catholic church. As such, she is profoundly pro-life. She notes in her official website (www.annerice.com):
I want to add here that I am Pro-Life. I believe in the sanctity of the life of the unborn...I feel we can stop the horror of abortion...The solution to the horror of abortion can and must be found... Do I myself have a solution to the abortion problem? The answer is no. What I have are hopes and dreams and prayers --- that better education will help men and women make responsible reproductive choices, and that abortion will become a morally abhorrent option from which informed Americans will turn away.
Why then did she recently announce her support for Hilary Clinton as the next U.S. president despite Ms. Clinton's pro-choice position? Further, what was behind her assertion that:
I believe the Democratic Party is the party that is most likely to help Americans make a transition away from the abortion crisis that we face today.
I am not a U.S. citizen, but my impression is that a large number of conservative American Christians and their spiritual leaders (e.g., James Dobson) feel that a critical way to bring an end to abortion is via a Republican president who is him- or herself pro-life.
Thus, much controversy swirls around the candidacy for Republican leader of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who despite his adherence to the Roman Catholic church is pro-choice. Conservative Christians are being urged to vote for a third-party candidate (certainly not the Democrats) should Giuliani win the Republican nomination.
Rice's explanation is as follows:
Though I deeply respect those who disagree with me, I believe, for a variety of reasons, that the Democratic Party best reflects the values I hold based on the Gospels. Those values are most intensely expressed for me in the Gospel of Matthew, but they are expressed in all the gospels. Those values involve feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison, and above all, loving one’s neighbors and loving one’s enemies...Again, I believe the Democratic Party is the party that is most likely to help Americans make a transition away from the abortion crisis that we face today. Its values and its programs --- on a whole variety of issues --- most clearly reflect my values. Hillary Clinton is the candidate whom I most admire.
I have said in other posts that I see politics as a blunt instrument for attempting to effect a moral revival of any sort. That does not appear to be the opinion of many American Christians. I am interested in your views of Rice's position, and would be happy to publish some of them if you would like to send them along. I've also posted a little survey to which you may like to respond.
Monday 15 October 2007
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3 comments:
Abortion is simply one of the tools our enemies are using to destroy us. The core of Western society is the middle class. We are smart, educated, wealthy, and mouthy, and because of this they can't subdue and dominate us, so they must destroy us. Abortion, multiculturalism, moral depravity promoted by Hollywood, TV and the media, glamorization of corrupt third world cultures (rap, hip hop, etc.), erasing Christianity (Happy Holidays), feminism and the destruction of fatherhood and the family... these are the tools they have used to destroy the foundations of our society, and nobody seems to notice. We need to wake up pretty soon or we're finished. Anne can love our enemies all she wants, but somebody had better start fighting them too.
It is absolutely wrong-headed. How do you save babies by voting for people who do not want to protect the babies?
I just think she's averse to voting Republican. She doesn't want to be one of the "bad guys"-- as if stopping babies from being killed were a bad thing.
While no fan of Hilary Clinton, I recall her once making a remark about making abortion "rare". That is an improvement over our Canadian politicians who are always looking for new ways to extend the abortion franchise (not soon enough, not frequent enough in the north, private providers wrongly restricted etc.)
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