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Andy Gill

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Quitting Christianity.

Quitting Christianity.

Last updated on: May 30, 2013 at 2:50 pm by Andy Gill

Quitting Christianity. 2013-05-30T14:50:11-05:00 Andy Gill

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I recently stumbled upon a quote from Anne Rice, who in 2010 decided to “quit Christianity,” saying,

“…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-democrat. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.”

Sadly, it’s hard to disagree with her. It’s easy to see her point.

There’s a trend. Anne Rice isn’t the only one who has trouble with “Christianity.” In fact, today the largest growing religion is “no religion.” But those who walk away still love and claim Jesus. Like Bono, Marcus Mumford, Anne Rice, and more…

I don’t know Anne Rice personally, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t quit Christianity, she quit Christianity. Did you catch that? It was subtle. Often when people walk away from Christianity, what they are really walking away from is what Christianity has become.

The more I personally think about it, the more I continue to be affirmed of and realize, I never left the Church. I just simply realized that what we’re doing wasn’t church.

“Have you ever wondered if we’re missing it? It’s crazy, if you think about it. The God of the universe – The creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor loves us with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love and what is our typical response? we go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss. Whether you’ve verbalized it yet or not, we all know something’s wrong.” – Francis Chan

Something is wrong.

Rather than freeing, churches seems to be oppressing.

Instead of offering salvation, they serve condemnation.

They’re less about loving, and seemingly more about abusing.

Christianity has a bit of an image crisis, let alone a couple thousand years of baggage (i.e. the crusades, crooked popes, and today serving a “backwards evangelicalism”).

Though I’m not sure that quitting is the right response.

I think reclaiming is the right response.

Calling myself a Christian doesn’t make me a follower of Jesus or part of the Body of Christ, any more than saying that I’m a Professional Athlete makes me a member of the Green Bay Packers. Just because I’ve attended a few games, maybe dressed the role, and spoken the lingo, it doesn’t make me a member of the team.

I’m not sure where I’m personally at. I love Jesus, but I’m not too excited about those that call themselves the church. And often times It’s hard not to relate to Anne Rice, but I don’t think we can stop there…

So I guess my questions for you guys are:

Where are you at?

Do you refer to yourself as a Christian?

Do you label yourself as a “no religion”, but still claim Jesus?

Most importantly, What can we do to make change, and reclaim the Church and the name of Christianity?

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May 27, 2013

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