Anne Rice's widely publicized comments critical of organized religion garnered at least three separate pieces in the Los Angeles Times. Some murders in the coverage area don't get one piece to themselves. Her embracing of Roman Catholicism in the late 1990s certainly didn’t get this much attention.

Tim Rutten's take, titled "Walking away from Christianity" teased with “Author Anne Rice 'quits' organized religion because she refuses to be 'anti-gay … anti-feminist … anti-Democrat.'”

Since returning to her girlhood Catholicism more than a decade ago, she's also written a string of devotional volumes and "a spiritual confession" that might best be characterized as rhapsodic. All that came to an abrupt end last week when Rice announced on Facebook that she had left both the church and organized Christianity.

Organized Christianity does not sum up Christianity. Christianity means having Jesus Christ as Lord as well as Savior. Now, if someone is obedient to the teachings contained in the Bible, one will attend services and become part of a congregation.

“In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life.”

Hmmmm. Let's take these one-by-one.

The Bible teaches throughout, apparently for all people, that sex is for marriage and that marriage unites the sexes. As such, sex and sex-like behavior, homosexual or heterosexual, that happens outside of marriage is missing the mark – it is sin. A good church is going to teach this.

Jesus Christ, according to the Bible, is for the rights of women. Murder is not a right. Some of feminism and birth control falls under that category.

One can be a Christian and a Democrat, though the official party platform is often in conflict with a Christian worldview.

As far as secular humanism – our priority should be God, and our perspective should be eternal. Through that worldview, we reach out to help others who, like us, are made in the image of God.

Christianity is not in conflict with science as a method, though there are dominant positions of scientists and science-focused organizations that are in conflict with a Christian worldview.

I'm not sure what she means by "anti-life."

If she can't handle that, then she wants Jesus Christ as Savior, but not Lord. That has not been offered to us.

As a Catholic happy to share Rice's rejection of all the positions she enumerates, let me add a couple counts to the indictment:

Why not join one of the many other churches?

If we have to reject "organized religion" because someone in that organization has engaged in the horrible evil of child abuse, then we also have to quit "organized government" if we're going to be consistent. And both major political parties.

Mitchell Landsberg's piece was headlined "Anne Rice Discusses her Decision to Quit Christianity" and teased with "The novelist says she still believes in God, but she couldn't find a basis in Scripture for some positions taken by churches. And she rejects the persecution of gays and women."

“Well, I've been living with this now for 12 years, and I've come to the conclusion from my experience with organized religion that I have to leave, that I have to, in the name of Christ, step away from this.

And how does she determine what Christ would want? I mostly determine it through Bible study.

I've also found that I can't find a basis in Scripture for a lot of the positions that churches and denominations take today, and I can't find any basis at all for an anointed, hierarchical priesthood.

Neither can I. You know, like those denominations that say it's fine for those church leadership to openlt and unrepentantly engage in homosexual behavior as long as it is in a committed relationship.

And speaking of that...

Q) Two days before you announced on your Facebook page that you were quitting Christianity, you praised the Lutheran Church for welcoming gay pastors. So why not become a Lutheran, or a member of some other church that shares your views?

A) I feel much more morally comfortable walking away from organized religion.

It can be a lot more comfortable to make up your own rules. I guess doing it in fiction wasn't enough.

William Lobdell, who used to be on staff at the paper writing about religion, had "The Anne Rice Defection: It's the Tip of the Religious Iceberg", subtitled "American Christianity is not well, and there's evidence to indicate that its condition is more critical than most realize - or at least want to admit." Thus, Rice's announcement because another chance to beat the "Christianity is dying" drum.

Pollsters - most notably evangelical George Barna - have reported repeatedly that they can find little measurable difference between the moral behavior of churchgoers and the rest of American society.

In some cases, that be because we started out largely as a Christian nation. We're certainly a different place than secular Europe, the Islamic Middle East, and pagan Africa.

Barna has found that born-again Christians are more likely to divorce (an act strongly condemned by Jesus) than atheists and agnostics, and are more likely to be racist than other Americans.

Jesus allowed for divorce due to what is essentially abandonment, such as infidelity. Atheists and agnostics may not see a problem with one or both spouses engaging in sex with others – heck, they may do it together. Witness all of those countries we were told, during the Clinton impeachment, we should be more like – where mistresses openly go on vacation and to dinner and funerals as if they were married to the guy. So instead of divorcing, they stay married by sleep around. And that's better? As far as racism – I'd like to know how that is defined.

On the bright side, Barna's surveys show evangelicals (defined by Barna as a subset of born-again Christians, which he sees as a broader group with more flexible beliefs) do pledge far more money to charity, though 76% of them fail to give 10% of their income to the church as prescribed by their faith.

Sorry, that's just not correct. It is certainly not a uniformly taught rule.

Various studies show American Christians as a whole give away a miserly 3% or so of their income to the church or charity.

What about all of the money they are giving to others through their taxes? What about all of the time they donate?

How to explain the Grand Canyon-sized gap between principles outlined in the Gospels and the behavior of believers? Christians typically, and rather lamely, respond that shortcomings of the followers of Jesus are simply evidence of man's inherent sinfulness.

Assuming the validity of the premise, isn’t this exactly what so many people want? They should be patting themselves on the back. However, I don't count everyone who will respond to a poll identifying as a believer as a believer. Do they consider the Gospels authoritative?

But if one adheres to the principle of Occam's razor — that the simplest explanation is the most likely — there is another, more unsettling conclusion: that many people who call themselves Christian don't really believe, deep down, in the tenets of their faith.

Exactly. I couldn't agree more.

And the sea of hypocrisy between Christian beliefs and actions is driving Americans away from the institutional church in record numbers.

I see – the answer when you see others failing to live up to your supposedly shared beliefs is to... abandon those beliefs and practices yourself?

Well, congrats and keep up your "good" work. Goodness knows all of the other institutions in our lives are just peachy. Academia doesn’t produce any ignorant people, for example. So let's keep bashing the church. That is certainly better than working within it, right?

What should Christians be doing? Well, among other things...
1. Living their faith, including when it comes to their sexuality, vocation, and finances.
2. Explaining and defending their faith when asked about their faith or challenged. This will likely annoy others, even if done with gentleness and respect.
3. Studying their Bibles.
4. Not leaving their children to be raised by strangers, by media hostile to Christianity, or 17+ years of antichristian academia.
5. Remaining engaged in a healthy, well-balanced church.