Long before Team Edward and Team Jacob, before Sookie Stackhouse and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there was Lestat, Louis and their fellow undead frenemies, creatures of the night cooked up by author Anne Rice.

After quitting the vampire book biz and spending the last 10 years publicly reembracing the Catholicism of her youth — including writing two books about Jesus — Rice has suddenly announced on Facebook that she’s leaving Christianity again. The Orlando Sentinel’s Religion World blog, The Associated Press and Politics Daily have the story, including this part of her message:

As I said below, 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-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. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.

Ah, yet another breakup via Facebook. Seems clear enough… except that she follows that post up with Biblical quotes and a statement affirming that her faith in Christ remains central to her life. So, I assume all this means she’s quitting organized religion, not Christianity, exactly. Then again, she’s an author — she knows what words mean. Hmmm. (Beliefnet’s Idol Chatter blog is also perplexed, though as much about the medium as the message.)

On a shallow note, I wonder if this means we’ll get more Vampire Chronicles, particularly movie adaptations — it has struck me as a shame that the current demonic hearthrob craze hasn’t made use of any Rice characters. Lestat’s already been played by Tom Cruise and Stuart Townsend on the big screen, then by Hugh Panaro on Broadway… if Robert Pattinson doesn’t manage to make the jump to hot-blooded leading man, I say give him a shot. Or, maybe he’s more of a Louis…

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.

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