Anne Rice Quit Christianity.

You heard about that, right?  She was all "eff you, mean meanies!  Jesus LOVED LOVE!!!"  (Okay, she was a bit more eloquent.)  Her exact words were:

For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being "Christian" or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to "belong" to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For tenyears, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.

..., 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.

I mean, she's got a good point.  The exclusionary practices of organized religion are what turned me off.  The hatred that is spewed in the name of an omnipotent being that... loves us?  I don't get it.  And i'm really bad at theological discussions because I can't quote from the Bible or the Book of Mormon or the Torah or the Qur'an, so I don't want to delve too deeply into waters where I know I'll sink.  I just know what feels right in my heart, and a group of people filled with hate for anyone who doesn't fit a certain mold ain't it.  You can't be all love and sunshine on Sunday morning and then attend a protest carrying a "God Hates Fags" sign after Sunday Brunch.  

Ms. Rice's proclamation has apparently stirred up one heck of a national discussion on religion vs. spirituality.  Two of the articles spawned in response, and my favorite quotes therefrom:

I have not left Christianity but I am grossly disappointed in this religion which is supposed to exemplify love. One can probably get closer to God, actually, if one rejects the kind of religion we pass off as Christianity. Yes ...I am saying that one can be spiritual and not be religious. I am not talking about New Age. I am talking about being a person who has studied the words of Jesus the Christ and tries to follow them. That person will be spiritual; one cannot escape being spiritual, being transformed and empowered when one reads and studies the words of Jesus.  ~  SENIOR PASTOR, ADVENT UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST IN COLUMBUS, OHIO,  Susan K. Smith

According to my grandfather, M. K. Gandhi, religion and spiritualism are distinctly apart -- that is, it is possible to practice one without believing in the other. Religion, as it is commonly understood, is the practice of a set of rituals based on the interpretation made by human beings. Since we humans are imperfect, our interpretation too is imperfect. On the other hand Spiritualism, according to him, is achieved when one comes to one's own understanding of the Power that we call God. When we truly accept all religions as simply different roads to the same destination and respect them all equally.  ~  CO-FOUNDER OF THE M.K. GANDHI INSTITUTE FOR NONVIOLENCE,  Arun Gandhi

All we need is love, people.  The Beatles should've started a freakin' religion.