So Anne Rice, who was raised a Roman Catholic, but repudiated it and became a bestselling pop writer about vampires (as everybody knows), later decided that Christianity was, after all, pretty great, and wrote a bestseller in 2008 about her return to the faith. Cool. Everybody is entitled to change her mind. Glad to have you back, Anne.

Then my crowd, the United Church of Christ, which never misses an opportunity to brand itself as the Christian equivalent of the unCola, launches a publicity campaign to say, “Hey Anne, you’d love us, cause we’re cool and don’t hate science, gays and women, and are very welcoming and all (and practically don’t sin, except for our really big self-righteous thing.) So come join us.”

I’m troubled that our faith has became part of a big public relations campaign within the culture of celebrity.  It is true that the Christian brand has been degraded by sinners, but, alas, there is no one else left to represent it.