"A very tiny minority of Christian e-mails are very negative," Rice acknowledged. "Those people can be very un-nice. For them, loving Jesus does not mean loving anyone else, apparently."
In some ways, Rice's criticisms of religious fundamentalism are part of a wider backlash coming from such unlikely quarters as former President Carter, who, in his new book, criticizes religious fundamentalists' involvement in national politics and takes issue with the Catholic Church's exclusion of women from the priesthood.
Rice believes that conservative Christian politicians are distorting Christ's message by politicizing such issues as abortion. While abortion is "tragic," Rice said, "Millions of women are having abortions. They have control of their reproductive powers, and they do not want to relinquish that control. Abortion is at the heart of that, because it's at the core of women having control of who they are. I think it's killing. But I think it's a woman's choice."
Gay marriage, she said, "is another classic example. It can only strengthen our society to have gay people in committed relationships rather than going to bars."
She said the church sex scandal has unfairly focused on homosexuality rather than the true culprit, pedophilia. "The sex scandal has set us back on gay rights. Call off this homosexual thing: It's molesting children."
The religious attacks on gays, to Rice, get to the heart of the flaws she sees in modern religion: the scapegoating of those deemed "sinners." Jerry Falwell's statement blaming gays, lesbians, abortion providers and feminists for the Sept. 11 attacks, she said, "was a dreadful thing to say. It's so crazy to say God will punish our enemies."
Christ, she said, was "the ultimate scapegoat."
"The mystery of that is so vast," she said earnestly. "It's almost like he showed us the story so we could understand, what it's all about, and stop doing it to people.
"People are always going to misuse things. And some Christians are going to misuse Christianity. They are going to use Christianity to hit someone over the head because they frighten them or threaten them," she said. "We Christians have to get back to our roots as a people of love. Now we're associated with a religion of intolerance and hate. We have to come forward and speak about love."
Today, Rice said, she believes in God in the most literal sense. "I think he's transgender, but it's easier for me to think of him as a man because of acculturation," she said. She believes in the afterlife "absolutely ... I feel it profoundly. I felt it as a child. I'm certain of it now. There's no conflict in me. It's a fleeting fear that it may not be so. I always thought that it was completely logical we were immortal, even as an atheist. The energy has to go somewhere."
She fully expects to meet her husband and her little girl in the afterlife. But "I think a lot about how we live here now. I think about how to live, how Christ wants me to live.
"I think he wants me to tell his story. I think he wants of all of us that we love and that we share," she said, as she prepared to travel to Jerusalem on Tuesday to research her next Christ book.
"Love your neighbor and know God. It's a serious command."
