This week, best-selling author Anne Rice renounced Christianity on her Facebook page, “For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out.”  She continued: “I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me…

As part of my next book, I’m asking for stories, comments, and insights on why people have left Roman Catholicism or conservative evangelical churches (either independent ones or, most especially, the Southern Baptist Convention).  Are you a former Roman Catholic or former conservative evangelical?  Or are you someone who is thinking of leaving one of…

I’m busy working on my next book–it doesn’t yet have a title–on how spirituality and religion are changing in the United States (and mentioning Canada, Aus/NZ, UK as well for comparison).  For instance, did you know that in the last few years nearly every brand-name denomination in North America has experienced numerical decline, including many…

This Politics Daily story, “Vatican Rules Ordaining Women Priests a Crime Like Sex Abuse of Children,” from my friend David Gibson, author of a thoughtful biography on Pope Benedict, and himself a Catholic, left me speechless.  If anyone has a doubt as to why atheism is on the rise, they need look no further than this recent…

Diana Butler Bass
about

Diana Bass

Diana Butler Bass is an author, speaker, and independent scholar specializing in American religion and culture. She holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Duke University and is the author of seven books including A People’s History of Christianity: the Other Side of the Story (HarperOne, 2009) Her best-selling Christianity for the Rest of Us (2006) was named as one of the best religion books of the year by Publishers Weekly and Christian Century, won the Book of the Year Award from the Academy of Parish Clergy, and was featured in a cover story in USA TODAY.

Diana regularly consults with religious organizations, leads conferences for religious leaders, and teaches and preaches in a variety of venues. She regularly comments on religion, politics, and culture in the media including USA TODAY, Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, CNN, FOX, PBS, and NPR. From 1995-2000, she wrote a weekly column on American religion for the New York Times Syndicate. She has written widely in the religious press, including Sojourners, Christian Century, Clergy Journal, and Congregations.

From 2002 to 2006, she was the Project Director of a national Lilly Endowment funded study of mainline Protestant vitality—a project featured in Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. Diana also serves on the board of directors of the Beatitudes Society.

Diana has taught at Westmont College, the University of California at Santa Barbara, Macalester College, Rhodes College, and the Virginia Theological Seminary. She has taught church history, American religious history, history of Christian thought, religion and politics, and congregational studies.

She lives in Alexandria, Virginia. She is a member of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in downtown Washington, D.C.

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