When popular blogger Ana Marie Cox "came out" as a Christian, she thought that she would receive tons of backlash and hate mail. But instead, the 42-year-old blogger was surprised by all the love and support she received.
Cox writes for The Guardian and the political blog Wonkette, and revealed her Christian faith in the Daily Beast with the article "Why I'm Coming Out As a Christian."
There, she wrote: "In my personal life, my faith is not something I struggle with or something I take particular pride in. It is just part of who I am. The only place where my spirituality feels volatile is in my professional life; the only time I've ever felt uncomfortable talking about my faith is when it comes up in conversation with colleagues."
Cox explained that her hesitation to publically label herself as a Christian has nothing to do with the fear of judgment from non-believers. The blogger was actually more scared that believers would not deem her worthy enough to be a Christian.
"I'm nervous to come out as a Christian because I worry I'm not good enough of one. I'm not scared that non-believers will make me feel an outcast. I'm scared that Christians will," she said.
But much to her surprise, Christians from all walks of life embraced her confession. She wrote a follow-up article called "Thank God, I Was Wrong: What I Learned From Opening Up About My Faith" and revealed that her initial fears have all been for naught since people responded positively to her "coming out" as a Christian.
"With a week's worth of responses behind me, I can report that my fear of judgment was legitimate—haters gonna hate—but also that I was proven wrong in the most wonderful way: I found amazing warmth and generosity that far outweighed criticism and negativity. Support came from the right and the left, believers and non-believers, dog people and cat people," Cox wrote.
She added that some people might argue that self-doubt among Christians only means that "the gospel of grace itself is faulty," but the blogger believes that "it's a feature, not a bug. Self-doubt is what enables us to continually discover grace anew."
