A leading US blogger and political pundit who "came out" publicly as a Christian has said she regrets using the language of the LGBT movement to describe her avowal of faith.
Ana Marie Cox also pledged to continue tweeting more about cats than Christ.
Cox, a blogger on US politics for The Guardian and founder of the political blog Wonkette, posted a follow-up at The Daily Beast because she felt a "coda" was needed.
She admitted she had feared that other Christians would not accept her as one of them, and that she would be guilty of "humble bragging" because humility and testimony do not always sit well together.
"There was a part of me that knew the article might be praised in some quarters and I worried that the praise would unravel whatever humility I have learned in becoming a follower of Christ," she wrote.
She said she was proven wrong.
"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."
However, as a long-term advocate for gay rights, she regretted using the word "closeted" to describe her practice of Christianity.
"A few of my colleagues in the movement wrote to take issue with my borrowing the phrase 'coming out', especially since I applied it to something (Christian) that's hardly the kind of stigmatised identity that LGTB individuals still have to overcome," she admitted. "So I apologise for using that language; it is an obviously imperfect metaphor — as I note in the piece, there is nothing marginal about believing in God.
"Conservatives' genuinely affectionate responses to my piece underscored even more the gulf between how little I risked in "owning" my religion and how much is at stake for those struggling for complete acceptance from that same group."
She said publicly proclaiming her faith had prompted "the best response I've received in my professional life." But she did not believe this meant she should write about it more. "The ego is a nasty little man; a false beggar who only gets hungrier the more you feed him," she said. "I hope any new readers I've gained won't be disappointed to find me still Tweeting more about cats than Christ, more columns about progressive causes than piety."
