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Agnostic
A Spirited Manifesto
Available April 4, 2016

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Category-Free

Posted April 20th, 2016 by Lesley Hazleton

Publishing a book is, in effect, going public. You spend years shut away inside four walls, and then suddenly, with publication, what was between you and your keyboard is out there for everyone to see.  You take a deep breath — a very deep breath — and cross fingers, toes, and whatever else can be crossed (mashup of religious metaphors be damned).

But what happens then can be quite wonderful. Like when I spoke a couple of weeks back at the Yale Humanist Community.  I started off more or less like this:

“Someone asked me not long ago what I thought of the huge rise in the population of nuns. The question utterly confused me, since so far as I knew, the convent population was in steep decline. He actually had to spell his question out for me: What he meant was not nuns as in sisters, but n.o.n.e.s.

It turns out that this oddly ungrammatical usage is the invention of opinion pollsters. It includes what they call “the religiously unaffiliated” and “the spiritual but not religious.” And I find it quite striking that all of these are negative terms – that is, they define people by what they are not. I mean, there’s nothing quite like insulting nearly 40% of the population by categorizing them in the negative.”

This is the point where it occurred to me ask whom I, in turn, might be insulting. “Are there any opinion pollsters here this evening?” I asked.  No hands were raised.   I wasn’t sure whether I was relieved or disappointed at that, but ramped up the point anyway:

“If you wonder why polls so often get it wrong, this might be an excellent example. Because like so much else to do with the vast and varied universe of all things shunted under the umbrella heading of ‘religion,’ it comes loaded with assumptions. And the main assumption behind the ‘none’ classification is that you ‘have’ or you ‘own’ a belief, whether religious or irreligious, theist or atheist.

I think of this as the capitalist approach to belief: belief as a possession. Or a matter of a spiritual haves and have-nots.

opinion pollNow, pollsters believe in categories – that’s their religion – which is why they so often design their surveys in order to force the issue, leaving respondents no option but to lean this way or to lean that way. There’s rarely any room to stand up straight in pollster-land.

But what’s been happening recently is that more and more of us are refusing to go through life leaning in order to oblige the pollsters. Refusing to be categorized. Refusing to be squished under the heading of ‘religion’, whether pro or con. And totally refusing to accept being shoved ‘in between.’”

That, I continued, is why I wrote the agnostic manifesto. And then I went on to lay out the case for the agnostic stance as a fresh and honest way of being in the world and of thinking about being in the world – one of intellectual and emotional integrity.

It was a great audience. Many were leaning forward in their seats, smiling, their eyes alive with interest and excitement. Like the neatly bearded guy in the check shirt five rows up, on the aisle, who was all but bouncing in his seat with excitement. He came up to me afterwards, thanked me profusely, and then said:

“I have a confession to make. You asked early on if there were any pollsters in the hall. Well, I’m not one any more, but I used to be one, and I have to tell you that you totally hit the nail on the head in everything you said about opinion polls. It was just so good to hear it said out loud.”

And so good to hear it said out loud back to me.

 

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File under: agnosticism | Tagged: Tags: 'nones', Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto, belief, capitalism, categories, opinion polls, publication, Yale Humanist Community | Be the First to leave a comment

Yippee!

Posted April 1st, 2015 by Lesley Hazleton

So this morning, I pressed ‘Send’ and the last chapter of the new book went winging its way to my editor in New York.

There was a brief glow of accomplishment.  A full-body glow, all shiny and radiant.  “Finished!” I thought, even as I knew this was untrue.  Books are never really finished.

There’s a final edit to be done, and then copy-editing, and then the dreaded “author’s questionnaire” will arrive from the marketing department, and as on just about any questionnaire I’ve ever encountered, I just won’t fit.  Among other things, it’ll ask me (in slightly different language) to “please describe in 200 words what just took you a whole book to say.”  I’ll agonize over these 200 words, and never manage to get them right.

And then I’ll wait, heart in mouth, for the pre-publication reviews, which will determine whether ‘Agnostic: a Spirited Manifesto’ — yes, that’s the working title — will thrive in the big wide world.  And then for the post-publication reviews, in early 2016, which will determine if it survives at all.

Yet since there’s probably a certain masochistic element to being a writer, I’m looking forward to it all.  In the immediate future, though, what I’m looking forward to is getting back to posting here on The Accidental Theologist.  Some people manage to write short and long (post and book) at the same time, but I’m not one of them.  That’s why I’ve been relatively silent over the last several months, restricting myself to brief squibs on Facebook and Twitter.  It’ll probably take a while to get back into the rhythm of blogging (some of you will be able to tell I’m not back into it since I just mistakenly pressed Publish instead of Save), but with months of thinking stored up, who knows what might happen…

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File under: agnosticism, existence | Tagged: Tags: Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto, publication, writing | 17 Comments
  1. Ann Medlock says:
    April 1, 2015 at 5:12 pm

    Glad you’re back. And looking forward to that new book.

  2. amin tan says:
    April 1, 2015 at 5:48 pm

    AGNOSTIC is such an obscure and bombastic term. On the other hand, infidel sounds so crude and impolite. Is there a more moderate description of somebody who believes and yet not blindly believing, or believing with a pinch of salt.?

    amin tan

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 1, 2015 at 5:53 pm

      Obscure and bombastic? Infidel? Salty belief?
      None of the above.
      I’d say read this book once it comes out, and then let’s talk…

  3. Rachel Cowan says:
    April 1, 2015 at 7:29 pm

    Good for you Lesley!! I look forward to reading it. I may have a book party in Seattle in July for the book I’ve co-written with a friend: Wise Aging: living with Joy, Resilience and Spirit.

    I’ll look forward to reading your blog more often

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 2, 2015 at 8:42 am

      Joy, resilience, and spirit — Yes!
      Do let me know when and where and I’ll be there, Rachel. And be sure to leave time for a drink here too!

  4. Nuzhat says:
    April 1, 2015 at 8:27 pm

    Hi Lesley,
    A huge welcome to your own space, and a greatly revered one for us.
    This brings in a sense of excited ‘déjà vu’ as we shared your sentiments even at the pre-release phase of The First Muslim.

    If I can rightly predict through the title, this book will hopefully give us a deep insight into the minds of the agnostic way of thought. This has always been an intriguing subject to me, esp. after being introduced to your blogs and books. Haven’t met any in person as yet.
    Meanwhile, looking fwd to your regular dose of intellectual stimulation…write on!
    Nuzhat.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 2, 2015 at 8:45 am

      You got it, Nuzhat! Not ‘agnosticism’ — the last thing we need is more ‘isms’ — but new dimensions opened up by the agnostic stance.

  5. jo carney says:
    April 2, 2015 at 4:38 am

    Welcome back – I just finished The First Muslem and am urging all to read it.

    Sent from my iPhone

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 2, 2015 at 8:46 am

      Thanks, Jo. Appreciated.

  6. SusieOfArabia says:
    April 2, 2015 at 6:11 am

    Congratulations! Looking forward to your latest book. I hope you can relax a bit now.

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 2, 2015 at 8:48 am

      That’s my aim, Susie, but I’m entirely open to it’s being thwarted…

  7. ElleGriffin says:
    April 2, 2015 at 7:51 am

    Welcome back! Can’t wait to read both your blogs and your book. I’m sure it will all be spectacular, just as your past work has been. Enjoy the book birthing process!

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 2, 2015 at 8:56 am

      Spectacular would be… spectacular! Thanks, Elle.

  8. pah says:
    April 2, 2015 at 8:09 am

    congrats, lesley, look forward to reading your new book

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      April 2, 2015 at 8:50 am

      Yes — I kind of wish it was 2016 already so’s I could hold it my hands.

      • pah says:
        April 3, 2015 at 9:47 am

        remembering what my grandmother said “don;t wish your life away.”
        but excited for you!!

  9. Tea-mahm says:
    April 6, 2015 at 10:11 am

    After the months of holding, the pregnancy, the glowing anticipation, growing excitement, that’s-what-I-am-doing-with-my-time comes this new being, a few hours of “WoW….” THEN the tedious days of tweaking, fixing, and the awful PR that goes on and on. God, Lesley, you nailed it. Luckily I’ve got a few more months of writing to go. Then whatever I’m inspired to write goes on hold, and I become a sort-of willing servant to the technical and practical raising of my darling little book…. Can’t wait to read yours! love, Tamam

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