What It Is (posts below left; rate sheet, client list, other stuff below right)

My name is Bob Land. I am a full-time freelance editor and proofreader, and occasional indexer. This blog is my website.

You'll find my rate sheet and client list here, as well as musings on the life of a freelancer; editing, proofreading, and indexing concerns and issues; my ongoing battles with books and production; and the occasional personal revelation.

Feel free to contact me directly with additional questions: landondemand@gmail.com.

Thanks for visiting. Leave me a comment. Come back often.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

spiritual confusion

Any regular readers of this blog and anyone who peruses my client list knows that I am often up to here with theology. And that my own religious tendencies could at best be described as agnostic.

I read material now from all over the spectrum. While the Christian left (yes, it exists) has generally consumed the last 8 years, a local author has recently found me who refers to the authors I work for as "theologians" (scare quotes intentional). I think that's because they generally voice a theology with which per does not agree. But per has been very open-minded in the emails I've sent, challenging per on certain issues and making no bones about my general feelings regarding the whole religious what-have-you.

And while I read theology most days, I've never been able to formulate any stance of my own, except in a negative way. In the last few minutes, that's begun to change, and I want to capture it before it goes away.

What I'd be looking for religiously/theologically would be

the social justice work of the Catholics
the autonomy of the (non-Southern) Baptists
the acceptance of minority opinions of the Jews
the welcoming nature of the United Church of Christ
the Buddhist recognition of suffering
the Taoist perception of cycles

oh, and probably no God.



Anyone have any ideas?

6 comments:

moi said...

I'm not sure I can believe in no God and no heaven. Because I have a list THIS long for when I get up there. And I'm really going to need the vacation.

czar said...

Don: Mystery solved, and good to have you here. I think I've posted on your blog, having linked to it through Moi.

Institutional religion helps me mainly insofar as it pays some of the bills around here, as you have no doubt discerned.

Better to be drinking punch than Kool-Aid, that's for sure.

And now I can cross my brother off the list for likely suspects. He's an NYC proofreader, oddly enough, but I don't imagine him reading blogs, not even mine.

I'm amused that my blog could be considered, even jokingly, as professional development. To me, it's avoiding work and providing some twisted form of public service -- although I shudder to think of the public.

What kind of copyediting do you do? Feel free to email me if you want to keep it out of the public domain.

And keep coming back.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like the Church of Christ with Signs Following would be the place for you, though I wouldn't recomend the punch. They have live music, theater, and I bet there is one near your home.

czar said...

industrialist:

There's no doubt there's one near here, but the only way I'm handling a snake is in the form of a wallet . . . and even then it'd be a little creepy.

Theatre? I'll bet you can't beat it for theatre. Then again, the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention was good theatre, too.

Anonymous said...

I found my way here through a Google search for information on copyediting for Demand Studios and have been enjoyed poking around here a bit more.

Have you looked into Unitarian Universalism? UU fellowships vary wildly (some are avowedly Christian in orientation, a few espouse paganism, and most are in between), but all adhere to a philosophy that is, in a nutshell, "Be nice to each other and to the planet." Many UUs are allergic to the word God, so it usually receives scant mention.

Social justice is important to UUs, as are respect for (and often inclusion of aspects of) other religions and acceptance of ethnic minorities and different sexualities. That "Coexist" image in this post is a popular UU bumper sticker.

Just a few thoughts here. Good luck in your search!

czar said...

Marsha:

Thanks. We're actually about equidistant between two UU congregations. I've visited one and not the other (yet). It's always hard to tell anything from a group from one visit or service, but it was a warm feeling -- even if it felt a little more like a liberal arts class than anything spiritual. But the music was good, and I certainly felt more at home among the people than I have at most other congregations of any stripe that I have attended.

I also like some of the Quakers' approaches (silence is a nice thing), but unfortunately since they were run out of Virginia a few hundred years ago, they don't seem to be in any rush to reestablish a presence here. Not in my neck of the woods, anyway.

Glad you stopped in and hunted around. I'm temporarily taking a little leave from active blogging (such as it was), but am still responding to comments. Thanks for yours.