Editors at Beliefnet.com are reorganizing Beliefnet’s homepage, and in the process, they have come to me with a question I have not been able to answer. For the purposes of helping folks navigate the site, they need to give “New Age” readers a name, but they don’t really want to use the term New Age. “Spiritual-but-not-religious” seems off the mark and anti-religion. Labels like “Omnireligious,” “Transreligious,” or “Metrospiritual” seem inadequate, or even ridiculous. “Mind/Body” seems an odd category to plunk anyone in. Earth-based Pagan people might share our interests in the environment, authenticity, wholeness, and ritual, but they are also their own thing with a long history.

Who are we anyway? LOHAS (which stands for Lifestyles Of Health and Sustainability) is the latest marketing term for the growing tribe of individuals who religiously (pun intended) recycle their glass bottles, meditate, practice yoga, read spiritual books, shop at Fresh Fields-type places, crave spiritually-directed vacations, and would buy an organic mattress if they could afford one. That’s pretty much me! But do I really want to be called a “lohasian?”

The buzzwords “East-West,” “Complementary,” “Integral,” “Oneness,” or “All One,” are interesting but not understandable in isolation, without context. Buddhism and Hinduism will have their own separate labels and departments on the redesigned site, though Beliefnet is aware there are many overlapping practices and interests. It is sometimes assumed we are all politically liberal, but I’m not even sure that is true.

The closest expression of who we are is “Holistic,” and that’s nice because it seems to encompass an interest in alternative medicine. But “Holistic” doesn’t sound so spiritual. It seems to have its own limits, and will everyone get it? In short, it feels there is no right term, no way to contain it all within a few words, and yet there needs to be some way to help newcomers find articles on Feng Shui, health and healing, meditation–all currently housed in our “Spirituality” department.

Having a “Spirituality” section of Beliefnet, as it is now currently labeled, hasn’t been a disaster, but apparently the term sometimes confuses conservative Christians who click on over, assuming that it refers to Christian spirituality.

So, which of these speaks best to you?

–“spiritual, not religious”
–holistic
–New Age
–Lohasian
–integral (a category associated with the integral spirituality of Ken Wilber)

Are there others that work better? I will try to post your best suggestions, and I am eager to hear them.