Don Lemon, with a new book on faith, examines religion in politics: 'It's disturbing'

Don Lemon is looking for answers. But is he going to find them?

The former CNN host tangos with many questions in his latest memoir, "I Once Was Lost" (Little, Brown and Co., 222 pp), out Tuesday. The book centers on religion and Lemon asks readers to go on a spiritual journey with him. He peppers the pages with anecdotes from his church-going childhood, his decadeslong run on CNN and the aftermath of his firing from the network. It also includes thoughtful commentary on scripture, gun control and Elon Musk, whom Lemon has since sued following the cancellation of a planned partnership deal with X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter that Musk bought in 2022.

"It's about politics, it's about religion, it's about life," Lemon, 58, says about the book over a Zoom call from Chicago, where he's just waking up ahead of a day covering the Democratic National Convention for "The Don Lemon Show," his millennial and Gen Z-staffed digital upstart. "There's racism in there, there's homophobia in there, there's hypocrisy in there, there's white nationalism in there."

Lemon invites readers to question their own faith – something he believes could counteract the echo chambers many Americans can't seem to escape.

"If you don't (question), then your beliefs are so concrete and strident," Lemon says. "You become so strident that there's no room for anybody else's beliefs but your own."

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Don Lemon talks Democrats, Republicans and religion

If you haven't read the Bible before, Lemon recommends starting with an open mind and at the very beginning. "The Bible isn't really a book more so than a library of parables and insights on how you live your life," he says. And don't trust those who say they "fully understand it."

"Anyone who claims that they do, I think you should bust out a grain of salt and ask yourself about their agenda if they claim to think that they understand everything about the Bible. No. No," he says.

Lemon, who does not claim affiliation with either major political party, compared what he saw regarding religion at the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention.

At the Democratic convention, "they offered a different relationship from God, very different from the judgment and self-righteous stance of the RNC, where God was used as this sort of giant inflatable stage prop, and I found last night that it was just more inclusive, that God was used in a way to make people bigger and more forgiving and more open and less judgmental."

He doesn't understand the Christian nationalism of it all. "It's an odd thing for me, this whole idea that the Bible and the Constitution and our country and who we are and patriotism. There's this sort of odd connection and ownership that they feel that they have of that. It's disturbing."

Lemon also hopes people consider what religious freedom actually means. If you're trying to put the Ten Commandments in U.S. schools for example, "what would you do if people wanted to put tenants from let's say the Bhagavad Gita, the Torah, or any other religious doctrine in schools plastered on the wall? Would you be comfortable with that?"

Don Lemon reveals 'life changes'

Lemon has written on racism and religion, but would he also write about being gay, another part of his identity? "I've been thinking about a lot about all of that, and about a lot of the criticism for me and how people view me is often rooted" through the lenses of being Black or gay.

"I've been thinking about all that, and why people have certain preconceived notions about me, or write what they write about me, or think what they think about me," he adds, noting he's "been sort of vulnerable, not in a bad way lately, but just sort of assessing life."

Losing a prolific job after controversial on-air comments about politician Nikki Haley, getting married and starting a company – a bunch of life's highs and lows all at once – would do that to anyone.

"Life changes," he says. "And I think people think that they always have to be in sort of an upward swing, and not realizing that there's a rhythm and a flow to life."

Don Lemon says 'I'll always carry that with me'

Lemon has previously discussed being sexually abused as a child, and alludes to this in "I Once Was Lost." The pain is ever-present. "I think that that always affects you, but you cannot let it make you immobile, and you cannot let it stifle you," he says. "So I think I'll always carry that with me, with sometimes being an isolationist, sometimes wanting to retreat, not from my career, but just retreat from people."

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You might not think of him as a loner, "but I'm very much a loner, and I think that stems from that." Therapy and faith helped him through. "Either you move on, or you get stuck in it, and I'm not going to allow it to let me get stuck."

He adds, in a strange way, it's helped him in his career. "I would rather that have not happened to me as a child, but it did, and it made me, it's part of who I am, and I think it's made me more open, more candid. I think it's given me more autonomy and it's given me an authority on certain subjects that many people don't have experience with. And I think that's helped to make me a better journalist and a better person."

Don Lemon is 'not going anywhere'

Yes, Lemon is reporting again even though he "could have done nothing. I could have just sat and not worked for the rest of my life. But I just wanted to have a voice in this election."

And don't expect him to stop speaking up.

"I'm not going anywhere, and if I do, I'll choose to do it. I don't want to retreat. I still have many chapters left in me."