In Oprah We Trust

from USA Today 5/11/06, by Ann Oldenburg:

Regarding Oprah:

"Marcia Nelson says that it's not going too far to call her a spiritual leader. 'I've said to a number of people — she's today's Billy Graham.'

One of Winfrey's most appealing subtexts is that she's anti-institutional, says Chris Altrock, minister of Highland Street Church of Christ in Memphis. He says Winfrey believes there are many paths to God, not just one. After doing his doctoral research three years ago on postmodernism religion, a religious era that began in the 1970s as Christians became deeply interested in spirituality and less interested in any established church, he came up with what he calls 'The Church of Oprah,' referring to the culture that has created her.

'Our culture is changing,' he says, 'as churches are in decline and the bulk of a new generation is growing up outside of religion.' Instead, they're turning to the Church of Oprah.

'People who have no religion relate to her,' Nelson says." [all emphasis mine]

You can read the article in its entirety here.

Now y'all know that I like me some Oprah.

But I'm also strong enough in my convictions that I don't take what she says as capital T "Truth."

Oprah as our country's "moral monitor"? "Today's Billy Graham"?

Hmmmm....