Category: Oprah Winfrey

Oprah and the Sweat Lodge Guru

James Arthur Ray On one level, 51-year-old James Arthur Ray—who, the year after his life-altering television appearance authored the runaway bestseller Harmonic Wealth: The Secret of Attracting the Life You Want, and these days is involved in a homicide investigation—is just another Oprah guest gone bad.

On another level, he is a wakeup call for anyone who would dismiss all New Age dabbling as merely risk-free recreation, like incense and crystals.

Just what are Oprah Winfrey’s core beliefs?

Winfrey has become a billionaire and one of world’s most powerful women by baring her soul and urging millions of others to follow her example, resulting in what some critics call the Oprahfication of America. However, it’s almost impossible to answer this simple question: What does Oprah believe?

The divine Miss Winfrey?

After two decades of searching for her authentic self — exploring New Age theories, giving away cars, trotting out fat, recommending good books and tackling countless issues from serious to frivolous — Oprah Winfrey has risen to a new level of guru. She’s no longer just a successful talk-show host worth $1.4 billion, according to Forbes’ most recent estimate. Over the past year, Winfrey, 52, has emerged as a spiritual leader for the new millennium, a moral voice of authority for the nation. With her television pulpit and the sheer power of her persona, she has encouraged and steered audiences

The ‘Cult of Oprah’ is not for everyone

A growing number of people, mostly young, reject the mega-celebrity’s media empire A nod from Oprah Winfrey moves best-seller lists. Stocks rise when her name is attached to a company or product. Millions listen when she speaks at Coretta Scott King’s funeral, and millions cheer when she loses 20 pounds. Forget about her 49 million viewers each week. The real pinnacle of celebrity is attaining single-name status. But there are Oprah-haters, too: those who speak out against America’s most beloved talk show host. They accuse her of materialism, manipulation, power mongering, arrogance and generally being in love with herself. As

There’s no denying the power of ‘the Oprah’

In her 2000 HBO stand-up comedy special, “The Beginning,” Ellen DeGeneres describes an imaginary (one presumes) meeting with God at God’s house. The Creator and the comedienne drink Chablis, eat fondue and have a chat. “There were pictures of Jesus everywhere,” DeGeneres says of God’s decorating, before revealing that God is, in fact, a gorgeous middle-aged African-American woman. I always picture Her as Oprah Winfrey in a purple pantsuit. Which might explain what happened when I heard that in a recent poll, 33 percent of respondents to an online poll at Beliefnet.com, the groovy, ever-expanding Web site that covers all

Oprah may be most influential of TV evangelists

The TV evangelists — remember them? They helped define public religion in the 1980s. They’re still here, a crowded field of new faces, and mercifully inspiring fewer jokes on Saturday Night Live. The old guard from the Cold-War Age of Falwell is fading. Pat Robertson’s recent on-air eruption (suggesting a policy of assassination to undo the socialist Venezuelan president) was an era-ending moment; he looked quaintly out-of-touch. Evangelicals quickly disowned his outburst. Robertson later apologized. In their heyday, televised titans such as Jimmy Swaggart and Oral Roberts seemed to deliver the very thunder of heaven. Now they look as dated

Oprah fans get into the spirit

Her sold-out Tampa show promises to help devotees be the best they can be. St. Petersburg Times, June 21, 2003 http://www.sptimes.com/ By ERIC DEGGANS, Times Television Critic Ask Chris Giblin why she’s spending nearly $200 of her own money to bring a homeless woman to Oprah Winfrey‘s “Live Your Best Life Tour” stop today in Tampa and she gives a simple answer. She couldn’t not do it. “If somebody of (Winfrey’s) stature were to recognize her and say, “Glad you’re here,’ what a boost that could be,” said Giblin, 57, of St. Petersburg, who gave one of her $185 tickets