Roger Friedman's Column - Oprah Starting a Cult?
As a fan of Oprah and a majority of things she promotes, I was shocked reading the Fox News column by Roger Friedman questioning if Oprah is starting a cult by promoting Eckhart Tolle's book A New Earth and conducting the 10-week webcast seminar on the principles. Roger Friedman points out that:
What makes Oprah’s seminars even more creepy are the "study groups" she has lined up for Tolle at bookstores and other locations around the world. They’re all hooked up to the seminars through Skype, and the members can ask questions. They all have that same glazed-over look as people giving testimonials on late-night infomercials.
I am interested to see what people think about this article and the class in general up to this point. I have heard from both sides - people who are inspired by the reading and those who think it's against Christianity. Personally, my life was changed by reading the book and I have furthered my study with other books with Buddhist and Taoist roots, both of which are in A New Earth along with Christian teachings. Eckhart points out that the root of all religions is essentially the same and that people from all faiths can find truth in these themes.
I find it hard to believe that the word 'cult' would come to mind when referencing the webcast seminars - the ideas are presented for people to find their own way and their own truth, not Oprah's. I would love to know what you think of the article and classes - please respond below with your opinions.
Comments
I just sent an email to Roger Friedman about this article. I don’t have a strong opinion yet one way or the other about Eckart Tolle (haven’t finished his book yet), but some of what Roger Friedman wrote in the article is incorrect.
Given the little I know about this whole subject, and the fact that I so quickly noticed his errors, I can only imagine there are probably more of them throughout the article.
Here is a portion of the email I sent to him.
I was disappointed to find out that you must have done some “kooky” research when writing this article.
You wrote
“She’s also promoted televangelist Marianne Williamson’s kooky “Course of Miracles” and a book of New Age clichés by Australian Rhonda Byrne called “The Secret.” (There’s a good piece on the latter at salon.com.)”
Is Marianne Williamson a televangelist? I know she is an author, but I could not find anything in regards to her being a televangelsit. Also did she write a book called “Course (OF) Miracles”? There is a book called a “A Course (IN) Miracles” written by another author”, and I believe Marianne Williamson wrote another book that was about that book.
Can I rely on anything else in this article to be true? Is it not factual just due to sloppiness? Is it not factual on purpose in order to persuade the reader?
I wouldn’t pay any attention to Roger Friedman. If you look at his other articles, he regularly bashes a number of celebrities for no good reason calling them “creepy”. His articles are full of poor research and misinformation.