It shouldn’t be news to many Christians that Oprah Winfrey has embraced another gospel (the one about worship of self)…but it’s news to me that her spokespeople still insist that she’s a Christian. And what’s more, these folks are using that recent PEW study (see the image at the very bottom on left of home page) to justify her still using the term ‘Christian’ to define her faith. 

Here’s the part of the article that just got me: 

A spokesman for Winfrey’s Harpo Productions said the celebrity is a Christian.

“Oprah was raised Baptist and has stated many, many times that she is a Christian and that she believes in only one God,” said the spokesman, who asked not to be named. “She has also said, ‘I’m a free-thinking Christian who believes in my way, but I don’t believe it’s the only way, with 6 billion people on the planet.’”

The spokesman noted Winfrey is hardly alone; 70% of Americans said “many religions can lead to eternal life” in a recent survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. [...So that means those 70% of Americans aren't sorely mistaken and do not know our LORD and SAVIOR Jesus Christ? --LaVrai]

Part of the evangelicals’ concern stems from Winfrey’s recent embrace of Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth as the first spiritual book she included in her hugely popular book club. In the July issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, she said the book’s advice on “putting the ego in check” had a “profound impact” on her.

“Spirit to me is the essence of who we are,” she said. “That essence doesn’t require any particular belief. It just is.” [But from where does 'spirit' come... doesn't that require some delving into? --LaVrai]

Charisma editor J. Lee Grady said Winfrey’s recent discussions of hypnotism on her show may have prompted more people to question her views.

He has long thought Winfrey did not embrace “an orthodox belief in Jesus Christ,” but he thinks other Christians may just be starting to draw that conclusion, sparked in part by what they learn about her on the Internet.

“There’s definitely an alarm because so many people watch her, that she could lead people into New Age belief or deception,” he said.

Religion writer Marcia Nelson, author of The Gospel According to Oprah, said criticism of Winfrey by conservative Christians dates to 1998 when she included a spiritual emphasis on her TV show.

“Back then she got pretty much lambasted the way she is being lambasted now, for telling us what to believe and telling us the wrong thing to believe in, according to conservative Christians,” said Nelson.

But Nelson, who studied a year of Winfrey’s shows, differs with those who call Winfrey’s spiritual ideas “New Age.” She says Winfrey would be more related to the “New Thought” movement, which is more mainstream, focusing on positive thinking as a spiritual tool rather than crystals, for example. [So same body, slightly altered clothes? -- LaVrai]

“I absolutely regard her as a Christian but … she’s one of those capacious Christians,” Nelson said. (Source)

Further Reading:

‘Why Oprah Left Wright’s Church’

‘Oprah And The New Age’

Must Read: ‘Reinventing Jesus Christ’

Video: Is Oprah Winfrey Leading People To Hell?