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It saddens me to think Oprah Winfrey is comforting others with such sentiments as "When you lose a loved one, you gain an angel whose name you know" ["The Church of O," April 1].

She makes spirituality easy, simple, and self-motivating. What real spiritual power could be wielded if Oprah were using the Word of God to comfort others. Instead, she says, "One of the biggest mistakes we make is to believe there is only one way. There are many diverse paths leading to God."

Thanks but no thanks, Oprah, Phil, Deepak, Iyanla, Marianne, and Gary. I'll stick with Jesus' statement, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father but through me."

Maybe Oprah's next Book Club selection should be the Bible.

Cindy Glanzer
Loveland, Colorado

Thank you for not bowing to "Pope-rah" Winfrey and her brand of spirituality. I do hope this is an eye-opener for so many Christians who want to see Christ in everything that is "good."

Wholesome or positive media do not necessarily mean Christian media; yet I often hear Christians espousing the virtues of certain movies and TV programs (e.g., Oprah's Dr. Phil, Touched By an Angel, etc.) without analyzing the content for signs of the true gospel.

Use of the word God has become virtually meaningless in America. It can mean anything from inner strength to Satan himself. Oprah's spirituality, though laced with Christian terminology, is not only devoid of biblical understanding but is also a deceptive counterfeit that leads people away from salvation.

Trish Haun
Fort Worth, Texas

I wish LaTonya Taylor well as she indicates she "would love to do a book on Oprah," as quoted in Inside CT ["Using a Knife, Fork, and Spoon," April 1]. If that happens, it is my hope that this gifted young African American writer might understand that even as she and I find "power, grace, and love … through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ," many persons, Oprah Winfrey included, might articulate their relationship in different ways and still embrace that power, grace, and love.

Winfrey's program is another "vehicle for elucidating important Christian principles," as Stephen L. Carter says of the film A Beautiful Mind in the same issue of CT ["A Beautiful Reminder"]. I believe that an unconscious/conscious error we who call ourselves Christians make is to demean and dismiss persons and their productions/creations because they do not fit our sometimes subjective and narrow views of what a "relationship" with Jesus Christ should be.

We run the risk of limiting a Spirit "that blows where it will" when we dismiss the possibility that the Spirit just might be moving through an Oprah Winfrey. She does not claim to be a preacher. I do not think she considers her program a "church," but I imagine there are those who come closer to having a spiritual experience through her program than they do in many a church.

Gilbert H. Caldwell
Retired United Methodist minister
Denver, Colorado

The gospel according to Oprah offends no one, promises everything, and asks nothing except that devotees earn their way to a nebulous salvation. The story here is the great hunger of the human heart, which persists even in our self-satisfied, postmodern world.

Having tried it all myself, I can say from experience that only Jesus will satisfy and only the Cross can save. But who can say? Oprah may yet repent of her sins and accept Christ and his saving blood.

Russell Osmianski
Wilmington, Delaware

Oprah Winfrey's popularity only makes her one of the most spiritually dangerous people in America.

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May 21 2002, Vol. 46, No. 6