* VivekaJyoti *

“There couldn't possibly be just one way to God”.
-- Oprah has told the truth…We Hindus must support Oprah in this work: Swami Devananda Saraswati

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“There couldn't possibly be just one way to God”. Oprah is right of course. Every Hindu can appreciate what she is trying to say. She knows that the idea that there is only one way to God, through only one name and form, is ridiculous. Oprah has told the truth and people who tell the truth make powerful enemies in high places. We Hindus must support Oprah in this work.

-- Swami Devananda Saraswati

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From: Ishwar Sharan
Date: Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 12:57 PM
Subject: Re: "There couldn't possibly be just one way to God".

Oprah is right of course. Every Hindu can appreciate what she is trying to say. But Oprah is in trouble with her fellow believers. She is only one of a very few Christians who sit within a small-minded religious tradition that has a small-minded concept of God, and she is trying to break out of it, to grow spiritually. Oprah knows people better than most of us, given her public work and vast experience, and she knows that the idea that there is only one way to God, through only one name and form, is ridiculous. If we accept that we are all children of God, then there must be as many relationships and ways to live with God as there are children. And there must be as many ways back to God as there are children of God, when we get lost in this life and separated from God, our Mother and Father, our Lover and Friend.

Oprah has told the truth and people who tell the truth make powerful enemies in high places. We Hindus must support Oprah in this work. The idea that there is only one way to God, that He/She can have only one name and form, is real idolatry, because it puts a man-made limitation on God Who is in fact limitless.

-- Swami Devananda Saraswati

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"There couldn't possibly be just one way to God”.

• One of the mistakes that human beings make is believing that there is only one way to live.
• 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.

-- Oprah Winfrey

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USA, July 9, 2008 (RNS): [HPI note: American TV start Oprah Winfrey has been under scutiny by her fellow Christians for embracing new and unorthodox views. Hindus may find her personal finds quite familiar.] Oprah Winfrey has become a catalyst for conservative Christians questioning and criticizing her spiritual beliefs. Some evangelical Christians have voiced alarm that Winfrey is introducing the 46 million viewers who watch her each week to nontraditional spirituality.

One of Winfrey's quotes highlighted in the story is her belief that "there couldn't possibly be just one way" to God. "One of the mistakes that human beings make is believing that there is only one way to live," Winfrey said. A spokesman for Winfrey's Harpo Productions said the celebrity is a Christian. "Oprah is a Christian and she believes in only one God," said the spokesman. "Oprah 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 percent of Americans said "many religions can lead to eternal life" in a recent survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

There is a YouTube video produced by those who oppose her views, called "The Church of Oprah." It can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA

Oprah's "May Paths To God" Controversy

http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2008/7/7.shtml#3

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Religious Diversity & Pluralism

Pluralism

What is Pluralism

Religious Freedom

The ‘one God’ of the theological simpletons vis-à-vis the ‘only God’ of the Hindus

Do Islam & Christianity Respect Other Religions?

In which way you are “superior” to the Hindus?

Are All Religions the Same?

Labels: Church, One God, Oprah Winfrey