The 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People (Posted without comment ...

[YankeyMCC]

...and believe me I have a few rattling around my brain. But I would like to see other's comments without bias)

http://www.watkinsbooks.com/review/watkins-spiritual-100-list-2012

[trotsky]

1. Lots of overlap with the "100 Biggest Snakeoil Sellers" list, oddly enough. n/t

[YankeyMCC]

4. I noticed some overlap myself

[jeepnstein]

2. "16. Oprah Winfrey" ?

Really? I think that's quite a reach.

[YankeyMCC]

5. Ok yeah, that really struck me as bizzare

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Many people listen to Oprah whatever she says

Remember "The Secret" BS? Or there's this:

When the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey of 35,000 Americans documented in detail the splintered spirituality of today's believers, Rice University sociologist Michael Lindsay pointed straight to Oprah to explain our salad bar-style spirituality.

Lindsay pointed out:

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the national memorial service was at Washington's National Cathedral, conducted by Episcopal clergy. After the 9/11 attack, Oprah organized the official memorial service at Yankee Stadium, and while clergy participated, she was the master of ceremonies.

Oprah, he said draws on multiple religious traditions to "create a hodgepodge personalized faith."

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2011/05/oprah-spirituality-god-eckhart-tolle/1#.T6q9EqjaKSo

[Adsos Letter]

3. Erich von Däniken?

Von Däniken put forward photographs of pottery "depicting UFOs" from an archaeological dig, but the PBS television series Nova determined that this was a fraud, and located the potter who made them. Von Däniken said that the deception was justified because some people would only believe his ideas if they saw proof. (emphasis added)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von_D%C3%A4niken`

Weird.

[YankeyMCC]

6. I didn't know him...Looks like he believed in

Truthiness before Colbert coined the phrase

[mr blur]

7. Well, Deepak Chopra, Erich von Däniken and the Pope certainly belong together in a list

of Influential Frauds who want you to believe bullshit.

Bad luck for Nelson Mandela, though.