Yesterday, Pew released a new survey about religion in America. One of its major findings is that people are fluid in their faith, readily moving from one to another. This is fully in line with my work in Brands of Faith. As those of you who have read the book know, it takes these findings and explains why they are happening and why they have happened.

Here’s a piece from CBS’ The Early Show:

There will be more stories as the media has a chance to digest the information. In the meantime, does anyone know someone at CNN?

Thought some here might be interested in what others are thinking/saying coming out the the Ad Age review. A blog of interest is Streams, which has some interesting conversation going.

As for Oprah, 360,000 people have signed up for the online class about Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth. Oprah’s promoting this book every day on her show. It’s waaaay overkill.

A recent email included the following:

Your Thoughts and Workbook
After spending some time with this book, what has resonated the most with you? Is your mind working overtime? We know how hard you’ve been working to enlighten your consciousness…now it’s time to put it on paper! Check back on Monday to get your chapter 1 workbook.

Send us your aha! moments and questions.

Religion and A New Earth
Have you been wondering how spiritual awakening and engagement in a religious tradition fit together? Read Eckhart’s explanation.

Get Ready for Class!
Before watching Oprah and Eckhart’s online class, you’ll need to install a special media player on your computer. You’ll need to download what you need before March 3. We’ll show you how!

Reserve Your Seat
More than 360,000 people have registered for class, and there’s plenty of room for you, too! Sign up today.

Reader of the Week
Laurie is starting over. “I no longer want to coast through life waiting for the next distraction,” she says. “Time is too short and valuable to waste—a quote from the book—’evolve or die’—really hit a chord.” Share your own goals with other readers.

Attention International Readers!
Are you reading A New Earth overseas? How is this book influencing your life? If you live outside of North America, we want to hear from you!

I know Oprah’s not doing this because she needs the money. So then what is it about this book?

I admit I bought it (on sale at amazon.com for about 8 bucks) and began to read it. Like The Secret before it, there is nothing new in here–at least not in the first 100 pages I’ve read so far. It’s all about the ego and recognizing it’s existence. All I kept thinking was that I was reading A Course in Miracles via Marianne Williamson.

I’m all for a good reminder, but the way Oprah is blowing this out you would think it was the second coming. Let me know if I’ve missed something…maybe it’s just my ego getting in the way.

Ad Age posted their review of Brands of Faith today. It is interesting to see a non-academic take on the book. It’s also interesting to notice that the evangelical vultures are already out on the attack…

GodTube is in the news again. There’s nothing really new in this article. It’s really more surprising that the Christian Science Monitor is only picking up on it now.

Since they did write about it, I couldn’t help but go back to the site to see what was new. One of the featured videos was a trailer for a DVD called The Secret Things of God.

This is “Christian version” of the highly successful The Secret. In fact, it is so similar that I wasn’t sure if it was a spinoff. It’s not. (Can we say copyright infringement?) What this example demonstrates, however, is just how interconnected the sacred is with the secular and how religious groups use what is of the culture now as they have throughout time.

What was new in the CSM article (at least to me) was that GodTube reviews — I would say censors — the videos that appear on their site. I wonder if the viewers of that site know they are seeing limited view of God rather than an ecumenical one.

Don’t think I’m obsessing about this, but Pew has such great stuff on religion and politics you really should check it out particularly going into Super Tuesday. The most fun is to look at the religiosity of a state and the faith of its representatives.

Separately, this post to Alternet about Huckabee may also be of interest. It’s one thing to hear that someone is an evangelical, quite another when you listen to what they say they believe. Maybe this is why he’s slipping in the polls.

At least that’s what I thought when I saw the premise for ABC’s new show, Eli Stone. While the network has been promoting the heck out of the return of Lost, this show is getting lost in the shuffle.

Eli is a corporate lawyer who learns he has an inoperable brain aneurysm which leads him to have visions. It also leads him to a very cool acupuncturist who I think may be the real visionary in the show. At any rate, I recommend you check it out.

On the Oprah front, she’s hitting the spirituality meter really hard this season…more on that next week.