Marianne Williamson: What to Know About the 'Bitch for God'

[Judi Lynn]

She’s a celebrity-magnet who found her career through a book supposedly ‘dictated’ by Jesus.


Shira Feder
Updated 06.20.19 8:43PM ET / Published 06.20.19 4:12PM ET

Marianne Williamson’s 2020 campaign for president has made barely a blip—until this week when she called mandatory-vaccine policies “draconian” and “Orwellian,” immediately sparking criticism that she is an anti-vaxxer. On Thursday, appearing on The View, the New Age self-help guru said she misspoke but then failed to make a full-throated endorsement of vaccines, saying she does not “trust the propaganda on either side” and that “we must have a balance between public safety and the issues of individual freedom.”

Williamson, who has scored about 1 percent of voters’ support in several polls, secured a spot on the debate stage next week. Here’s a look at her past:

Her vaccine skepticism isn’t new
In a 2011 Facebook post, Williamson said she understood “the controversial aspects of vaccinations, and I share many of the concerns.” While she said she admired the Gates Foundation’s efforts to vaccinate children in the developing world, “the issue isn’t black and white.” (Scientists and mainstream medical providers disagree and say the safety and efficacy of vaccines is well-established).

She found her career through a book ‘dictated’ by Jesus
The foundation of Williamson’s career is Helen Schucman’s spiritual self-help book A Course in Miracles, which Schucman claimed had been dictated to her by Jesus but which has been criticized by some as pseudo-Christianity. “I had no idea at the time that my study of The Course, plus writing and speaking about it, would turn into a 35-year career,” Williamson has written. She began lecturing to small groups on The Course and in 1992 she published A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles. Oprah Winfrey read it and told her TV audience that she experienced 157 miracles as a result. Williamson has since published 12 other books.

More:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/marianne-williamson-what-to-know-about-the-self-help-guru-who-made-anti-vax-comment

[Tiggeroshii]

1. Easy. I don't like her.

Yuck!

[JI7]

2. no, stop wasting our time and using our primary to sell your shit

[susanna]

3. I'll second that n/t

[msongs]

4. with vaccines disease decline massive, without vaccines new outbreaks most in years. hmmm nt

[Retrograde]

15. "But all the evidence isn't in yet"

Look, vaccination has only been around since about 1800, when Edward Jenner started vaccination people against smallpox (and other forms of innoculation were documented in the Middle East at least a century earlier), but it's clearly still too early to draw any definite conclusions

[BlueMTexpat]

5. Thanks for posting.

We certainly need to inform ourselves about her.

It is a mystery to me how ANY on DU can support this woman.

[LuvNewcastle]

6. Jesus just told me not to vote for her.

I said, "no shit, Jesus!"

[BeckyDem]

13. LOL +1.

[customerserviceguy]

17. Funny! n/t

[betsuni]

7. Ugh.

Just saw her interviewed on The View. Morals, 40 years, FDR, establishment, aristocrats, Big Pharma, vaccines. Terrible.

[TheFarseer]

8. not a popular position to hold for

A Democratic primary. Also not sure how finishing 4th in a House race qualifies one to be president.

[hlthe2b]

9. Uggh...Soooo not what we need.

[Honeycombe8]

10. She's an independent activist who has temporarily registered as Democrat to run...

so that her causes get furthered, and she sells more books. And hopefully pushes the Democratic Party a little further her way.

Like someone else I can think of.

[dalton99a]

12. +1

[SouthernProgressive]

11. Now this is what I would call punching down. NT

[nolabear]

14. I saw that View segment. They were not thrilled with her.

And for good reason. She’s got some kind philosophical leanings, and a gift for platitudes, and no talent for dealing with the actual world. I thought they were going to eyeroll themselves into concussions.

She’ll be gone as soon as she thinks she’s promoted herself enough.

[Retrograde]

16. And yet she's in the first debate

while more qualified candidates such as Bullock didn't make it.

[question everything]

18. Let's hope that this will be her last appearnces on such venues

Yes, like Herman Cain she is using a campaign to sell books. But why so many support her, sending her more than $65,000 is beyond me.