The NYTimes on Opening Weekend

In interviews at the church last week, congregants praised Mr. Osteen for his practical messages and praised the new building as a monument to God. "He’s added a different dimension to our spiritual life," said Kumar Felix, 45, an immunologist who described himself as a "hard-core" Catholic but said he was drawn to Mr. Osteen because of his motivational messages. "We’re always quoting Joel’s talks in our daily life."

[snip]

But many among his congregants said he tackled their problems. Mario Cervantes, 38, said that the church had taught him to name the things he wanted, and that he would receive them. "The Bible says, speak those things that aren’t as if they are," Mr. Cervantes said.

"Now I’m speaking my marriage to Isabelle," he said, gesturing to his girlfriend. "And having a relationship with my children. The Bible tells me that as long as I serve him, I shall have what I want. The reason I didn’t name material things is that I know I’m here on borrowed time from God."

I keep posting on Osteen because…well, I think this is important. I’m constantly excavating American religious language, trying to figure out what it says and means, and trying to figure out how it challenges Catholics who seek to reach out and evangelize, like many of us here.

But I just don’t know what to say to those who have come to understand the Christian life as being about what naming what you really want so God can give it to you. I just don’t.