Madonna’s Sin Is Not Blasphemy but Lack of Originality

c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Madonna is back in her favorite place: the news. During her ongoing “Confessions” tour, she appears “crucified” on a mirrored cross, complete with mock crown of thorns. For several weeks this summer, the tour played sold-out arenas across the United States to minimal controversy. Only a handful of protesters […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Madonna is back in her favorite place: the news.

During her ongoing “Confessions” tour, she appears “crucified” on a mirrored cross, complete with mock crown of thorns.


For several weeks this summer, the tour played sold-out arenas across the United States to minimal controversy. Only a handful of protesters picketed Miami’s American Airlines Arena in July at the close of the tour’s American leg.

But the tour’s Aug. 6 arrival in Rome set off a tempest, as clergy and church officials on both sides of the Atlantic denounced her alleged crucifixion blasphemy.

The whole episode is ridiculous.

Ridiculous that Madonna still feels the need to gratuitously provoke the church. Ridiculous that church officials still get so hot under the collar, so to speak, about a pop star’s empty provocations.

Every player in this drama followed a script that’s so 1986.

From the get-go, the self-proclaimed Boy Toy has manipulated the media with rigorous calculation. Writhing around in a wedding dress, publishing her explicit “Sex” book, getting all lovey-dovey with a black Jesus against a backdrop of burning crosses in her “Like A Prayer” video, locking lips with Britney Spears on MTV _ she is savvy, shameless and relentless in her pursuit of publicity.

Ironically enough, she had already made news of an entirely different nature two days before her recent Italian uproar. In Time magazine, Madonna announced a $3 million initiative to assist orphans in Malawi, a small nation in southeast Africa.

Madonna attributed the move to motherhood, maturity and Kabbalah spirituality, which speaks to the obligation of humans to improve the lives of others. Money coupled with fame empowers celebrities like Madonna _ and Bono and Angelina Jolie _ to do so on a grand scale.

Naysayers say it’s just another bid for self-promotion. Such criticism ignores the fact that whatever Madonna’s motivations, desperate folks in a forgotten corner of the planet will receive badly needed assistance.

The July 22 performance I saw in Miami, likely the same as every other show on the tour, attempted a mash-up of her lesser-known altruistic side with her famously narcissistic public persona _ with mixed results.


Madonna emerged from a giant disco ball in a black top hat and riding pants, armed with a leather crop. In an equestrian bondage set piece, she rode and disciplined male dancers outfitted with S&M-like bridles and straps.

The stage complex, with its multiple runways, trap doors and video montages, was a technological marvel. By 4-to-1, dancers outnumbered musicians.

And then there was the cross.

Midway through the show, it rose slowly from the stage floor with Madonna aboard. She sang “Live to Tell” as a video counter flashed to 12 million, the estimated number of AIDS orphans in Africa.

Madonna’s representatives have said she intended no offense to the church. The stunt was meant to convey how Jesus would embrace the plight of AIDS patients.

Video screens displaying lines from Matthew 25:35 _ Jesus’ “I was hungry and you gave me food” passage _ hammered home that point. Madonna splayed on a disco ball cross did not.

Souvenir T-shirts decorated with the crucified Madonna revealed the real dynamic at work: Controversy and commerce are inextricably linked.


She may also suffer from that peculiarly Roman Catholic religious hangover. Decades removed from her Catholic school days, she still revels in pricking the sensibilities of the religious patriarchy.

Pop stars with persecution complexes occasionally strike Christ poses, most recently George Bush-bashing rapper Kanye West on the cover of Rolling Stone. But Madonna has reigned as one of the world’s most famous female artists for more than 20 years. It’s tough to claim persecution when your current tour is expected to gross more than $200 million.

On Aug. 7, CNN’s Paula Zahn hosted a roundtable debate devoted to the cross controversy. An image consultant congratulated the 47-year-old Madonna on devising yet another gimmick to stay relevant in a crowded field of much younger stars _ as if commercial concerns automatically absolve any consideration of taste and decency.

The Catholic League’s blustery Bill Donohue argued that Madonna deserves even more criticism, that she essentially gets a free pass for her alleged insults to Catholicism. A similar knock on Judaism or Islam, he said, would be condemned in the extreme.

Just ask Mel Gibson.

A concert preview in the weekly Miami New Times suggested that “what’s always been most fascinating about Madonna is observing how she affects others.”

That is certainly true with religious leaders and pundits. Here’s hoping she fares better with African orphans.


KRE/JL END SPERA

(Keith Spera writes for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans)

Editors: To obtain photos of Madonna, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

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