With a song on the cross

Catholics and Protestants are offended by Madonna as Jesus

The new concert tour of the American pop star Madonna started with a scandal. It should probably be clarified: as usual - after all, this diva’s appearances in public regularly provoke public outrage. This time Madonna, who in recent years has become a follower of Kabbalah, managed to offend Christians: on Monday in Los Angeles at the first concert of the Confessions Tour, performing the song Live To Tell, the star appeared in the image of Jesus - crucified on a six-meter mirror cross with a crown of thorns on the head.

After this, high-ranking representatives of several Christian denominations spoke impartially to the performer. Thus, the Anglican Church in its statement expressed its inability to understand that “such a talented person” advertises himself by offending many people. David Muir of the British charity Evangelical Alliance noted that “Madonna uses Christian imagery in an offensive and dangerous way,” and demanded that the singer remove the controversial number from the concert program. According to Catholic League President Bill Donohue, Madonna has a long history of using Christian symbolism to spice up her spectacle. However, he considers it a “pathetic” spectacle: “You can’t teach an old pop star new tricks. Poor Madonna is always trying to shock. But all she can do is look like a boring fanatic."

However, it seems that if not to shock, then to attract attention to herself and her tour, the provocateur Madonna did an excellent job. What Mr. Donohue is right about is that the singer regularly plays with religious images in her shows, and this usually works: it’s a shame for the star to complain about the lack of public attention. And you can’t blame Madonna for allegedly succumbing to the current fashion of promoting herself on anti- and near-Christian fantasies a la Dan Brown. She first received a personal philippic from the late Pope John Paul II, when there was no trace of any codes from Brown. In 1990, the pontiff could not contain his indignation at Madonna’s frivolous outfit and overt gesticulation, calling on the flock to boycott her then tour of Europe. The words of the respected Pope, who did not often condescend to criticize modern show business, provided the pop diva with free and very effective advertising.

However, in the last decade of the last century there were completely different times. The use of any symbols, even the most sacred ones, in shows that teetered on the edge of decency was not considered particularly shameful. Nowadays everything is different: religions have remembered that offending them is unsportsmanlike and sometimes even criminally punishable. And after “anti-caricature” pogroms and demonstrations swept across Europe and the Muslim world, cautious art began to shy away from crosses, crescents and other graphic elements of the cult like the plague. Now only Madonna, who has demonstratively disdained public taste all her life, is able, as in years past, to climb onto a cross with a song.

Behind the Christian indignation, another, no less shocking number from the Los Angeles concert remained a little aside: having finished with self-crucifixion, the star went through politics. While performing the song I Love New York , where there is a mention of Texas, Madonna suddenly swore at George Bush - apparently inspired by the music. Plus, at some point, a video clip was projected on the stage with images of the leaders of the Western world - the same Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair - replaced by portraits of prominent outcasts and villains - Hitler, Bin Laden and Zimbabwean President Mugabe. But this demarche did not create much of a scandal, being lost in the noisy speeches of offended Christian functionaries.

Mikhail MANSKOY