Madonna's 'Crucifixion' Upsets More Than Da Vinci

Deborah Hobson

Pop superstar Madonna caused uproar among religious groups at the start of her Confessions tour in Los Angeles, USA at the weekend when she appeared on a 20ft high mirrored cross wearing a crown of thorns on her head. The sometime Roman Catholic chartopping singer characteristically sexualised the iconography of her faith. Concert goers at the Forum venue were also shown a controversial video montage juxtaposing images of American President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair with footage of Adolf Hitler, Osama Bin Laden and Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe.

"Why would someone with so much talent seem to feel the need to promote herself by offending so many people?" said the Church of England, in a statement.

David Muir, of the Evangelical Alliance, also accused the singer of "blatant insensitivity".  "Madonna's use of Christian imagery is an abuse and it is dangerous," he said.  "She should drop it from the tour and people need to find their own means of expressing their disapproval."
 
The American's singer's current spiritual guide from the Kabbalah Jewish group, Rabbi Yehuda Berg, attended the concert but was unmoved by the stir it created.

Madonna is a veteran of ‘shock and be damned’ antics guaranteed to make headlines around the globe. She will be on tour in North America for two months and returns to her home base, Britain for gigs at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, and Wembley Arena, London, in July and August.

With many fans still fuming at the cost of her concert tickets, some  priced as high as £200 each, I searched the web for The-Latest world view of the ‘queen of sin’. This is what I uncovered:

“Madonna appeared strapped to a 20 foot high crucifix, prompting outrage from Christian leaders. All going according to plan then - definately a disco crucifiction by the look of it.”

peter-rivendale.blogspot.com

'Madonna singing "Live to Tell" on a discofied Crucifix in her new tour. Not to mention the crown of thorns on her head. Shock? Art? Madonna suffering for our sins? All of the above? But kudos on the song, glad she still acknowledges her back catalogue. I may have to give in and buy a ticket off the street to see this for myself.'

dannoblog.myspace.com

'She was an equestrian, a disco princess and a black-clad rocker — plus she crucified herself on a mirrored cross — all in less than two hours. Madonna must've failed CCD class. It was the Son Of God who was crucified, not the Madonna, Virgin Mother. Mary ascended into heaven... duh-uh! Unless I missed a chapter in the DaVinci Code... Wow, how contemporary! Such fresh new ideas from this fresh new artist not desperate at all to maintain any dwindling interest in a fading career.”

noyetidance.blogspot.com

'Madonna IS hot! Thanks huffpo for this story so I could buy tickets for her Amsterdam show for my daughter, an avid fan. All negative comments: None of you have an inch of talent and can't respect it. Most of you just don't get her and she doesn't need PR as her concerts are all sold out. I bought my tickets from a scalper.
She is a legend in her own time. '

'Did Madonna have to consult the mystical Kabbalah preachers before deciding to do this? What a media whore. Just piss of the Christers and you go platinum right? Madonna and the religious nuts need one another to survive, one side needs the outrage for members and the other for sales. They are symbiotic parasites.'

www.huffingtonpost.com