Madonna's Blasphemy of the Cross

Yesterday NBC TV confirmed that it is planning to air footage from Madonna's "Confessions" tour in which Madonna wears a crown of thorns and is mounted on a mirror-laden cross while she is raised up from the stage. NBC, which is paying Madonna a reported $15 million, will air the program as part of a November sweeps TV ratings grab. NBC officials claim that Madonna's depiction of the crucifixion isn't offensive. "We viewed it and didn't see it as being inappropriate," they said.
By now this is all so boringly predictable: Madonna's perverse adaptation of biblical symbolism, the media's inability to perceive and unwillingness to censor blasphemy, the flagrant and intolerant attack on biblical Christianity, etc. The evangelical reponse is equally predictable: public outcry, political lobbying, a network boycott, and unwitting publicity for a tawdry television program.

But maybe there is still a chance here for people to see the difference between Christianity and Islam, between the militant Muhammad and the humiliated Christ. Even the most blasphemous portrayals of the cross are echoes from Calvary, for in their very mockery they remind us again what Jesus suffered at the hands of sinners.

Posted September 21, 2006 @ 11:52 AM by Phil Ryken

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