Does God approve Lady Gaga's outrageous behavior?

After one of her concerts Lady Gaga was met by Christian protesters who were angry with the lyrics of the singer's new single "Judas" and a video to the song that will be released by Easter. Believers say that "Judas" is an affront to their religious feelings. Does Gaga intend to deliberately provoke the believers by using religious symbols in her songs?

The music video to the song "Judas" has not been yet released, but some Christians are angered by the promise of Lady Gaga to release it by Easter, as well as the fact that the singer is going to appear in this video in the image of Mary Magdalene.

The GaGavision video of the pop star displays Lady Gaga departing in a limousine after a concert in support of her tour, Monster Ball, and encountering Christian protesters. "Believe in Christ, or end in hell!" said a poster held by one of the protesters. The "religious zealot" was yelling that the singer's actions displease God and are contrary to human values.

Lady Gaga was so shocked and hurt by the picket that she asked to stop the car, opened the window and decided to enter into negotiations with the protesters.

She told them she believed in God and added that their words hurt her because she attested a Catholic school for 13 years.

In her internet show Lady Gaga again gave comments regarding this case. She said that she was supported by three thousand fans who came to her concert. She was wondering who would stand up for that man, and who of them would go to hell.

Head of the Catholic League Bill Donohue made the following statement regarding the incident in an interview to HollywoodLife.com: "This is a publicity stunt ... Lady Gaga tries to continue to shock Catholics and Christians in general." According to him, the singer wants to draw attention to "shore up her talentless, mundane and boring performances."

In turn, creative director of Lady Gaga Laurieann Gibson stood up for the singer's right for the freedom of creative expression. "It went through several changes and late-night debates because at one point there were two completely different views and I was like, 'Listen, I don't want lightning to strike me! I believe in the gospel and I'm not going there'," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "It was amazing because to have that conversation about salvation, peace and the search for the truth in a room of non-believers and believers, to me, that was saying God is active in a big way... We've created a new Jerusalem."

Until now, Madonna was considered the champion of controversial ideas and use of religious symbols. At one time, her video "Like a Prayer" depicting burning crosses caused anger and protests of Christians. In one of her tours the singer performed crucified on the cross.

In September of 2006, the Orthodox community vigorously protested against Madonna's concert in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium. A well-known missionary deacon (now - Archdeacon) Andrei Kuraev then called Madonna an aging pop star who tried to maintain interest to her work by scandals.

REM's Losing My Religion that won two Grammy Awards is another popular song that drew attention by playing on religious feelings.

In 1996, Christians were outraged by the video to the song of Joan Osborne One of Us, where God was portrayed as a cardboard figure with an opening in his face where different people placed their heads and photographed.

Heated debates regarding the videotape of the incident in which a Christian preacher urges Lady Gaga to stop sinning and go to heaven are still ongoing. Many participants indicated that they were both Christians and fans of the singer, which in no way offended their religious feelings.

Olga Gumanova
Pravda.Ru

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