Gagging the Catholic Church

By Robyn Wethington

Lady Gaga is the latest pop star to seduce her way to fame through sexual "shock and awe" similar to Madonna in the nineties. Lady Gaga's new "Alejandro" video juxtaposes graphic lewd sexual acts with Catholic imagery to produce a sadistic, sexual video. In the controversial video, Lady Gaga, a Catholic, is dressed in a latex nun habit, swallows rosary beads and then strips to her undergarments, simulating sex with various partners.

Offensive? Absolutely. Sacrilegious? Without a doubt it defames the Catholic Church and the values it holds dear.

The Catholic Church has taken hard hits in the entertainment industry for the sake of "art." Yet, "Alejandro" is over the top. Why is this video accepted by the greater public? Simply put, Americans don't feel threatened by the Catholic Church like they are, for instance, by the Muslim community. South Park, for example, the infamous animated television series on Comedy Central is best known for its raw, satirical humor that lampoons celebrities, ethnicities and religious groups. Jesus Christ is the latest target of the series' wrath.

Jesus appears on South Park as a supporting character. He appears as a television call-in show host and even fights Satan, where the whole town of South Park bets against Jesus. In season six, Jesus is killed off the show by a Muslim extremist. South Park does not fear offending Christians—despite portraying Jesus sacrilegiously. "We can do whatever we want to Jesus, and we have. We've had him say bad words. We've had him shoot a gun. We've had him kill people. We can do whatever we want," said Matt Stone, co-creator and writer of the Jesus character.

South Park does not show Jesus the same courtesy it does to Muslims. After Islamic threats, the show bleeped out all references to the Prophet Muhammad and covered him up with a black censor block to protect an Islamic tradition that forbids visual representations of Muhammad.

But the fear of offending Muslims does not transfer to Christians--despite the fact that America was founded on Christian values and the majority of Americans are Christians. The double standard continues throughout the industry: Comedy Central plans to release a show called "JC," short for Jesus Christ.  According to a June 3 article titled  “Comedy Central’s Jesus Show Draws Protest From Religious Groups,” published in the Huffington Post, a left-wing American news Web site, "Comedy Central said last month that 'JC' is one of two dozen series it has in development. The concept is to depict Christ as a 'regular guy' who moves to New York to 'escape his father's enormous shadow.'"

"The reason this is considered to be OK is because the Catholic Church is the most visible and powerful, single religious institution on the planet. There is no comparable, unifying force in Islam or in any other religious faith or tradition. [The media] make fun of rich, white, businessmen all the time because no one thinks of them as underdogs," said conservative commentator and film critic Michael Medved in a recent Fox News article titled "Lady Gaga is Latest Celeb to Abuse Catholic imagery in Hollywood’s ‘War on Religion.'" The article chronicles Hollywood's trend in abusing Catholic imagery to make provocatively progressive statements. Unfortunately, it is precisely the Catholic Church's powerful authority--spiritual and moral—that makes it an on-going target for Hollywood.

"Everyone assumes that because I went to such a religious school perhaps they [the nuns] don't appreciate what I'm doing now. But it is quite the opposite," says Lady Gaga, suggesting the nuns at the Catholic school she attended approve of her work. It is hard to believe that Lady Gaga believes her own propaganda and that the nuns she is referring to would be in favor of her portrayal of them in her video.

"Alejandro" director Steven Klein told MTV that the video was not meant to "denote anything negative, but represents the character's battle between the dark forces of this world and the spiritual salvation of the soul." Regardless, the Catholic Church's traditions and religious imagery are sacred to Christians. They should not be manipulated or taken out of context in the name of art.

Lady Gaga prides herself on pushing boundaries. But as she pushes the envelope and gains notoriety, she becomes a very poor role model—especially for those in the entertainment industry. Young stars will look to her success and will feel pressured to partake in obscenity to stay relevant. In an industry where bigger is better, stars will sacrifice purity for fame.

Teen pop star Miley Cyrus is currently the best and most recent example of this trend. She began her career as the wholesome star of Walt Disney's Hannah Montana. Yet she now has a distasteful stage presence, as is evidenced by her video where she portrays a caged, "untamable" bird on exhibit. Also, former Christian singer, Katy Perry, shot to mainstream fame with a song titled, "I Kissed a Girl." Both of these young girls come from Christian families. In fact, Ms. Perry's parents are both pastors; Ms. Perry even released a gospel album in 2001 under the name Katy Hudson. Her current raunchy antics are a far cry from her Christian roots.

Artists should be mindful of their heritage, especially if they are Christians. And regardless of their faith, entertainers should not trample on Christianity and mock the very values America was founded on. Artists are becoming increasingly selfish and treating the industry as an outlet for their own commercial gain rather than using their talents for good. Lady Gaga’s tactics are being egged on by recod sales; hence the public is ultimately responsible. Consumers have the power to say enough is enough. Let's make our voice heard and not support such crass artists who trample on the true, good and beautiful.

-Robyn Wethington is an outreach coordinator for The Edmund Burke Institute. She is also a student at the University of Missouri's School of Journalism where she is majoring in Strategic Communications with a minor in Political Science.