On Sacrilege

According to Merriam Webster's dictionary, the second definition for sacrilege is as follows: gross irreverence toward a hallowed person, place, or thing.

I can agree with this statement in one sense of the word. I can agree that some people may feel that another's actions, words, or art are a form of sacrilege to them. I can see how they would be offended. However, I'm tired of the trite whining about sacrilege being used to neuter free speech.

Case in point: part of Madonna's concert being selectively edited for the NBC broadcast. In the concert, Madonna sings Live to Tell while hanging on a mirrored cross. This portion was cut from the televised version, and instead, we were shown the video which was actually playing on the screens behind her. We watched images of adorable African children pass by while a counter quickly counted to 12,000,000. We later see that this is the number of children currently orphaned in Africa due to AIDS. After Madonna gets off the cross, we see her on stage with the crown of thorns still on her head. She proceeds to finish the song, collapses on stage, and then a series of Bible verses appear on the various screens on the stage. They're the passages where Jesus spoke about clothing and feeding the poor. Heck, she even gave proper attribution to the scriptural passages. This was then followed by internet addresses where aid could be given.

The thing that gets me about this is that there's a lot of negligible assumption going on with this whole thing. Madonna's not performing a "gross irreverence" towards Jesus, but instead trying to emulate him while making an emotional plea that we need to help these children. Yes, perhaps the cross aspect was a bit much, but if you watch the clip, you can easily tell that sacrilege was never an aspect of this performance. Trying to get people to help the poor sounds pretty Jesus-like to me, rather than sacrilegious.

It bugs me that religious groups are so quick to cry persecution these days. More scary than that is the fact that they get away with it so often, and are even catered to. It's clear that NBC bowed to pressure from religious groups to edit the piece, when these groups had never seen the performance in question, nor would they. Her piece wasn't weighed on the merits of the performance, but on the perception of ignorant fools. Or perhaps it would be more fitting to call them "white washed tombs." Newsflash: watching Madonna as Christ is not persecution. Hearing swearing is not persecution. Being told you're not liked is not persecution. Sex on tv is not persecution. Being forced to grant equal rights to homosexuals is not persecution. If you all really want to experience persecution, join your brothers and sisters in Sudan or Indonesia and be put to death for your faith. The big difference is that those people don't whine about petty trivialities or sacrilege.

So, Rick, what's with the vitriolic rant? Well, you see, I view Madonna as a hallowed person. In light of that, any editing of her performance was a "gross irreverence" in my eyes. Also, to clear my conscience, at least I can say I watched the performance and went to church too.