Madonna

[Kopji]

I was wondering today if there was a quality unique to celebrities that assists them in saying or believing funny things.

NBC was threatened with a sponsor boycott by several religious groups if Madonna left in her crucifix scene for an upcoming show. When questioned about her hanging on the giant crucifix she responded:

"I believe in my heart that if Jesus were alive today he would be doing the same thing."

[TragicMonkey]

Madonna has always been a living joke.

Back in the 80s, she was a funny joke. Now she's just a sad joke, the kind told by an old person who thinks they're going to amuse the young, but gets pitying stares instead.

[Temporal Renegade]

She's like a lot of people who've made their marks by being somewhat controversial and outrageous: in the end, it's all they have to keep people interested in them. It sure ain't the singing 'talent'...

[I'll_buy_that]

I thought she was kaballah-ish

[Kopji]

Every once in a while she comes out with a song that I think has a glimpse of genius in it.

'Like a prayer' links a kind of raw eroticism with religion, something I suspect is always there under the surface somewhere but not often captured except in art.

But then she has this weird self destructive trait that seems almost compulsive. Maybe she's just one more crazy artist, I dunno. Maybe there's nothing worth discussion. The notion that whatever you are doing, Jesus would do too seems delusional enough.


Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone
I hear you call my name
And it feels like home

When you call my name its like a little prayer
Im down on my knees, I wanna take you there
In the midnight hour I can feel your power
Just like a prayer you know Ill take you there

I hear your voice, its like an angel sighing
I have no choice, I hear your voice
Feels like flying
I close my eyes, oh God I think Im falling
Out of the sky, I close my eyes
Heaven help me

Like a child you whisper softly to me
You're in control just like a child
Now I'm dancing
Its like a dream, no end and no beginning
You're here with me, its like a dream
Let the choir sing...

[thaiboxerken]

"I believe in my heart that if Jesus were alive today he would be doing the same thing."


That is a very, very clever punchline. It's hilarious!!

[Kopji]

That is a very, very clever punchline. It's hilarious!!

Yeah I thought it was a scream.
I almost thought about making it a sig, if I liked sigs, which I don't. Anyone feel free though.

[ponderingturtle]

I was wondering today if there was a quality unique to celebrities that assists them in saying or believing funny things.

NBC was threatened with a sponsor boycott by several religious groups if Madonna left in her crucifix scene for an upcoming show. When questioned about her hanging on the giant crucifix she responded:

"I believe in my heart that if Jesus were alive today he would be doing the same thing."

I did hear an interesting talk by a female teacher of theology about an exorcise she does in her class. She asks students to immagion jesus as being from a number of different races, then as a woman. It is the woman part that throws everyone

[Kopji]

I did hear an interesting talk by a female teacher of theology about an exorcise she does in her class. She asks students to immagion jesus as being from a number of different races, then as a woman. It is the woman part that throws everyone

Do 'healthy' religions respect and promote a balance of male and female aspects of deity? I suppose that I agree with that, but why? I keep coming back to it simply being my bias that religion is more right when it accepts life as it is.

The sense I get from Madonna is that she keeps trying to fit the wrong shaped pegs into the holes: Does a person wear a cross or does the cross wear a person? Do we recognize that religious life has something of a sexual quality to it, or do we deny and suppress it until it erupts as something unhealthy?

[ceo_esq]

Do we recognize that religious life has something of a sexual quality to it, or do we deny and suppress it until it erupts as something unhealthy?

That's strikes me as a bit like observing that professional life or political life has something of a sexual quality. What's the quality you have in mind?

[clarsct]

Sex is religion's main competitor, thus it has ever been demonized.
Sexual ecstacy is the only real experience we have that can rival religious ecstacy, aside from the use of certain drugs, of course. Drugs are harder to refine and use, sex is pretty darned easy. Look at the numbers, obviously any idiot can do that.

In fact, one might be able to say that religious ecstacy is the result of repressed sexual drives diverted to a different cause.

There is a little evidence to say this is so, but it is a hard thing to prove. How do you prove what is going on inside someone else's head, after all?

It is what seems to me to be correct. I might be wrong.

[ponderingturtle]

Do 'healthy' religions respect and promote a balance of male and female aspects of deity? I suppose that I agree with that, but why? I keep coming back to it simply being my bias that religion is more right when it accepts life as it is.


And traditionaly that is that women are property, so religion should accept that and promote it as a healthy natural lifestyle.

[Kopji]

That's strikes me as a bit like observing that professional life or political life has something of a sexual quality. What's the quality you have in mind?

First, how is religious life comparable to professions like teaching, doctors, or politicians? Ok, I might grant that religion is a lot like politics...

There are metrics that could generally show a good teacher from a bad one, or a competent doctor from a good one. But anyone can get a clergy certificate from the Internet and perform marriages or sacraments in whatever religion they feel like creating.

There is really no comparison. There are atheists with ministerial certificates and function as fully qualified ministers.

I cannot get a certificate from the Internet and claim to be a doctor or teacher without running into various forms of legal opposition. What is a ministerial quality metric? - that a good minister is one that brings someone closer to God?

We've been here before. I have still not seen any evidence that religion/clergy rates any valid claim to knowledge except what it has claimed for itself. I hate to sound like Larsen, but what evidence is there for rating one minister over another? It is all a claim of authority.

But I'm sorry, that seems sort of off topic.

Religion extends the idea of family to a larger sense, and uses various sexual ideas to motivate or guide. There are ancient ideas that give male and female attributes to the universe. I can accept that certain religious views might be helpful in creating an appreciation of family and balance of male and female natures.

[thaiboxerken]

kopji is correct, religion is all made-up, it's fiction, there are no authorities in such subjects, only those who claim to know the "truth" of the fiction.

[Shrike]

hanging on the giant crucifix :

"I believe in my heart that if Jesus were alive today he would be doing the same thing."

You'd think someone would find some plyers and take him down. It's been nearly 2000 years after all.

[I'll_buy_that]

You'd think someone would find some plyers and take him down. It's been nearly 2000 years after all.

:D I wish i had thought of that line. :D classic.

Maybe she was just saying that if Jesus were alive today, he would be pulling crazy stunts to remain in the spotlight and keep his career going.

[Beerina]

I thought she was kaballah-ish

It is kind of odd she also believes in Jesus. Although since she thinks he'd be a shock-oriented modern "artist", she might not quite believe in his divinity, but rather just his hucksterism.

[Shrike]

Maybe she was just saying that if Jesus were alive today, he would be pulling crazy stunts to remain in the spotlight and keep his career going.

It took Madonna about ten years to masturbate on stage and perform fellatio on a bottle. What would Jesus be doing after 2000 years? :D