Church Vs. Madonna

First time (Like A Prayer) as tragedy, second time as farce? Or is second time tragedy too? Or was it always farce? In any event, the Church of England is annoyed:

But church authorities were not impressed when she appeared on a 6m-high mirrored cross to sing the ballad Live to Tell, while video screens showed images of world poverty.

"Is Madonna prepared to take on everything else that goes with wearing a crown of thorns?" asked a Church of England spokesman.

"And why would someone with so much talent seem to feel the need to promote herself by offending so many people?"

David Muir of the Evangelical Alliance, a London-based charitable organisation, said: "It is downright offensive. Madonna's use of Christian imagery is an abuse and it is dangerous.

"The Christian reaction to this sort of thing tends to be tempered, but if the same thing was done with the imagery or iconography of other faiths the reaction would be very different," he told London's Evening Standard newspaper.

In 1989, the Vatican attacked Madonna's accompanying video for the song Like a Prayer as blasphemous. It featured burning crosses and a black Jesus.

As an agnostic, I basically don't care. I see the Church's point. I'm not sure what Madonna's point is. Anyway, I plan to be completely offended Tuesday evening, when I journey to San Jose to see all this blasphemy in-person.