Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me?

Madonna is all over the news again, mostly for the controversy surrounding her adoption of a motherless child from Malawi. It seems that the Material Girl doesn't have the charm of Brangelina when it comes to adopting babies from impoverished foreign countries. But it makes for great publicity.

There has also been some controversy about Madonna's upcoming televised concert special. When she sings the song "Live to Tell" during her current "Confessions" world tour, Madonna adorns a crown of thorns and climbs up on a cross in a mock crucifixion. Check out the pictures:

Conservative Christian groups have successfully forced Madonna and NBC to edit out the crucifixion when the concert is televised next month. Such groups in America and Europe have claimed that Madonna is committing blasphemy.

For her part, Madonna claims that she is not blaspheming at all. According to CNN.com, "Madonna issued a statement last month insisting her act was 'neither anti-Christian, sacrilegious or blasphemous. Rather it is a plea to the audience to encourage mankind to help one another and to see the world as a unified whole.' 'I believe if Jesus were alive today, he would be doing the same thing,' she said, adding that her specific intent was to bring attention to the extreme poverty in Africa."

You may recall that this is not the first time Madonna has stirred controversy regarding religious imagery. In her video for "Like a Prayer" way back in 1989 featured Madonna, with the stigmata of bloody palms, dancing in front of field of burning crosses while religious statues cried blood. I actually thought it was a good video.

Now all of this raises an interesting question: What constitutes blasphemy when it comes to using images of a cross or crucifixion?

To an extent, I think Madonna has a point. The cross is a symbol of redemptive suffering (if you believe in such a thing) and has been used in art to portray universal suffering. Have you seen Marc Chagall's "White Crucifixion" at the Art Institute? It uses a very Jewish Jesus on the cross to make a powerful statement about Jewish suffering. Is this blasphemy?

But on the other hand, I often wonder if Madonna simply pulls stunts like this just to get attention, whether it's for a cause or not. If that's the case, maybe it is blasphemy.

Blasphemy or not, this raises at least one more interesting question. I often notice that rock stars, rappers, and movies stars frequently wear crosses around their necks, often when doing things that the man who made that cross famous probably wouldn't approve of. I'm never really sure what that means. Is it a sign of faith? A talisman or charm for good luck? A fashion style? Or to the point of this discussion, is it blasphemy?

How many of us wear crosses? Do we always live our lives in a way that reflects what that cross means? It's a heavy burden. When Jesus said, "take up your cross and follow me", did he have in mind a Madonna concert or "do your chain hang low"? Or are we missing the point altogether?

TV Ethics

For better or for worse, legal and medical dramas on television continue to be one of the most culturally significant venues for public debate about important ethical and moral issues. I find the remarkably timely and insightful "ripped from the headlines" storylines of the Law & Order family of shows especially engaging.

Last night NBC ran a rerun of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit that raised some interesting issues relevant to youth. The episode, “Influenced”, focuses on a high school girl who claims to be raped by two of her male friends in the school bathroom. It turns out that she actually invited them for the rendezvous so that she could loose her virginity in order to date (and have sex with) an older boy who only “hooks up” with non-virgins.

In the process of their investigation, the detectives discover a teen culture saturated with casual sex. A video produced by the high school students reveals that many of the teens are having sex as just another form of entertainment, a way to spend time at parties or between turns playing video games. In fact, the students had developed a kind of game of their own, with “players” receiving points for having sex, more points being awarded for multiple partners and public locations.

All of this raises some interesting questions about and for teen culture:

• How prevalent is this kind of casual sex among teens today? Is it really as common and widespread as depicted in this show?
• What does sex mean for teens today? Is it purely physical gratification? What connection, if any, is there to committed relationships?
• How much pressure do teens feel to have sex?
• How early does this kind of behavior and pressure begin?
• And of course, the age old question: at what age and under what circumstances is it appropriate and healthy to engage in sexual relationships?

As if this wasn’t enough for a good discussion, the episode, in classic Law & Order fashion, took a twist and went in a completely different direction. It turns out that the girl in question was diagnosed with bipolar disorder the year before and was prescribed medication to help her regulate her illness. Believing that she was cured (the medications were actually working) and under the influence of a rock star with an anti-psychiatric drugs agenda, she goes off her medication and runs her car off the road, seriously injuring several pedestrians and killing another young girl.

The trial and the remainder of the episode then became a debate about the use of psychiatric drugs in children and youth. The questions raised by this element of the episode were equally compelling:

• How widespread is mental illness among our population? Among teens?
• Have we moved beyond the negative stigmas associated with mental illness in the past? If not, how can we?
• Is it safe and responsible to medicate our children with drugs when we don’t fully understand how they work?
• Are the side-effects of such drugs a reasonable price to pay for the benefits?
• Are we overmedicating our kids? Does every kid with a short attention span have ADHD? Are we doing more harm than good by medicating these children?

These are all great questions, questions that should be discussed among teens and families. While there is certainly a lot of garbage on TV, there are also some diamonds in the rough that should be watched and talked about. Episodes like this one are good examples of how entertaining television can also prompt important conversations.

Fourth Pod: Born Under a Bad Sign

This coming Sunday, October 22, is our second Fourth Pod. What's a Fourth Pod you ask? A Fourth Pod is a discussion about faith and life. The topic is introduced and explored with music, videos, and more.

The playlist for this week's Fourth Pod is called "Born Under a Bad Sign", from the classic blues song by Albert King. Using this and other songs, we'll think about luck, fate, destiny, and providence (I know, a scary church word).

Do you believe in luck? Does everyone have a fate or a destiny mapped out for them? What about free will? Do you pray for divine intervention right before a test? Does Jesus really care who wins your soccer game?

Come talk about these and other topics on Sunday at 12:30 in the Crow's Nest.

Fourth Pod Playlist: Born Under a Bad Sign
(click song titles for lyrics)
1. Albert King -- Born Under a Bad Sign -- Blues
2. Social Distortion -- Bad Luck -- Alternative
3. The Black Crowes -- Sister Luck -- Rock
4. B.B. King -- Bad Luck -- Blues
5. Creedence Clearwater Revival -- Tombstone Shadow -- Rock
6. Johnny Winter -- Bad Luck and Trouble -- Blues
7. Britney Spears -- Lucky -- Pop
8. Primus -- Is It Luck? -- Rock
9. Soilwork -- Fate In Motion -- Rock
10. Billy Joel -- We Didn't Start The Fire -- Rock
11. The Producers -- You Never Say Good Luck On Opening Night -- Soundtrack
12. Clint Black -- A Good Run of Bad Luck -- Country
13. Elvis Presley -- Good Luck Charm -- Rock
14. Guys and Dolls -- Luck Be a Lady -- Soundtrack
15. Bad Religion -- Destined For Nothing -- Alternative
16. Rush -- Free Will -- Rock
17. Alicia Keys -- Karma -- R&B/Soul
18. Metallica -- Frantic -- Rock