The gospel according to Gaga

Let me be clear from the outset of this post: I thoroughly enjoy Lady Gaga’s music. I love that she advocates for the rights of LGBT people. I love that she is an entertainer, and that her music tells a story…even if that story is often just plain weird. I would give just about anything to meet her and/or attend one of her concerts. I find her music both provocative and addicting.

However, Gaga is not a religious scholar. But neither am I…at least not in a certified, degree-holding way. I still provide commentary on Christian culture and, at times, rail against different members of the global church. I do not fault her for using her music (or her music videos for that matter) as an outlet to express her frustrations with religion.

When Larry King asked her in an interview about her feelings on the church and religion, her reply was very honest:

“Well I struggle. I struggle with my feelings about the church in particular…of course religion and the church are two completely separate things.”

I genuinely respect this answer from her because I completely get it. It is indeed a struggle to find the balance between religion and the institution of the church, especially if you or someone you love has been burned by it. This is, sadly, not uncommon.

The problem to me is that Lady Gaga has a strong following of LGBT people, a group that has been historically ostracized by the church. Many of these people are already pre-disposed to hate Christianity, a religion seen by many of them (and rightfully so on most occasions) as oppressive and exclusive.

I don’t want to argue about the responsibilities of celebrity status, but it is a shame that the only thing any of these people will hear in regards to religion during Holy Week is a song about being in love with Judas Iscariot, the man historically credited with selling out Jesus.[1] I’m a pretty big fan of the liturgical calendar, so this rubs me the wrong way on that basis alone.

To be fair, I actually like the song. It’s catchy in a “Bad Romance” kind of way. And the message could be interpreted not so much as glorifying the man who betrayed Christ, but as a message of how easy we fall into our own patterns of betrayal, despite our best intentions.

Song interpretations aside, whether Lady Gaga is going for blasphemous chart-topper or genuine (if strange) religious commentary, let’s remember that she’s a shock-artist. This will not be the last time that she debuts a song that makes people mad. It is simply my wish that she would be careful how she characterizes an institution (the church) that many who love her music, also love. Gaga and Jesus don’t have to be mutually exclusive, just like being a Christian and being gay don’t either.

In the same interview with Larry King, Lady Gaga said something that I think is important in this conversation: “I’m a quite religious woman that is very confused about religion.”

Gaga…I get it. I do. When so much of you yearns toward the Holy, yet you find yourself not being able to reconcile that longing with the atrocities committed in the name of religion, it is easy to throw out faith altogether. It is easy to point out the flaws in the system or to abandon hope that things can change. But I would ask you, for the sake of those of us who truly enjoy your music, but also enjoy our faith communities, to be respectful of our desire to engage in both.

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[1] I have a pretty strong opinion about the character of Judas that cuts him a little slack that I won’t get into here. But, needless to say, if ever there was a tragic figure in the Bible, Judas Iscariot is it.