Madonna defies Russian religious groups
Madonna strides on with controversial gigs
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Wednesday, 13, Sep 2006 11:21
Madonna has ignored calls from the Russian religious groups to alter her concert.
Religious officials said that aspects of the show offended Christianity, including entering the stage suspended on a giant glittery silver cross while wearing a crown of thorns.
Although she originally moved the Moscow concert from September 11th to the 12th in respect of the terrorism attacks in America five years ago, the singer obviously did not feel like extending the same courtesy to various branches of the Christian church in different countries who have claimed that actions in her Confessions tour are blasphemous.
According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, religious leader Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Moscow Patriarchy's department for external relations, said last month: "For an Orthodox believer there is no point of attending her [Madonna's] concerts or helping her propagate her spiritual problems via self-advertisement."
And Valentin Lebedev, head of the Union of Orthodox Citizens led calls last week from hundreds of protestors for her concert to be cancelled. He said: "The pop star calling herself Madonna is abusing the cross."
Reports of deaths threats from the Russian Mafia forced security to be tightened, however RIA Novosti reports that due to the unprecedented level of security no serious incidents were reported at Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.
Madonna's Confessions tour has left a trail of discontent in the countries she has performed in. Bang Media reports that the youth wing of Holland's protestant party SGP has filed a legal complaint against the singer, accusing her of blasphemy and "insulting a religious group".
German prosecutors warned that she had breached the country's insulting religious beliefs law and in Italy the Vatican accused her of coming "close to blasphemy" over the mock crucifixion sequence.