GaGa gets God-y

Embracing both sexuality and the church isn't something most mainstream, non-Christian, pop stars choose to do. But Lady GaGa is all about getting away with what nobody else could (til she came around), and "Judas," her second single off of her upcoming album "Born This Way" is no exception. It's pretty darn sexual and christian with lyrics ranging from "Jesus is my virtue" to a line where she suggests wearing an "ear condom," whatever that should mean.

In "Judas", GaGa sings about falling for the bad boy, choosing to frame the entire song as a biblical reference to Judas Iscariot, known for his betrayal of Jesus. She sings that she is "still in love with Judas" even though she knows he's bad for her. She references the betrayal, singing "Forgive him when his tongue lies through his brain/ Even after three times, he betrays me." Then in the chorus, she calls herself a "holy fool" but the lyric is easily misconstrued to sound as though she is saying "I'm just a horny fool."

"Judas" was met with a backlash from several Christian groups and this is of course not the first time she's done something to upset Christians. The singer first combined Christianity and sex in her video for "Allejandro" released last summer.



The content of the song itself, as with the rest of her discography before "Born This Way," has nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with men troubles. However, in the video she appears as a nun, deep throats a rosary, wears a bright red cross on her crotch; oh, and she mimes both hetero and homosexual bedroom practices with her entourage of remarkably gay backup dancers: built up men clad solely in tight leather shorts.

Another publicly Christian pop star, Katy Perry, took issue with the blend of sex and religion as used in the "Allejandro" video.

In February, GaGa released her first single for her upcoming album of the same title, "Born This Way." The song is her first blatant lyrical reference to religious beliefs. At the beginning, she says "It doesn't matter if you love him or capital H-I-M." This song tackles sexuality mostly in its embrace of queer culture "no matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgendered life/ I'm on the track baby."

Gaga's video for "Judas" will depict her as Mary Magdalene, an echo of Madonna's 1989 video for "Like A Prayer."

Madonna's video includes imagery of burning crosses and gospel choirs and of course, a black jesus to whom Madonna appears to be attracted. Although today her outfit would be modest for a music video, the skintight spagetti strap (straps that she allows to slip as she shimmies) dress she wears was probably a bit provocative about 20 years ago. Funnily enough, what the Vatican criticized Madonna for was her portrayal of jesus as black.

"Like A Prayer" seems to be the only precursor to GaGa's blend of religion and in pop music. The song neatly ties the two together, as Madonna sings "When you call my name/ It's like a little prayer/ I'm down on my knees/ I wanna take you there." Although getting down on her knees has a clear double meaning that's actually applicable to church, it's pretty clear that "I wanna take you there" is really just referring to giving the guy head. In the video that guy would be jesus.

Something about pairing these images of the Christian church with all this sex seems to be read as simply exacting shock value, but GaGa for one (ok, Madonna has definitely bounced from religion to religion) is a Catholic girl. Why can't she incorporate it into her pop music without inciting backlash? When Christian groups try to censor others' interpretations of the bible, they're not doing themselves a favor. As far as I'm concerned, GaGa's social liberalism combined with religious imagery is the best representation of Christianity I've seen in a while.