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Some Polish Catholics Protest Upcoming Madonna Concert

By Howard M. Friedman

August 15 is the Catholic feast of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Mary. Freemuse and Indeks 73 both report this week that in Poland, conservative Catholics are protesting the Madonna concert scheduled for that day in Warsaw. Appeals are being made to the President of the city Warsaw, the mayor of Bemowo (the Warsaw district where the concert is going to take place) and the Minister of the Interior and Administration to convince them to cancel or postpone the concert. Unum Principium Association spokesperson Krzysztof Zagozda says the scheduled concert is "an Anti-Christian provocation." In addition to the timing, an online petition says that some of Madonna's shows feature her climbing a cross, contain obscene gestures and promote homosexuality. Janusz Kochanowski, spokesperson for Citizens' Rights, says the concert will hurt the "religious feelings" of Catholics in violation of the Art. 196 of Poland's Criminal Code (link to Polish version). Others however say that cancelling the concert would infringe the dissemination of artistic creation in violation of Art. 73 of the Polish Constitution.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on July 31, 2009 (boomark / email).