Playboy Has Seen The Light

For the second time in a week Catholics are all in a tizzy, and once again Madonna is to blame.

You’ll recall that way back in 1989 Madonna mixed together sex and religion in “Like a Prayer.” In that music video, she burned crosses and screwed a black Jesus, managing to draw the ire of Catholics everywhere.

Not to mention the unrequited love of our founding editor.

Never content to sully only herself, though, Madonna can always be counted on to provoke blasphemy.

Playboy Magazine happens to be the latest to mimic the Material Girl’s sex ‘n religion example, and lo and behold, Catholics are still mad all these years later.

Either Catholics don’t like sex with sanctity as much as they say they do, or either “sanctified sex” doesn’t mean what Playboy thinks it means.

On the cover of its December issue, Mexican Playboy depicts a model draped in white cloth and posed beside stained glass, hand cupped angelically – an obvious allusion to the Virgin Mary.

The magazine was released just prior to the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a celebration of an apparition of the Virgin.

Catholics are, of course, taking it all personal:

“Playboy’s juxtaposition of the sacred with the profane is a game that many have played, but to exploit Catholicism and insult Latinos in the same breath is novel. The December cover of its Mexican edition demonstrates once again that when it comes to good taste, Playboy remains quintessentially virginal.”

We appreciate the little quip about the magazine’s “inexperience,” and we can certainly see how the picture implicates Catholicism … but we just don’t get how the cover is insulting to Latinos.

Clearly the Catholic League felt like it needed any ally in outrage. It’s too bad Catholics have already burned bridges with the feminists – they’re always game for a little indignation, and Playboy’s cover would have been pretty apropos.

Seriously, people need to learn that it’s okay to simply dislike something. One need not anchor every dislike to a cause.

“I don’t like it” will suffice.

Incidentally, we do like the Playboy picture. But then, we also like Madonna – for “Like a Prayer” and everything since, and for the “dirty stain” on hearts everywhere that makes possible the Playboy cover.

UPDATE – For our founding editor’s thoughts on Madonna’s most controversial video, click here.

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