Madonna and religion

Madonna, the American singer-songwriter and actress, has woven references to religious themes and spiritual practices from multiple faiths—including Christianity (she was raised Catholic), Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sufism, and Kabbalah—into her work. This aspect of her career became both defining and controversial, drawing responses from the popular press, theologians, sociologists of religion, and other scholars.

Her onstage depictions of religion, along with her performances and provocative statements, drew institutional criticism from groups like the Catholic Church, Orthodox rabbis, and Hindu leaders. Some individual clergy responded neutrally. Religious adherents protested her numerous times, and critics have accused her of sacrilege, heresy, iconoclasm, and blasphemy. Her personal views on religion have been complex and shifting; she has acknowledged the teachings and divinity of Jesus but expressed disagreement with organized religion, and her eclectic spirituality has been publicly criticized as unorthodox.

Though the phenomenon extends beyond her, Madonna received solid reviews for her religious forays, with an ambiguous impact on popular culture across decades. She inspired scholars from various fields to seek new approaches to works and their religious meanings. She was among the leading public figures credited with popularizing Asian spiritual traditions like yoga in Western countries. The press, both religious and secular, sometimes described her with emic religious terms, including the word "icon," and her name appears in reference works such as the *Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary* and the *Diccionario panhispánico de dudas* to illustrate new usage in contemporary culture. She has also been cited as an exemplar of religious illiteracy, and some have taken an alienated view of her as the "Great Whore of Babylon."

Shortly after her debut in the 1980s, cultural analyses began touching on her religious connotations. Many were categorized under the mini academic subdiscipline of Madonna studies, which flourished alongside other topics, according to observers like Andi Zeisler, Douglas Kellner, and Ricardo Baca.