Madonna Called 'Crypto-Satanist' By Polish Nationalists

Madonna's tour through Europe continues to run into problems. Only a few weeks after a production accident in Paris killed

Sign up for our daily Music & Pop Culture News alert! Add RSS Headlines Add VH1 News to My Yahoo Digg del.icio.us StumbleUpon Furl Newsvine

two people, the singer has run up against opposition to her scheduled Saturday performance in Warsaw, Poland. Reuters reports that a group of Polish nationalists have condemned the concert and have urged Madonna to move the date.

Why are they so protective of August 15? Because Poland, a largely Catholic nation, reserves that day as the celebration of the Virgin Mary's ascent to heaven. Since Madonna's very name invokes that of Christ's mother (and because she has regularly toyed with Christian imagery, including staged crucifixions during past concert tours and just about everything in the "Like a Prayer" video), the group is up in arms about Madonna's performance on the same day.

"Madonna specializes in offending religious feelings," said Marian Baranski, deputy head of the Polish Faith and National Tradition Defense Committee. "It is possible to suspect her of being a crypto-Satanist."

The group initially planned to protest the show at Warsaw's Bemowo Airport, but they feared that such a protest would cause riots. Still, Zygmunt Wrzodak, a former member of the Polish parliament, believes that Madonna's performance will insult the beliefs of Poles. "Madonna sneers at Jesus Christ, the symbol of the cross and all Christians," he said.

Madonna hasn't responded to the formal condemnation, and though she has exploited Christian imagery in the past, she is still a woman of faith: She's been practicing Kabbalah, a sect of Judaism, for years.


This report is provided by MTV News