The King of Pop's faith
Despite the cult of celebrity that he was the center of, all religions want a piece of Michael Jackson.
After avoiding the subject for a week, Michael Paulson at boston.com offers a good summary of the faith news around Michael Jackson's death. Rumors having been flying that Jackson was Muslim or that he accepted Jesus on his deathbed.
Even L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, published a glowing article about Jackson. (See more about that article.) American Papist blogger Thomas Peters said it well: "I really dig Michael Jackson's music, but as a Catholic, I don't have to buy into the myth that great art makes a great man."
Comments (6)
Michael Jackson
By Anonymous (not verified) on Wednesday, July 8, 2009Michael Jackson was a very disturbed individual who made great music, He was like gifted in creativity beyond the beyond, I thank God for the great gifts Michaele had, and I thank Michael for sharing those gifts with us. However I think he must still be held accountable for those areas in his life in which he was not the role model he should have been, especially for his kids and the young fans he had.
Michael Jackson
By Anonymous (not verified) on Wednesday, July 8, 2009For us that grew up with Michael Jackson going way back to the Jackson 5,we found his death difficult to take, let alone fathom. As Barry Gordy, one of his key mentors said during the memorial, he may have made some wrong choices and was not sinless just as we all are, nonetheless, he should be remembered as a great humanitarian, besides his great music. Fortunately, I never pawned his music, and after sifting through my personal musical archives, I pulled out a couple of his music cassettes and listened to most of his great hits as a coincidence with the memorial ceremony
The Evils of Michael Jackson
By Anonymous (not verified) on Wednesday, July 8, 2009I think everyone is in agreement that MJ was a great singer/songwriter and humanitarian. He was also a sinner as we all are. Vengence belongs to the Lord and we should not judge others. Do I agree with the things he was acused of doing? Of course not. Do I believe that pedifiles and rapists should be punished - absolutely. I think when someone who is in the spotlight like MJ was dies an unprovided death, America finds this as a time to take their minds away from the troubles of the day and pour out themselves on something/someone else for awhile. It happens everytime there is a disaster. We're looking for a temporary escape. In a few weeks, most people will not even think about MJ. May God have mercy on his soul and comfort those truely in morning.
I just finished watching the
By Anonymous (not verified) on Tuesday, July 7, 2009I just finished watching the very moving 3 hour memorial service for Michael Jackson from the Staples Center. Before pre-judging the morals of Michael, the readers of U.S. Catholic should invest the time to watch one of the expected frequent re-runs of this service to obtain a better appreciation of the many facets of his life.
Memorial
By Megan Sweas on Wednesday, July 8, 2009"In his very beautiful and very human heart, Michael Jackson wanted nothing more than to give love to the world." --Pastor Lucious Smith (via Richard Roeper in the Chicago Sun-Times)
Many "reviews" seem to say that the memorial did a good job of humanizing MJ, but not everybody has a memorial at the Staples Center. It's good to see that his music did bring such joy to so many people.
An insightful comment from Roeper:
"A dozen summers ago, Princess Diana died, and fans the world over
were flocking to British embassies and other touchstones, leaving
flowers and lighting candles and saying prayers. At the time, I said I
hoped those grief-stricken fans would soon take the time to visit the
graves of relatives, to say prayers for friends that were gone, to
remember people in their own lives who had died.
"I have that same hope today."
The cult of Holy Michael
By Anonymous (not verified) on Tuesday, July 7, 2009I have to agree completely with Thomas Peters. There is no question that Michael Jackson had great talent and a great impact on contemporary culture. He also had more than his share of peculiarities and made many choices that were neither moral nor just. The over the top adulation and outpouring of grief says something rather disturbing about the lack of ego boundaries that far too many people today have as well as the limited understanding of what constitutes greatness. And folks say that MJ was cut off from reality.....
