Madonna has defended her crucifixion stunt on her tour - saying Jesus wouldn't mind.

Madonna will be wearing a crown of thorns while singing her hit "Live to Tell" on a giant cross during the gig.

"I don't think Jesus would be mad at me and the message I'm trying to send. Jesus taught that we should love thy neighbour," Madonna commented, according to The Sun (UK).

 

Madonna says the crucifixion stunt is part of an appeal to fans to help AIDS charities. During the song images of African kids orphaned by AIDS appeared on a screen.

Christian groups in Britain and the US have been outraged by the crucifixion stunt. A spokesman for Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, leader of Catholics in England and Wales, called the stunt " a banal perversion of that magnificent event."

In America, the Catholic League said: "Poor Madonna keeps trying to shock, but all she succeeds in doing is coming across as a boring bigot."

Madonna is not novice to using religious symbols in her music. For example, her music video for "Like a Prayer" featured many Catholic symbols, such as stigmata, and was condemned by the Vatican for its "blasphemous" mixture of Catholic symbolism and eroticism. It featured an innocent black man being arrested after coming to the aid of a woman who had been attacked by white assailants, as well as Madonna singing in a field of burning crosses.

Madonna announced embarked on a world Confessions Tour in May 2006. The tour is scheduled to run from May through September and will make confirmed stops in North America, Europe and Asia. 

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