I am in two minds about the Catholic theme at the Met Gala, which has so offended some Catholics but seemingly amused others. It is quite undeniable that Anna Wintour would not have got away with an Islamic or Jewish theme, but that much said, what really mattered was how respectful or otherwise the outfits were.
I found the angel wings and halos funny, but combining a papal mitre with a miniskirt a bit offensive. I did not see anything actually blasphemous, although I can take my impressions only from the press and media selection of outfits as I was not there. It is not as if the participants were staging a mock crucifixion or posing as Mary in a maternity gown.
There is nothing wrong with fancy dress and if it had been a historic theme and someone had gone as one of the Borgia popes or dressed as Cardinal Wolsey complete with huge pectoral cross, there would have been no controversy. Perhaps therefore we need to get a sense of proportion and even of fun.
Perhaps. Maybe we should even rejoice that the Catholic Church is still a source of inspiration to the secular world, given that Christian influence is in decline in the West, let alone in wild celebrity circles. If there are fewer Nativity scenes in the shops at Christmas then should we be grateful to find them painstakingly sewn into the much-photographed dress of a celebrity on fashion parade?
Maybe. At least it might have made those on parade stop and think about religious themes, considering that they think about nothing so deeply as their clothes.
Possibly. Yet I think there are wider issues here. As this would never have happened with an Islamic or Jewish theme we must ask why not. Is it purely because Christians are better able to laugh at themselves, or because other major religions are viewed with greater respect, or because a backlash from the adherents of such faiths would be less easy to brush off than a backlash from offended Christians?
I suspect the answer is a mix of all three. Christians do love The Vicar of Dibley, jokes about golf matches in heaven and Sunday school howlers, whereas I have never yet heard a Muslim joke, no matter how innocent; and Jewish humour tends to be directed at matriarchal family structures rather than at rabbis.
So far, so funny, but the remaining two reasons require greater examination. I do not think that other major religions are necessarily accorded greater respect in their own right; rather it is merely because they are less well understood and so project an aura of mystery. The non-religious have little clue what Islam teaches beyond veneration of the prophet and holy wars, and probably not much about Judaism other than the Ten Commandments and the God of the Old Testament getting angry. They have probably never heard of the Ark of the Covenant and possibly not the Promised Land or the wait for the Messiah.
The familiar is much easier to deal with, and that means Christianity – for despite the general decline of church attendance and teaching of Scripture in schools, most people would recognise the Pope, know the story of the Nativity even if they have never opened a Gospel, and have a vague grasp of the purpose of the cross. They have seen pictures of angels and of saints with halos.
It is, however, the third consideration in the mix which is the most telling: the potential for backlash. People remember the horror of Charlie Hebdo and the violent reaction to the Danish cartoons. Even if they don’t immediately recall those incidents, they know instinctively that Islam takes offence easily. Judaism does not, but the thought of being called anti-Semitic is enough of a deterrent to taking liberties and the Holocaust is never that far from people’s minds.
But Christianity? Well, where’s the problem?
Isn’t casual, unthinking blasphemy broadcast daily on mainstream media, with regular invocations of the Second Person of the Trinity used as a profanity? Isn’t it perfectly legal to discipline or sack a Christian who dares to offer to pray for someone or to suggest gay marriage may not actually be a good idea? Do not some schools ban hot cross buns? What can possibly be a problem with taking the mickey out of Catholicism? And if anybody does protest who is going to care?
Ann Widdecombe is a novelist, broadcaster and former prisons minister
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