Hip-hop’s Unholy War

'Stop buying their trash music'

A prominent hip-hop performer is mocking Christianity — again.

On Tuesday, Interview magazine debuted a cover photo of 36-year-old hip-hop performer Rihanna dressed as a nun and posing in, let’s say, a provocative manner.

The bust-shot of the celebrity-singer shows her wearing blood-red lipstick on her mouth — open and receptive — and blue eyeshadow circling above fake eyelashes. There’s a tattoo of a black cross on her left cheekbone and another beneath her collarbone. She seductively covers half her bodice with a man’s white shirt.

The interview, called “Rihanna Is Ready to Confess,” is accompanied by a video with Rihanna writhing her well-oiled body and gnashing her teeth vampirically. Church bells are ringing in the background.

'The collage of details, taken together, perfectly represents a satanic inversion of the Catholic faith, a strategic and well-thought-out attack on the Body of Christ.'

The collage of details, taken together, perfectly represents a satanic inversion of the Catholic faith, a strategic and well-thought-out attack on the Body of Christ.

Reactions

The blasphemous event was met with a mountain of mixed reactions on the Internet.

CatholicVote, self-described as “a community of patriotic Americans who believe our nation’s founding principles are good and true, and worth fighting for,” weighed in. The group wrote:

"Rihanna and countless celebrities openly mock Christianity because they get celebrated by entertainment media and the backers of their humiliation rituals. Why do we allow this? STOP BUYING THEIR TRASH MUSIC. Bud Light EVERY celebrity who hates you. You have the power. USE IT."

One Netizen seconded the motion:

"Not only don't buy it. Make sure it's not in any of your streaming services playlist (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YT music, etc.). These terrible "entertainers" make $$$$ from royalties of their IP."

Another amplified CatholicVote's post:

"It is beyond 'not buying this trash music'. We must make it culturally unacceptable to mock our faith. ... We must march in protest & that means our leadership is required to get organized and gather the people. This is not solved with simple interviews, letters or social media posts. We must be seen to be heard nationwide."

Another patriot roused Christians, saying:

"We must grow a spine and defend our religion. I reckon we stand together and boycott the satanists!"

Others expressed irritation with those criticizing the hip-hopper's act of blasphemy. One said:

"People overreacting to Rihanna dressed as a sexy Nun in this video have too much time on their hands. I'm politically conservative and I see no problem with it. The Catholic church is corrupt and has way too many problems of its own for people's fake outrage."

Double standard

Much of the reaction centered around the easy attacks mainstream media levels at Christianity while steering clear of attacks on Islam or other religions.

“Rihanna mocks Catholics. She’d never try this with Islam,” conservative commentator Chad Prather wrote on X. “Teach your children not to admire, follow, or listen to morons like this.”

“Should Interview Magazine and Rihanna try a similar photoshoot with a hijab?” another commenter asked.

One Muslim commenter addressed those calling out the double standard, schooling them in the process:

"Muslims ain’t perverting their religion, sorry. So don’t bring us into this. Why don’t you Christians just defend yours instead of saying “but I dare you try it with Muslims.”

They are mopping the floor with Christianity, and if they can’t dismantle it, they will pervert it. Wake THE [blank] up.

Have some [blank] balls and get angry! Defend your religion. Boycott those Satanists; protest for your faith. WTF is wrong with yalll!"

 'Heavenly Bodies'

This isn’t the first time that Rihanna has mocked Christianity, Catholicism in particular. In 2018 the performer was a walking mockery of the pope and the Church in Rome. She wore a pearl-studded bustier dress, coat, mini-skirt and bishop’s miter to the Met Gala in 2018.

The theme of the gala, "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination," represented a concept begging for mockery of the faith.

Many people are now waking to up the dangers posed by the Hollywood music industry, especially in light of the recent scandalous allegations made against hip-hop mogul Sean Combs, aka P. Diddy.

Jason Whitlock, an American podcaster and sports columnist, however, has been preaching the evils of hip-hop for decades. In a 2007 video, Whitlock sounded the alarm, drawing connections between hip-hop and prison culture and the effects on young people. He said,

"[Hip-hop] is now an expression of the values, the ethics, the morals that it takes to survive in a corrupt prison culture. It celebrates drug dealing, killing, disrespect of women. ...

The whole of hip-hop culture is not where it started out to be -- a fun, party music. [It] used to be intellectual. It used to be empowering. It used to be educational. It is none of those things now.

In the commercial popular era, it is now a negative tool being used to corrupt the minds of young people."

'The puppet masters transformed commercial rap music into just another tool to separate American culture from religious and moral principles.'

Recently, on his Fearless podcast series, Whitlock continues to spread the word. Referring to demonic, behind-the-scenes power brokers of the "music industrial complex," he exposes the results of his research into rap culture:

"The puppet masters transformed commercial rap music into just another tool to separate American culture from religious and moral principles," he says. "Beats, rhymes, and lyrical pornography power their pursuit of a nihilistic society."

Rihanna and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Rihanna's latest publicity maneuver, expedited at the expense of Christianity, is reminiscent of the antics of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an anti-Catholic group of drag queens who grotesquely dress as nuns.

In June 2023, LA Dodger management hosted the group as part of its Pride Month LGBT celebrations. Thousands opposed the conflation of LGBT culture into an All-American baseball game, attended by thousands of families and their children. They showed up and made their opposition heard.

The protesters were demure in their demand: “We are not asking Catholics to boycott all games. Just this one. By doing so, we will send an unmistakable message that bigotry against Catholics should not be tolerated.”

On Easter Sunday, in San Francisco, the blasphemous group was back at it, holding benign Easter activities for children along with an obscene and profane Hunky Jesus contest.

Dr. Barbara Toth has a doctorate in rhetoric and composition from Bowling Green State University. She has taught at universities in the US, China and Saudi Arabia. Her work in setting up a writing center at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahmen University, an all-women's university in Riyadh, has been cited in American journals. Toth has published academic and non-academic articles and poems internationally.

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