Powers, Ann (March 1, 1998). "Pop View; New Tune for the Material Girl: I'm Neither". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014 . Retrieved March 31, 2021. Shortly after her debut in the 1980s, various cultural analyses of her figure touched on Madonna's religious connotations. Various of them were categorized under her academic mini-subdiscipline, the Madonna studies, which flourished with other topics, according to observers such as Andi Zeisler, Douglas Kellner and Ricardo Baca. [2] [3] [4] Author and professor Thomas Ferraro notes this early stage, saying "Madonna's impact posed an expressly religious puzzle". [5] She also became a "favorite topic" for religious fundamentalists in her prime. [6] According to editors of Religion and Popular Culture (2016), her video " Like a Prayer" inspired "perhaps more than any other music video scholarly analysis of its religious meanings". [6] On the other hand, other religious studies scholars, like James R. Lewis, have explored Madonna's figure from perspectives that included astrology. [7]

Leypoldt, Günter. "Introduction: Cultural Icons: Charismatic Heroes, Representative Lives" (PDF). Universität Heidelberg. p.5 . Retrieved September 20, 2022. Babineau, Guy (October 22, 2008). "Why we love Madonna". Xtra Magazine . Retrieved October 29, 2022.

Religion Confidencial (April 12, 2012). "La historia de la falsa visita de Madonna a un centro del Opus Dei en Londres. El 'Daily Mirror' publicó un bulo el lunes". El Confidencial . Retrieved September 20, 2022. Madonna's onstage representations of religions, provocative statements, behavior, among other things, attracted criticism of religious institutions from major religious groups, including the Vatican State/Catholic Church. A handful of clergies, however, reacted with sympathetic views. Various religious adherents staged protests against Madonna numerous times, while she was often accused of sacrilege, heresy, iconoclasm and blasphemy. Madonna herself, has claimed she believes in Jesus but not in institutional organizations.

In 2005, Reuters also informed: She "[...] has drawn frequent censure from ultra-Orthodox Jews who say her embrace of Kabbalah debases their religion". [80] Some of them deemed Madonna as a "depraved cultural icon". [101] Phillips, Melanie (2011). The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth, and Power. Encounter Books. ISBN 978-1594035753. Madonna is the original and ultimate marriage of celebrity and the Catholic imagination [...] she was the first major popstar to reference symbols that defined a Catholic upbringing The image also depicted a flaming heart stabbed with seven swords, which many assumed was alluding to the religious imagery, the Pierced Heart of the Blessed Virgin.Since Madonna's time in the media spotlight, we are several cultural cycles removed from the idea that traditional religious imagery points directly and unambiguously to the divine" D'Acierno, Pellegrino; Leonard, George J. (1998). The Italian American Heritage. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0815303807.