Lady Gaga's Original Sin

Listening to the youth, and a fair amount of us older folks, as well, one begins to see a common thread of thinking as it relates to a) original sin, if they are Christians, or b) human nature, if they are of a more secular stripe. This popular school of thought is simply this: you are the way you are because that is the way God/Nature intended and that makes who or what you are good. And, to deny what you are is bad. In other words, you exit the womb, a fully realized human being and any deviation from that or criticism of whom or what you are, contradicts your innate perfection. Ultimately, what this does is to negate any responsibility for who you are or what you do and, even more devastating to society, to remove any claims of moral authority.

Nowhere is this view of human nature more succinctly encapsulated than by Lady Gaga in her song, “Born This Way.” The song, as it was intended to be, has become something of an international anthem for homosexuals attempting to come to terms with their sexuality. With lyrics like, “don’t be a drag, just be a queen” and “cause baby you were born this way/ no matter gay, straight, or bi/ lesbian, transgendered life/ I’m on the right track baby” its easy to see why the song will probably be blared from loudspeakers at every gay pride parade from now till the end of time.

The song has also been picked by anyone attempting to justify themselves as being what they are because that was the plan all along. No act that I perpetrate can be considered truly wrong if I was born to do it, right? One can almost hear the lyrics being quoted in court rooms as defendants plead to juries, “Have mercy on me. After all, this is the way I was born!”

In a secular sense, what Gaga and her acolytes are pushing is a sort of dumbed down version of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s view of human nature. Mankind is essentially good by nature and it is the expectations and condemnations of society at large that binds the individual with the mores and restrictions that inhibit them from being fully who they were meant to be. And, the great battle of life, is to break free from the morality of the crowd (e.g. traditional Judeo-Christian ethics) and to regain the innocent perfection with which you were born.

I can understand how a secularist would buy into this philosophy. But, what truly amazes me is the number of self-professed Christians who adhere to a version of this, as well. Again to Gaga:

I’m beautiful in my own way

‘Cause God don’t make no mistakes

I’m on the right track baby

I was born this way

Don’t hide yourself in regret

Just love yourself and you’re set

I’m on the right track baby

I was born this way

The correct idea that God doesn’t make mistakes has been twisted and perverted to justify nearly any sort of human choice or action. “If God made me, and He made me as I am, then I must be as He wanted me to be and, therefore, perfect.” It doesn’t take someone with a higher degree in theology to see the faulty logic in that manner of thought, but it seems to have become an accepted dogma amongst many believers. It’s a sort of ‘Christianized Rousseau” that puts forth than man is born perfect and only becomes corrupted through interaction with others and, again, through the values and institutions of tradition. The idea of Original Sin and the notion that, yes, you may have been born that way, but that doesn’t necessarily make that good, is thrown out the window. And, with it, goes any obligations of conduct or morality that the individual doesn’t feel is innate to their own personal value system. In other words, you are what you are and you can do what you want, because that is the way you were born.

Essentially, what Gaga and others who think like her, represent is another attempt by mankind to usurp God’s moral authority. Even attempts to give her philosophy the cover of religious language doesn’t change the essential fact that what “Born This Way” is attempting to do is to wash away man’s sins with faulty logic, to justify man’s every action and thought under the banner that everything is permissible if its done with love. Regardless of how we are born, God intends so much more for us, and The Gospel According to Gaga won’t get you there.