Ariana Grande Joins Kabbalah: Singer Slams Catholic Church Over Brother's Homosexuality, Spongebob Squarepants
Ariana Grande has joined Kabbalah and rejected the Catholic faith of her youth because of the church's stance on her brother's homosexuality, SpongeBob Squarepants and Harry Potter, among other things. The "Problem" singer talked about her entry into Kabbalah — the cult of Jewish mysticism that has lured other high-profile stars like Ashton Kutcher and Madonna — and slammed the church in recent interviews.
"When my brother (Frankie J. Grande) was told that God didn't love him I was like, 'OK, that's not cool,'" she told the Sunday Telegraph magazine last week. "They were building a Kabbalah center in Florida so we both checked it out and really had a connection with it."
"You have to watch your intentions, make sure you're not giving in to your ego. You have to numb your reactive state. You have the power to change your reality," she continued.
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The 21-year-old songstress said similar things in a 2013 interview, though she seemed much more focused on attacking Pope Benedict XVI, the former Catholic Church leader.
"[The church] said Spongebob Squarepants is gay and he's a sinner and he should burn in hell," she told Metro U.K. "And Harry Potter was a sin. And working women. I was like, 'Enough! First the gays, then Spongebob and now Harry Potter? Get out of my house!' I was not having it. And the working women thing? It was a moment for me. I needed something else to believe in."
It's unknown which comments she is referring to, since Pope Benedict never made any public proclamations about SpongeBob Squarepants, Harry Potter or working women during his tenure. She may be confusing the Pope with Dr. James Dobson, the Founder of Focus on the Family, who commented on the cartoon sea sponge in 2005.
As for the Harry Potter allegations, before he was elected as Pope Benedict, he did respond to German writer Gabrielle Kuby's letter about the children's series. The then-cardinal said that there were "subtle seductions" in the book that could stunt children's spiritual growth, but never expressly called the books sinful.
The Pope did promote the Catholic Church's traditional view of homosexuality, which condemns the act of homosexuality. But he wrote in a 1986 letter that the "inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin" and that it is "deplorable that homosexual persons have been … the object of violent malice," but acknowledged throughout his tenure that marriage is a union between a man and a woman before God.
