Catholics slam Britney Spears pix as 'bottom of barrel' stunt
---------- By NANCY DILLON DAILY NEWS WEST COAST BUREAU CHIEF
Tuesday, October 30th 2007, 12:00 PM
Forgive me, Father, I have sinned! Britney Spears may have to sing a few Hail Marys after these pictures from her new album 'Blackout.'
---------- LOS ANGELES - Kinky photos of a half-naked Britney Spears perched on a priest's lap and leaning seductively against a church confessional sparked outrage among Catholic leaders.
At least one said the saucy snapshots, which grace the singer's thumping new dance album, "Blackout," are a "bottom of the barrel" stunt from a girl who really could use some quality time spent repenting sins in a wooden cubicle.
"This is all the puzzle pieces coming together. This girl is crashing," said Bill Donohue, president of the New York-based Catholic League. "She's not even allowed to bring up her own kids because she's not responsible enough. Now we see she can't even entertain." [....]
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Kentucky Church Out to Save Britney's Soul by Natalie Finn
Los Angeles may be a little weary of her, but there's plenty of love left for Britney Spears in Lexington.
As Spears' October dissolved into a blur of hearings, monitored visits, court-ordered drug tests and, ultimately, a weekend of wait-and-see as to whether Spears has shaped up enough to regain joint custody of her two sons, parishioners in the Kentucky city scribbled notes of encouragement to the beleaguered pop star after their pastor suggested that they keep Spears in their prayers.
"Take a few minutes and write a note to Britney Spears," senior pastor Jon Weece of Southland Christian Church instructed his 8,000-strong congregation last month in both a weekly sermon and in a message posted on his blog. "No preaching. No criticizing. Just love. As a church, let's love Britney the way Jesus loves her."
Weece said he was inspired by the largely negative headlines generated week after week about Spears, her career and her increasingly convoluted custody battle, all of which has left the 25-year-old divorced mother of two needing as much positive reinforcement as possible.
"In the world's eyes, she's young, beautiful, talented, successful, yet her life is in shambles filled with bad relationships and devastating life choices," Weece told church members. "If she were your next-door neighbor in the same situation without the money and success, wouldn't you care about her problems? Wouldn't you pray for her and offer her support and encouragement?"
Actually, some of Weece's fellow worshipers were one step ahead of him. The majority of comments posted on the church's Website in response to the pastor's sermon were positive, with several people saying that they had already been praying for Spears and were looking for a way to reach out to her.
At least one parishioner, however, felt that people should pray for Britney all they want but direct their penmanship elsewhere.
"You're asking people to take a few minutes to write a note of encouragement, and you're actually collecting them and mailing them," wrote Linda on Saturday. "Wouldn't it be better to spend that time offering support to someone who will actually be touched and encouraged by it?
"It's sad that our society is so celebrity-focused that a pastor would ask his congregation to waste their time writing to Britney, when there are so many people in your local community and elsewhere who have no one offering them support or encouragement."
Cindy Willison, Southland's communications director, said that the church is still gathering letters and trying to determine the best way to get the bundle of good tidings to Spears out in L.A.
"This is an opportunity for us to reach out to someone who probably doesn't have a lot of people in her life that care for her as a person," Willison told the Lexington Herald-Leader on Friday.
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