Satanic or simply shocking?

ABS-CBNNews.com reports that Filipino religious groups Intercessors for the Philippines (IFTP) and Biblemode Youth Philippines are actively campaigning against the staging of Lady Gaga's upcoming concert. The pop star is set to perform on May 21 and May 22 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. Both groups are set to hold a 72-hour prayer vigil to protest Lady Gaga's scheduled performances. The report, however, did not indicate if the groups would be doing it jointly in the same venue. The exact schedule of the prayer vigil was also not revealed. The report only said that anti-Lady Gaga protesters would stage a "Jericho March" to the SM Mall of Asia sometime on Saturday, May 19.

According to the report, the IFTP, in particular, believed that Lady Gaga was propagating "Satanic rituals" in her videos. (They were presumably referring to the video for her song, "Judas.") The report quoted IFTP's Pastor Joel Bataclan, who said, "Yung kanyang paggamit ng mga imageries (sic) at mga lyrics na direktang lumalaban sa Panginoon (She uses imagery and lyrics that are directly against God)."

Meanwhile, the Commission on Youth of  Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines' Fr. Conegundo Garganta said that Lady Gaga's brand of entertainment violates the tenets of Christianity. Garganta lamented that the youth are being corrupted by Lady Gaga. "Kinokopya nila lahat eh—ang pag-iisip, ang pagkilos, ang paggalaw (They mimic everything she does—from the way she thinks, moves, and acts)," sabi ni , executive secretary ng Commission on Youth ng CBCP.

For more on this story, read the following ABS-CBNNews.com stories: "Prayer vigil held vs. Lady Gaga concert" and "Bible group wants Lady Gaga concert stopped."