Joan Osborne apologizes for singing blasphemous song

90's one hit wonder Joan Osborne has apologized for performing One of Us, calling it blasphemous. The 1995 song which was penned by Eric Bazalian of The Hooters and which peaked at number one in four countries - Australia, Belgium, Canada and Sweden and at number four on Billboard's Hot 100 was a surprise hit for Osborne but she was unable to repeat that success. In an interview with Rock Star Magazine, Osborne had this to say:

    "When Mr Bazalian first gave me the song and I performed the demo, I thought it sounded brilliant. I didn't really consider at the time that it was basically disrespecting God. I read the Bible and John 5:17 states that God is continuously working. He is DEFINITELY not a slob. I also found out from the Bible that God actually has a name so that I don't have to wonder what it is."

As she cited the King James Version of Exodus 6:3.  Ms. Osborne continued:

    "Regarding God's face I was very confused because I found out two very contradicting things about it. First we can't see it or we'll die."

As she quoted Exodus 33:20.

    "But on the other hand if you go back a little further in verse 11, Moses spoke to God face to face like a man speaks to his friend. I really don't know how to explain that."

She further went on to say that God is definitely not a stranger because he is called our Father in Matthew 6:9 and that although he is called the Rock in Psalms 18:2, referring to him as a "holy rolling stone" was totally inappropriate. Concerning the fact that "no one calls him on the phone except for the Pope maybe in Rome," Osborne said:

    "It is a well-known fact that God has legions of angels in heaven with him who worship him daily. Just read Revelation 7:11. So he obviously has lots of company. If you have so much heavenly company why would you need a mortal sinful man like the Pope to call you?"

Ms. Osborne concluded:

    "I know for sure that God punished me for doing that song. That's why I haven't had another hit since."