Not-so-sweet charity

MSNBC/July 6, 2006
By Jeanette Walls

Madonna is shilling for a charity — but some are saying that there’s more to the cause than meets the eye.

In her Confessions Tour, The Material Girl has been promoting a charity called Raising Malawi, which, according to its Web site, helps the orphaned children of that disease-ravaged African nation.

The charity, it turns out, was founded by the co-director of the Kabbalah Centre, the trendy religion favored by Madonna that some have called a cult. Its board is heavy with people tied to the controversial religion and it proposes to help the orphans through the “empowering principles” of Spirituality for Kids.

“Spirituality For Kids is an organization that was started by the Kabbalah Centre,” Madonna once said. “It gives children the tools to deal with life’s challenges. My daughter is learning about her ego and how to control it. Who’d have thought a child could learn that?”