The image of the angel is arguably one of modern man’s first usages of sexuality to sell a commercial product, Christianity. As one of the world’s younger religions, Christianity, fueled by the marketing genius of St. Paul had to sell itself to millions who likely subscribed to different theist viewpoints before the rise of the Church after the fall of the Roman Empire.

The image of a tortured, agonized Christ, bleeding profusely from open wounds was truly a hard-sell in the latter days of the Roman Empire, when polytheism still dominated popular belief, peppered with its sterling visions of beauty like Venus and Diana. Early Catholicism was more concerned with wooing new followers; within a mere few centuries, they abandoned this tactic, finding torture and mass murder far more effective means of adding to their ranks.
In order to balance the gory, guilt-inducing image of Christ with something less garish, something for the ladies (so to speak) an anonymous early Christian public relations pioneer came up with the image of shapely female (and male, to widen their appeal) angels to push their version of heaven to potential converts. The underlying image conveyed by the use of cherubic and voluptuous angels seems clear: dying as a good Christian meant getting to spend eternity around beautiful people who always seem happy to see you. Sex sells, even in heaven.

The sexing-up of the early Christian church was rather effective. Towards the fall of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church held greater dominion over the citizens of the Empire than the Emperors themselves. Greed and lust for dominion lead the Church to instigate some of the most barbaric acts man has ever committed against man, yet the image of angels acts as a thick screen of perfumed smoke over the Church’s many sins. Similar to multi-national corporations that abuse workers, pollute the environment and line the pockets of career politicians while hiding behind candy-colored, family-friendly commercial imagery, the Church has hid behind the subtle sexuality of the angel. The added benefit of the angel is its perennially sensual allure. It is the ultimate centerfold for the ultimate seduction: the ability to never again assume responsibility for one’s own actions with mankind’s greatest crutch: God.

In terms of the destruction and defilement of the angel’s image, as the angel was created to sell the product Christianity, its empty-vessel versatility make its destruction its ultimate function. Combining the disposability of commercial imagery with the staying power of sanctioned imagery, if the parable of the seraphim is dismissed as mythology, angels have no more meaning than any other one-dimensional image used predominately to further an agenda. Commercial imagery is as inherently disposable as the items that endorse, and the overriding purpose they serve is clear: to sell products. Consumers are free to dismiss their validity in one glance, while the brand-name item is jabbed into their subconscious minds. Commercial imagery is a false creation stemming from nothing more than ulterior motives.

The dichotomy between commercial imagery and angels exists predominately in the sanctity ascribed to angels by the devout, who ascribe permanency to an inherently disposable façade. As the Church relied upon the mythological purity of the angel, their persistent use of this image of supposed sanctity essentially cheapened the angel’s worth, effectively defiling their own purportedly sacrosanct creation. The angel is defiled further by its use to lure followers in through vaguely sexual imagery. Its purity essentially is destroyed each time its image is used to sugarcoat Christianity’s bloody beginnings in a more palatable way than the crucified Christ likely could. Viewed in this context, angels are no different than celebrities paid top dollar to endorse consumer products, essentially making the Madonna and the whore one in the same for all intents and purposes.

Free labor, and sex appeal that can be reproduced in stain glass in cathedral windows or emblazoned across the cheap patina of a Hallmark card, angels are the ultimate centerfolds. Disposable imagery that meets a particular end, they epitomize perfection in order to ensure successful seduction for over two millennia.