Rihanna wore a pendant with an image of Ganesha, and is being criticized for it using the misguided concept of "cultural appropriation."

Setting aside that confusion, is there something to criticize about Rihanna's pendant? I am not sure. Was it disrespectful to the worshipers of Ganesha? Perhaps a little -- in that it acts to disconnect the appearance of Ganesha from its context and meaning.

I disagree with every religion, more or less, and I might use one's symbolic images as well as its words to make a point about it, perhaps to criticize it, much as Nina Paley did (better than I ever could) in Sita Sings the Blues.

But I would not disconnect them from their context. I may criticize a religion but I do not want to undermine knowledge or awareness about it.