Christianity Has a Kanye West Problem
Now a professing Christian, many people are ignoring a massive issue with Kanye’s “gospel” message
*This is Part 3 of a 4 part series of personal essays on faith and spirituality. Part 1, Part 2, and Part 4 also available.
The burning albums people tossed into the bonfire popped and hissed. Their bubbling surface reminded me of the way the T-1000 from Terminator 2 melted in vat of molten steel at the end of the movie. A group of us watched the bonfire transfixed.
“You can hear them demons hissing,” one boy mused in a southern drawl. He stood next to a pretty girl many of the boys followed around camp like lost puppies. My eyes flitted toward his direction and I muttered under my breath. I thought about reminding him that plastic hisses when burned, but I was already the outcast. I tried to recall my school history lessons while I held my tongue. Didn’t the Nazis smash Jewish albums or something? Or was that from the Christian Bale movie, Swing Kids? I let those comments slide too, then turned and walked off down the path.
Keeping my eyes on the dirt in front of me, I glimpsed the popular kids sneaking into the woods to smoke weed and make out while they left me alone with my “devil music.” I was a middle schooler at church camp, and the…
