My Thoughts on Kanye
We all want to be on the winning team.
On the right side of history.
Even as I write this, I’m trying to communicate what I believe to be the right perspective.
And sometimes it’s easy to feel like you’re alone in what you think or believe. Like your way of seeing the world is the minority perspective compared to the larger culture.
If only someone people know and admire shared my beliefs and got lots of people to listen, that would legitimize my worldview… that would get more people to understand and maybe even adopt it.
We all do this.
When The Ringer tweets about how the Denver Nuggets are stacked, I share it everywhere because they’re confirming what I’ve been saying and maybe it will make more people pay attention.
When one of my favorite authors passionately celebrates Columbus, Ohio and tells people it’s a city worth moving to, I feel emboldened because it’s not just me saying it… it’s someone that people actually recognize and follow along with.
So am I surprised that my Facebook and Instagram feeds are filled with evangelical Christians raving about Kanye’s new album, Jesus Is King?
Not at all.
Kanye West is arguably the biggest artist and pop culture icon of the past 15 years. When someone of his cultural stature seemingly goes all-in on messages you believe and reflects faith in a way that mirrors the faith you hold, it’s pretty difficult not to yell about that from the rooftops.
However, what are we willing to forget in the name of propping up celebrities and influential people who reaffirm our ideas and beliefs?
As a Christian, I’ve celebrated my fair share of God Mascots™ — Chris Pratt, Justin Bieber, and Fear of God founder Jerry Lorenzo to name a few. I’ve gotten wrapped up in their public expressions of faith while also overlooking that the churches they’re connected to (Pratt: Hillsong, Bieber: Churchome & Lorenzo: Mosaic) may welcome LGBTQ+ people but are unclear about ordaining, hiring or marrying LGBTQ+ people. In my personal opinion and for many others, this kind of ambiguity is harmful.
I get that Kanye is proclaiming the name of Jesus, and, for many, this is synonymous with spreading the gospel, and, as a result, this is something many people want to share as others may listen. But Kanye has also said about enslavement in the United States:
“When you hear about slavery for 400 years… For 400 years? That sounds like a choice.
And, “You were there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all. It’s like we’re mentally imprisoned.”
Kanye not only said this once but twice. Fast forward to a few weeks ago at his Sunday Service event at Howard University. He said, “Next time the slave nets come out, let’s all try and not stand in one place.”
This all comes after Kanye has steadfastly supported Donald Trump and sported a “Make America Great Again” hat on multiple occasions.
Maybe this isn’t a big deal for you, and it’s something you’re willing to overlook — either because you don’t disagree with Kanye, or because you believe part of giving grace is forgetting.
Maybe you don’t care and you’re just glad he’s proclaiming Jesus’ name.
And if that’s the case, you wouldn’t be alone.
81% of evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election — even after he was heard on tape bragging about grabbing women “by the pussy”… even after he mocked a reporter with a disability — because he was God’s man.
Many Christians are okay with forgetting their favorite celebrities’ harmful rhetoric and actions because they think, whether good or bad, as long as they’re spreading the name of Jesus, God gets the glory.
Donald Trump said it himself:
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters, okay?”
Just this week, I heard about a pastor, Andy Savage, who desired to start a new church less than two years after publicly admitting that he had sexually abused a teenager under his pastoral care about 20 years earlier
At the end of the day, for many of us, we don’t know these celebrities and prominent figures. They’re most likely not going to see what we have to say. And for that reason, I think it’s important we don’t lose ourselves in them.
Because it’s not farfetched that it gets to a point where that person goes from proclaiming God to becoming a god and then they can do nothing wrong. Any sort of critique becomes “fake news” or “persecution.”
I’m not saying that as an outsider, but as someone who’s right there with you.
What are we forgetting?
Should those things be forgotten?
