Response Post to Kanye West blog: Using God as an escape route

I agree with Riley's post on Kanye West's wayward religious following. Many rappers, not just Kanye, claim to follow the teachings of Christianity and have immense faith in Jesus yet their actions in their everyday lives would tell us a different story.

     How many times have we watched an awards show where when a rapper won they would thank God first and foremost? How many rappers wear chains around their necks with symbols of crosses? It's ironic then when we're invited into their houses while watching MTV cribs and these same celebrities own the most ridiculous and over the top things...have they not heard of the seven deadly sins? All that Vitamin Water in the fridge definitely would fall under "gluttony".

     This does not only happen with rappers however. Country music stars, pop stars, and even rock stars all seem to be ungrateful while claiming to be devoted Christians. (Three examples would be Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and Kings Of Leon.) All of these celebrities at one point have claimed to be Christians yet all have been connected to negative things such as drugs one time or another.

     One could think that they're just following the religion in their own way as Riley mentioned yet what I believe is really going on is that they're using the idea of religion as a cover up. They believe...or should I say their publicists tell them to say they believe in Christianity to the media so they seem like good, devoted and honest people. While all the artists I mentioned were raised in Christian households and the teachings of the bible were surely ingrained in them at a young age they have clearly changed their ways over time.

     It's also an escape. If they do something such as smoke salvia and are careless enough to get caught doing it on camera (I won't mention any names) they can claim the old "God" excuse. That's where they say that it was a slip up and that really deep down they're good Christians and in the end it doesn't even really matter what we think because only God can judge them. (Maybe they should get that last one tattooed on them and save themselves the time).

     Basically, artists use religion as a safety net. They think they will be forgiven if they claim to have faith and want to make amends for their mistakes because of God. In the end though should they not want to make things right for the fans? After all, it is us buying their albums.