Might be a hard pill to swallow, but the rapper who reminded us that Jesus walks with pimps, hoes and crack dealers makes a timely revelation: There is \u201cNo Church in the Wild.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the most talked about songs off Kanye West and Jay-Z\u2019s recent collaborative LP Watch the Throne, people are calling the newly released single \u201cNo Church in the Wild\u201d an \u201cexistential rejection of organized religion.\u201d That it most certainly is. I personally can\u2019t stop singing the chilling hook to this song. Like many young people today, West is critiquing organized religion. That doesn\u2019t mean however that neither he nor they have given up on hope and meaning.<\/p>\n
This song foreshadows the reality of a growing rise of religious non-affiliation in our country, according to the Pew Center for the People and the Press. The USA Today recently reported that nearly one in five Americans are religiously unaffiliated \u2014 the highest number yet.<\/p>\n
These trends are even more apparent among young people. I\u2019ve experienced this first hand on the ground interviewing youth in Portland, Ore., for my current survey project Remaking Religion.<\/p>\n
Over the years, I have worked with countless urban youth afflicted by issues of gang violence, homophobia and class inequality. They\u2019ve lamented that they don\u2019t feel accepted in dominant institutions \u2014 the school and the church included. With no place to go, many of them turn to the arts to craft meaning and find a cathartic release.<\/p>\n