Behind Yeezianity, the first religion based on Kanye West

BY ERIC SUNDERMANN

I often joke that, for me, listening to Kanye West is like a religious experience. Apparently, for some people, this is not a joke. Enter the best religion of all time: Yeezianity.

The church of Yeezus was founded about a month ago by a man who doesn’t want to tell me his name, because he fears that any name-association with the religion will ruin its goal to help people anonymously. According to the founder, in order to become a member of Yeezianity, you just have to believe in the principles—and in that moment, you become a member. The group follows what they call the “5 Pillars,” which are as follows:

1. All things created must be for the good of all
2. No human being’s right to express themselves must ever be repressed
3. Money is unnecessary except as a means of exchange
4. Man possesses the power to create everything he wants and needs
5. All human suffering exists to stimulate the creative powers of Man

As of this moment, Kanye probably doesn’t know about the religion that carries his name, but one would imagine he’d approve of the positive message about viewing yourself as a god. The founder of Yeezianity recently took out a Craiglist ad in hopes of gaining membership—and publicity. But before you start tweeting about how ridiculous this whole notion is, how this dude is probably just looking for internet fame, take note that the founder recognizes the absurdity of it all, and still requests to remain anonymous.

With hopes of understanding why someone would ever want to base a religion on a rapper who wears a discoball on his head while he performs, I called up the founder.

So, Yeezianity.

I created this thing about a month ago—and all I did was tweet it, and I don’t have a lot of Twitter followers, so that didn’t go anywhere. I was putting up other Craigslist ads and I just thought, “Well, let’s see where this goes.” I got some responses. I mean, you found it, so that’s pretty awesome.

Read the full interview on Noisey.