It's clear he's always been a religious nut, but as his commercial viability has decreased his dependence on religion seems to have incresaed.

Where do you think this fanatacism steams from - his upbringing, his lack of upbringing?

Were either of his parents ultra-strict religiously - what about Andre's mom?

I just think it's part of his personal composition. Some people are naturally attracted to spiritual matters...

When all else fails, many people turn to some form of committed religious commitment as a last resort.

Whenever I used to watch "Behind the Music", I always waited for the part of the show when the announcer would say, "and then ___ found religion..."

Anxiety said:

hah
I often go "oh my god" whenever shit happens, so I guess I'm religious too. Or have a religious streak.

If you Love Life you wonder about GOD

You want to know how, why, & whats next.

Its our nature

Anxiety said:

"but the price of fame was too heavy for ___"

GIOVANNI said:

that's arguable.

cynicalbastard said:

Not to those who feel the need to express this drive and desire.

Why does someone have to be a religious nut because they want to live relgiously? As adults we can pretty much live our lives the way we want too.

it comes from being around larry graham!

1nitealone said:

LOL! But it doesn't does it. He's always been a religious (Christian) fanatic.

The more time passes, the more I figure that Purple Rain (his biggest commercial success and global break-through/cross-over) is in fact a paean to God.

Let's Go Crazy
Purple Rain
I Would Die 4 U

They all reference God/Christ directly.

The death of both of his parents within 6 months of each other.

That's a guess.

How the hell should I know?

The Bible killed the radio star.

GIOVANNI said:

I don't... I love life and never gave one single thought about god or supra-being as the creator. And I don't give a BLANK about how, why and what's next.

But then...maybe I am the exception to the rule ("our nature").

call me shallow

roverlo said:

I think the only thing that is shallow and limited is religion's definition of "god", and their perception of what's "good" and "evil".

Perhaps it was the way he was raised, I am sure his parents had something to do with it. He seems to have believed in God throughout his growing up years and even now, continues to do so. To some it may seem extreme, but to others it's just a way of life no matter what religion you are.

it came from Larry. DUH!

I love ya, so please don't take this the wrong way, but duh...

Romance1600 said:

Nope, you're all wrong. It stems from...


...FEAR!!!

Well, yeah, of course he's changed, I don't many 45 year olds who are the same way when they were like 21.

His ideas have changed, your point? Sure, you may not like them, but oh well.
I personally, cannot stand overly religious people, and Prince has been on the borderline of being that for quite a while, but i'm not gonna go around being pissed because of it. I never was a big fan of Prince the man, I mean yeah, he's nice (when I met him), but I can't see being around him on a daily basis without cursing him out or choking him.
I, personally hold a deeep respect for the people who have worked with him (in the past---NOT the yes men).
So I guess maybe that's why his um..."change" hasn't affected me that much. I never have been impressed with him as a person in the first place.
Here's something I posted in a previous thread
dealing with this subject, my "theory", I guess:
well his belief in God definitely stems from his upbringing; both his mom and Andre's mom were quite religious ladies.
He's always been "obsessed" with God, he just decided to take it to the next level, I've known lots of people around his age that have gotten more into religion (for various reasons), he's no special case.
I.E., one of my mother's next door neighbors, she used to be a regular lady, belived in God, went to church occaisionally, then her husband died, now she goes to church every Sunday, always quoting bible passages, house full of religious paraphinialla, ect. I'm not saying her husband's dieing resulted in her behavoir, but I think it was a contributing factor. I find that lots of people who experience the death of a loved one get into religion, so maybe the death of Prince's parents and son contributed to his "religious streak".
Many people turn to religion for various reasons, death, drugs, failure, so on and so forth, that's why, as someone pointed out,you hear rock stars/celeberties turn to God.
Al Green, Vanity, Tina Turner,ect.; very dark things happened to the listed people and shortly after these things happened, they turned to religion.

Getting back to Prince, take a already spiritual guy who was rasied in a fairly religious upbringing, experiences three deaths, has somewhat "failure", and there you go.

And sometimes, more often than not, when getting into religion it becomes somewhat of an obsession, something that draws people in, it's like a good book that you can't put down. Sometimes you can go too far, that's where preaching stems from, it can become an adiction.
I'm not saying that's what is happening to Prince, but he's certainly been on the borderline.

...well that's my two cents.
[This message was edited Wed Aug 27 18:42:50 PDT 2003 by lovebizzare]

lovebizzare said:

---

Very good points. A lot of people on this board do not realize that Prince has had religious references in his music his entire carreer and he was raised as a 7th day Adventist.

One of the things that attracted me to Prince to begin with was his mixture of sex and spirituality. Hïs religion back then - as expressed on Lovesexy, in particular - was very openminded and open to EVERONE. It was a religion where the basic rule was "strive to be the best that you can be" and isn't that what most people do? So it was easy to take to heart - this Lovesexy thing.

With Mayte he seemed to lean towards New Age - and that shared faith was probably one of the things that tied them together.
I think that when their baby died and Emancipation did not become the hit he had visualized, he lost patience with/faith in the New Age ways. Then Larry Graham entered the picture when Prince was in a state of confusion and "took advantage" of that.
But of course, Larry didn't make Prince a JW - that is a decision that only Prince could take. I think he was open to it because he had become desperate for something to believe in and something that made sense to him - and JW "just happened" to be a viable option in his hour of need.
Certainly, I myself have experienced that when your faith has been shattered, life can seem VERY empty indeed. Everything is much easier to accept when you belive it all serves a greater meaning and is part of a larger design.
I assume one of the reasons why Mayte and Prince broke up is because JW conflicted with her New Age beliefs.
And I assume Prince changed his name back to Prince because the symbol was a heathen symbol for JW's.
And, of course, already supposedly being a bit of an old-fashioned male chauvinist, and having been no stranger to organized religion in his childhood, the teachings of JW assumably made sense to him.
The question now is, will Prince's conversion to JW last? So far, it has lasted quite awhile compared to other things Prince have dabbled with, and JW is not the easiest thing to get out of once you're in - or so I've been told - so it may take a long time and maybe it won't happen at all, but I do believe it is POSSIBLE that Prince just might turn his back on JW one day - maybe he'll find something new to try out? Maybe he'll lose faith in their teachings? Maybe they'll throw him out for not obeying their rules? The possibilities are many. Only time can tell what it will be.