A new study released by the Montreal Institute for Important Discoveries has shown that ravers are overwhelmingly more religious than non-ravers. “Seventy five percent of ravers claim to believe in a higher power,” says lead researcher Cyndi Lauper. “That’s compared to just thirty five percent for non-ravers. This suggests that there’s a great deal of spiritual hunger among ravers that could be tapped into by religious authorities across America. I think if there’s ever going to be a religious revival movement, the EDM scene will be the ones who lead the way.”

DJ Khaled Le Red agrees. “There’s a reason I start all my DJ sets with the lords prayer,” says Khaled, “and that’s because I know my audience is thirsty for Jesus. When I first started leading the crowds in prayer, people thought I was crazy, but now you can’t go to a party in Montreal without seeing people in the corner, kneeling before God. Ravers are the children of the lord, and they go to parties in order to transcend the prisons of the flesh. The act of dancing is really a sacred act, it’s the embodiment of religious sacrifice, of giving yourself over to something than yourself. That’s something I think a lot of ravers understand. I helped give a voice to the religious itch that underpins so much raving, and now that voice is booming across America. God is great, and raving is a way to honour that greatness.”

Hillary Winston, a 21 year old raver from Mascouche, says raving helped her find religion. “At first I turned to drugs, and then I turned to sex, but it wasn’t until I heard Khaled talk about the spiritual nature of raving that I felt my heart open up. I don’t know if I agree with his brand of Christianity, but I absolutely believe that raving is at it’s best when we recognize that we’re dancing in order to find a deeper connection to the world. We’re looking to discover our place in the Universe. Raving has a dark side, that side where we try to escape ourselves, to forget our pain and misery. I think a lot of people are turning away from the dark side. They no longer see raving as an act of escape, instead it’s become an act of spiritual revival, an act of communion with the world beyond our fleshy little cages. It’s incredible, because once you see raving as a way to transcend yourself, you no longer feel like escaping yourself. It’s the difference between finding meaning and losing hope. Today’s ravers are finding meaning, while ravers twenty years ago just wanted to get high, get laid, and get lost.”