Rastafarianism

as compared to...? oh you mean all those other religions that were handed down to man by God himself. Like Scientology. Haile Selassie personally might've not 'done any good for anybody' (I really don't know much of anything about him as a person), but by merely existing he gave many black people a sense of pride and hope.
I think it's a bunch of bollocks, just like any other religion. But, just like (almost) any other religion, its message is a good one, and if more people were Rasta through-and-through the world would almost have to be a better place to live.

but yeah, cybele to thread.

:-O !!!

Marcus Garvey said, before he left Jamaica to go to New Yrok and continue his quest to uplift the black race, "Look to Africa for the crowning of a black king, he shall be the Redeemer". Hence, when Selassie was crowned King in Ethiopia, this prophecy, along with scriptural reference, caused some people to believe in him (or H.I.M., to Rastas) as the son of God.

Sure, you can debate all you want about Selassie's character--yeah, he reinforced the feudal system and, in doing so, oppressed his own people. Ethiopians primarily consider him a despot. Also, when he came to Jamaica he was overwhelemed with the response that he received and reportedly tried to deny his "godly" status. Thing is, what Rastafarianism did is that it allowed the people of Jamaica (and the West Indies in general) to see god in their own image. If man is created in the image of God, why is he always white? Rastafarianism allowed people in a 98% black country to actually start thinking about God in their own terms. We're talking the impact of colonialism here andy....look it up.

Marcus Garvey, in addition to prophecising about some king in Africa, also felt strongly about the need to connect black people to Africa--his Black Star Line shipping company, his newspaper, the United Negro Improvement Association: all were part of his program to encourage those of African descent to feel pride in themselves.
Now, are there problems with the religion? Yeah, of course. I;m no so fond of the homophobia, nay, intense desire to rid the world of homosexuals by FYAH, nor am I particularly fond of only being referred to as "Empress" by Rastas and being put on a pedestal. I think their literal interpretaion of the bible is problematic, but I think that about Pentecostals and other fundamentalist Christians as well.

What's amazing about Rastafari--and this is getting back to the editing that I was doing--is that the Rasta emphasis on "reasoning" (the act of discussing scripture, world events, and spirituality that is a major part of Rasta practice) is a tremendously valuable force in Jamaica. Check this out (from Obika Gray)

Suggestions for renewal drawn from this lived experience are too many to list here, but they include the Rastafarian notion of “social living” and that group’s communitarian, democratic idea of “reasoning” and “grounding” as means of solving problems. What this implies, is not modernity’s fearful notion of a mystical and atavistic return to barbarism involving the smoking of marijuana around a backwoods fire, but rather the organization of democratic problem-solving at the community level.

Embedded in the notion of “grounding”, therefore, is the wholly unremarkable idea of community self-organization and democratic discussion. In practice, this might mean nothing more threatening than the creation of community-based councils that act as deliberative bodies and forums for resolving problems. (Gray 2003)

This is what is valuable and remarkable about Rastafari. It wouldn't be a bad idea to take these ideas and apply it to different societies...maybe that's what the white rastas you decry are attracted to the Rasta belief system. I do, however, think that based on the fundamentalism of Rastafari, it would be valuable to so-called progressive thinkers in liberal bastions like Vermont and California to ask themselves whether or not they can truly believe in the tenets of Rastafari...I doubt they can. Let's face it, lotsa folks like reggae, like being cool, loke having an identity, and therefore, lotas folks--of a range of ethnicities--take on the identity of "Rasta" in order to give them some sense of belonging. But yeah, they annoy the fuck outta me too.

Okay, whoops. That was way long. Sorry!

One more thing--many people dod repatriate to Ethiopia. In fact, Shashamene, 250 km south of Addis Ababba, is home to the largest concentration of West Indians in Africa. There, 200 Rasta families live and are working to continue the teachings on land bequethed to them by Selassie. There were more Rastas a few decades ago (the first in 1963), but the Marxist revolution in Ethiopia took most of the land away.

thanks for the post, cybele!

One point of contention: "If man is created in the image of God, why is he always white? "

The success of Islam has been it's inclusion of all races, and that is why there is an unbroken band of Muslims from Morocco to the Phillipines, and through much of Africa up to the Balkans.

And the people of Ethiopia are largely Christians, not lion of zion worshiping, weed-smoking barbarians. They've largely forgotten about Haile Selassie, and moved on.

wasnt garvey xian
that lost tribes of israel thing, lots of whacked out americans belive it as well, and the lds on top of that--how do they connect ?

(sorry for spelling)

im sorry if im reaching