Rastafari

Rastafari, or Rastafarianism, with 600,000 adherants, is positioned at the bottom of the list of 21 super-categories of world religions on the homepage of this website. As an ethnic religion, a brief description will be provided in this place. Rastafarianism will be more fully described elsewhere. It is an Abrahamic religion and is classified as both a new religion and a social movement. Many Rastas reject descriptions of Rastafari as a religion, instead referring to it as a way of life, a philosophy, or a spirituality. Rastafari originated among impoverished and socially disenfranchised Afro-Jamaican communities in the 1930s. Its Afrocentric ideology was largely a reaction against Jamaica's then-dominant British colonial culture. It was influenced by both Ethiopianism and the Back-to-Africa movement promoted by black nationalist figures such as Marcus Garvey. The religion developed after several Protestant Christian clergymen, most notably Leonard Howell, proclaimed that Haile Selassie's crowning as Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930 was a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. By the 1950s, Rastafari's countercultural stance had brought the movement into conflict with wider Jamaican society, including violent clashes with law enforcement. In the 1960s and 1970s, it gained increased respectability within Jamaica and greater visibility worldwide through the popularity of Rastafari-inspired reggae musicians, most notably Bob Marley. There is no central authority in control of the movement, and much diversity exists among practitioners who are known as Rastafari, Rastafarians, or Rastas. Rastafari beliefs are based on a specific interpretation of the Bible. Central to the religion is a monotheistic belief in a single God, referred to as Jah, who is beleived to partially reside within each individual. Rastas regard Haile Selassie I, emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, as significant person. Some beleive he was Christ returned and Jah incarnate, while others see him as a human prophet who fully recognized Jah's presence in human beings. Rastafari focuses intently on the African diaspora, whose constituents continue to be oppressed within Western society, which is referred to  Babylon. Many Rastas call for the diaspora's resettlement in Africa (as did Marcus Garvey), a continent they consider to be the Promised Land, or Zion. Some practitioners escalate this view into black supremacism. Rastas term their practices livity. Communal meetings, called groundations, are typified by music, chanting, discussions, and the smoking of cannabis which is a Rastafari sacrament beleived to possess beneficial properties. Rastas emphasize living a natural life and adhere to ital (the Rasta equivalent of "kosher") dietary requirements. The life energy conferred by the Almighty that is believe to reside in humans is termed Livity. Food that is consumed should enhance Livity, rather than reduce it. There are different interpretations of ital regarding specific foods, but a general principle is that food should be natural, or pure, and come directly from the earth. Practitioners therefore avoid food which has been chemically modified or contains artificial additives. Rastifari famously wear their hair in dreadlocks and honor Biblical patriarchal gender roles