315
The Rastafari flag with its imperial
lion is waved behind Damian “Jr. Gong”
Marley, son of reggae legend Bob Marley.See also: Jesus’s message to the world 204–207 ■ Social holiness and evangelicalism 239 ■ The African roots
of Santeria 304–305 ■ The Nation of Islam 339
MODERN RELIGIONS
Haile Selassie Born Tafari Makonnen, inheriting
the title “Ras” (analagous to
Duke) as the son of Ethiopian
nobility, Haile Selassie became
Regent of Ethiopia in 1916. He
replaced the heir to the throne,
Iyasu, whose links with Islam and
general misconduct precluded his
becoming head of state. On the
death of the Empress Zewditu in
1930, Tafari, a devout member of
the Ethiopian Orthodox Church,
was crowned Emperor, and took
the regnal name of Haile Selassie,
“Might of the Trinity.” He spent
some years in exile in England
following Mussolini’s invasion ofEthiopia, returning in 1941 after
the British liberation. Although
respected around the world, he
became increasingly unpopular
in his home country, and in 1974
was deposed and imprisoned by
members of the armed forces
calling themselves the Derg
(Committee). Many members of
his family and government were
imprisoned or executed, and,
in August of the following
year, it was announced that
the ex-Emperor had died of
respiratory failure, although
there was some controversy
around the causes of his death.Jamaicans were descended from
African slaves, and had been forced
to adopt the British slave-owners’
mainly Protestant Christianity,
while their own African-based
religious beliefs and traditions
had been largely quashed. What
evolved was therefore a uniquely
black Jamaican interpretation of
the Christian scriptures, rather
than a synthesis of African and
Christian beliefs.A savior in Zion
Inspired by black nationalism and
Pan-Africanism, some Jamaicans
claimed that much of the Bible had
been changed by white men as part
of their ongoing oppression of Africa
and Africans. They interpreted the
Old Testament’s Zion as Africa,
and believed that a savior would
come to rescue African peoples
from oppression by “Babylon”—the
corrupt Europeans. The savior was
prophesied to come to Zion from the
family of Judah. When Ras Tafari
came to the throne of Ethiopia with
the dynastic title “His Imperial
Majesty Haile Selassie I, Conquering
Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of
God and King of the Kings of
Ethiopia,” the prophesy was seen as
fulfilled, and the Rastafari movement
was born. Most Rastafariansbelieve Haile Selassie to be
the second coming of Jesus, an
incarnation of their God, Jah, but
some see him as simply God’s
earthly representative and ruler.
Rastafari spread in the post-
World War II years as Caribbean
migrants left to seek work in Britain
and America. Jamaican culture and
music, especially reggae, became
very popular in those countries in
the 1960s and 1970s, and Rastafari
gained a considerable following
in its wake. ■Many discouraging hours
will arise before the rainbow
of accomplished goals will
appear on the horizon.
Haile Selassie