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Hundreds of Rastafarians came together last month in Jamaica, the birthplace of the movement, for the weeklong Rastafari Global Reasoning 2003. The official motto for the worldwide meeting, which centered on planning for the future and calling for greater respect, was "Rastafari Family United for Progress and Development."

While Rastafari certainly maintains a sense of family, it is not a unified bloc. Several subgroups and varying beliefs vie for the soul of Rastafari. These differences in theology, lifestyle, and behaviors all fit within the broad umbrella of Rastafari because, at its heart, it is an Afro-Caribbean identity movement—not primarily a religion with clearly defined, universally accepted dogma and doctrines. However, a growing movement within Rastafari is calling Rastas away from their New Age beliefs and idolization of Haile Selassie I—and to a Trinitarian, orthodox Christian faith.

As Caribbean churches have recently become more welcoming of Rastafarians, reggae music, and Afrocentrism, a greater rapprochement between Rastas and Christians has developed. Growing numbers of Rastas have entered Christian churches and taken Jesus as their Savior while continuing a dreadlocked Rasta lifestyle. But if more Rastas are going to follow this path, their significant belief changes will have to be met with attitude changes in the Christian churches.

Like Christians, Rastafarians honor Yeshua, the Christ, as worthy of worship. In fact, most Rastas consider themselves uncorrupted Christian people. A large percentage of Rastafarians follow the lead of seminal preacher, Leonard Howell, who referred to Yeshua as "Our Lord" in his foundational book, The Promised Key.

Both movements are fiercely monotheistic. Rastas, like Christians, look to the Bible for divine counsel, keying off the Ten Commandments and Golden Rule to teach respect for God and God's creation, preservation of life, mercy toward opponents, and moderation and holiness toward money, sex, power.

Two significant figures in Rastafari were Christians. Marcus Garvey, an outspokenly Trinitarian Christian from a Free Methodist background, is deemed a prophet in Rastafari. In the early 1900s, Garvey led a movement to create an Africa homeland for blacks. This encouraged the strong sense of Afrocentrism in Jamaica and the Caribbean.

More significant to Rastafari is Haile Selassie I, a devout Ethiopian Orthodox monarch. Formerly named Ras Tafari Makonnen, before his coronation as the emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie was thought by early Rastafarian preachers to be the Messiah—or God himself. The Oriental Orthodox Churches have declared Haile Selassie a defender of the Christian faith. In 1997 members of one branch of Rasta, The Twelve Tribes of Israel, declared their faith in Christ alone, but still maintain a place for Haile Selassie in biblical prophecy.

While a common bond between Rastas and Christians, Selassie is also the largest barrier. What separates the two groups the most is the treatment by many Rastas of Haile Selassie as divine. For Christians to reconcile the reverence that Rastas give him is extremely hard. Such reverence is due only to God.

Christians can, however, respect Haile Selassie as a devout Christian emperor, friend of Billy Graham, and outspoken follower of Christ. If desiring a dialogue with Rastas, Christians need to respect the Rastafari position that the emperor is the Davidic king of prophecy, though Christians certainly need not agree with it.

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August (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47