The Rastafari movement is an Abrahamic religion which developed in Jamaica in the 1930s, following the coronation of Haile Selassie I as King of Ethiopia in 1930. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, emperor of Ethiopia (ruled 1930–1974), some as Jesus in his Second Advent, or as God the Father. Members of the Rastafari way of life are known as Rastas, or the Rastafari. The way of life is sometimes referred to as “Rastafarianism”, but this term is considered offensive by most Rastafari, who, being critical of “isms” (which they see as a typical part of “Babylon culture”), dislike being labelled as an “ism” themselves. The name Rastafari is taken from Ras Tafari, the title (Ras) and first name (Tafari Makonnen) of Haile Selassie I before his coronation. In Amharic, Ras, literally “head”, is an Ethiopian title equivalent to prince or chief, while the personal given name Täfäri (teferi) means one who is respected or feared. Jah is a Biblical name of God, from a shortened form of Jahweh or Jehovah found in in the King James Version of the Bible. Most adherents see Haile Selassie I as Jah or Jah Rastafari, an incarnation of God the Father, the Second Advent of Christ the Anointed One, i.e. the Second Coming of Jesus Christ the King to Earth. Many elements of Rastafari reflect its origins in the USA, the Caribbean, and Ethiopia. Ethiopian Christianity traces its roots to the Church of Alexandria, founded by St Mark, and its 5th-century continuation in the Coptic Church of Alexandria. Rastafari holds many Jewish and Christian beliefs and accepts the existence of a single triune God called Jah, who has sent his son to Earth in the form of Jesus (Yeshua) and made himself manifest as the person of Haile Selassie I. Rastafari accept much of the Bible, although they believe that its message and interpretation has been corrupted. The Rastafari way of life encompasses the spiritual use of cannabis and the rejection of the degenerate society of materialism, oppression, and sensual pleasures, called Babylon. It proclaims Zion, in reference to Ethiopia, as the original birthplace of humankind, and from the beginning of the way of life calls for repatriation to Zion, the Promised Land and Heaven on Earth. This can mean literally moving to Ethiopia but also refers to mentally and emotionally repatriating before the physical. Some Rastafari also embrace various Afrocentric and Pan-African social and political aspirations. Some Rastafari do not claim any sect or denomination, and thus encourage one another to find faith and inspiration within themselves, although some do identify strongly with one of the “Mansions of Rastafari”—the 3 most prominent of these being the Nyahbinghi, the Bobo Ashanti, and the Twelve Tribes of Israel. By 1997 there were, according to one estimate, around one million Rastafari worldwide. In the 2001 Jamaican census, 24,020 individuals (less than 1% of the population) identified themselves as Rastafari. Other sources estimated that in the 2000s they formed “about 5% of the population” of Jamaica, or conjectured that “there are perhaps as many as 100,000 Rastafari in Jamaica”.
