When I was going through my 'shedding the religion skin' phase, one of the key moments of enlightenment was when I really looked closely at the rastas. Once it dawned on me how deeply people believed something that was only a few decades old and for which there was so much counter-evidence, it was a small step to comparing that to the dogmatic conviction associated with all of the other religious beliefs in the world and dumping all religion.
I mean, it really is the most bonkers religion out there!!!!
It is a religion based upon a (then) living man who actually denied being a god! He refused to comment on his 'divinity' during his visit to Jamaica - presumedly as much out of fear of being mobbed as anything - but he did say, in an interview: -
He then died but his death was denied as a publicity stunt by his followers. They believe he still lives and is preparing Ethiopia for their return!!!!Haile Selassie I wrote:I have heard of that idea [i.e., of Haile Selassie being the reincarnation of Jesus Christ]. I also met certain Rastafarians. I told them clearly that I am a man, that I am mortal, and that I would be replaced by the oncoming generation, and that they should never make a mistake in assuming or pretending that the human being is emanated from a deity.
The holy book of this religion is the bible - but the pick'n'mixing that goes on in the case of rastafarianism has to be seen to be believed!
And yet. I doubt that there is any religion that gets such an easy ride from atheists. I expect that this is due to inverse racism, at least in part - what white man would want to diss a black religion in this day and age? It is also linked inextricably with the whole afrocentric thing - another sacred cow.
Let's make no bones about it. Rastafarianism is just as ludicrous as any other religion. The doctrine spouted by Bob Marley and Marcus Garvey is based on unsupported claims and is also deeply racist - had it been a white supremacist religion, it would have been suppressed years ago.
BUT. I love reggae - especially old-school, Jamaican reggae. Bob Marley, Black Uhuru, Steel Pulse, Culture, Peter Tosh, Sly & Robbie, Burning Spear. I can't get enough. I wouldn't sit through 10 minutes of CofE hymns but I can listen to Bob sing of Zion, I & I and Jah for hours. It's the bass - it does things to my innards.
I suppose that the black world was crying out for a uniquely black cultural and religious identity and Garvey's ideas filled that gap - I only regret that they hadn't ditched the whole religion crap instead - I suppose that was too much to hope.
There are so many more talented musicians you could have picked. Lou Reed, perhaps? Or if you're talking weed, most musicians of the last half of the 20th century.