Why do the Rastafarians worship Haile Selassie as their god?

Home - Quora Link

One of the most powerful things that humans can do is believe. Yes, many Rastafaris profess belief in Heile Selassie as the second coming of Jesus.

But that’s not what Rasta is really about. Rasta is about dignifying the black race. Rasta takes things that are demonized by white Europeans and their culture and elevates them to mythic status.

When you believe in something, that thing becomes powerful. The dreads, the music, the aesthetic of Rastafari centers around things that Europeans have at many points violently stamped out. Rastas take these things, the natural gifts of God to all black people, and make culture and enlightenment from them.

When the Black Power movement started dying after it’s leaders were killed, Rastafaris carried the torch. Quietly, outside of the hostile eyes of the establishment, Rastas held small movements raising consciousness in households all over the world. Rudderless young black men who otherwise would have no living role models to look up to and emulate, found power and structure in a religion that catered exclusively to them.

Rastafari gets something that has gotten lost in recent years. The power of religion to bring people together and lift them up.

So that said, let’s look at Emperor Haile Selassie. Why him? Well, to understand why, you need to understand the legacy of colonial Caribbean slavery on Jamaica. Millions of Africans were transported, stripped of their dignity, and forced to labor for white wealth.

They eventually gained freedom, but were denied to share in the wealth they’d built. African-descended Jamaicans were pushed to the margins of society and told they were worthless. So they turned to their roots.

Who did they find? The badass who resisted the Italian invasion and kept Ethiopia free! An African nation successfully resisting European power gave African-descended poor Jamaicans a lot to be inspired by and to aspire to. Religion has always been incubated in the hearts and minds of the downtrodden, and Rastafari is no different.

The crowds that showed up for Emperor Haile Selassie I on his state trip to Jamaica

Traditional European religion was refined by the lords and nobles, who take the myths of the people and work them into something more real-seeming. Christianity elevated a poor man to divinity, Rastafari elevated a king. It’s a reflection of what they wanted, a seat at the table.