# Rastafarians **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 23, 1999, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rastafarians/2807 "1999-08-23T02:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rastafarians/2807/1 "1999-08-23T02:32:00Z")
1. What do they actually believe? 2. If somebody wants to join (not me – a friend), is there a formal conversion process and / or a rite equivalent to baptism? Or are a Rasta if you say you are? ---
**Author:** ![krish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@krish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/krish)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rastafarians/2807/2 "1999-08-23T04:39:00Z")
Here’s where I dug up the information. [http://home.computer.net/~cya/cy00081.html](http://home.computer.net/~cya/cy00081.html) 1. Aside from some strongly anti-white doctrines, > [@](#): > > two overriding concepts that are key to the Rastafarian system. > > First is the idea or teaching about Babylon which refers to the Jamaican government, the establishment or the white oppressors in general (Ibid, pp. xiii, 3, 89). > > The second concept is that of I and I which has “become arguably the most important theoretical tool apart from the Babylonian conspiracy in the Rastafarian repertoire” (Rastaman, p. 66). Cashmore explains, “I and I is an expression to totalize the concept of oneness. `I and I' as being the oneness of two persons. So God is within all of us and we're one people in fact. `I and I means that God is in all men. The bond of Ras Tafari is the bond of God, of man. But man itself needs a head and the head of man is His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie of Ethiopia’” (Ibid, p. 67). 1. Apparently one is a Rastafarian is he/she says so because - > [@](#): > > Organization Structure: No official church buildings or leaders. Each individual group and person is autonomous. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 1999, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rastafarians/2807/3 "1999-08-24T05:08:00Z")
I understand aussi that Rastafarianism is one of the most caustically anti-gay religions around. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Iron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Big\_Iron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Iron)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 1999, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rastafarians/2807/4 "1999-08-24T20:00:00Z")
“One said to the other, ‘no man see my face and live’.” ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 1999, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rastafarians/2807/5 "1999-08-24T22:46:00Z")
Oh wow, somebody besides me listens to 80’s Dylan. Whoever you are, I love you! Thanks for the link, krish. I think it’s safe to say that my friend will NOT be joining this religion if I have anything to say about it … ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Iron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Big\_Iron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Iron)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 1999, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rastafarians/2807/6 "1999-08-25T06:17:00Z")
I thought that [“Infidels”] was a really outstanding album – and, I must say, I really dig that SN, FP. Also, as a self-appointed Pope, I must remind everyone – sometimes Satan comes as a Man of Peace. 😉