Rastafarian Religion: From Jamaica to Africa - Origins & Beliefs - Essay Sample

Introduction

Rastafarian is a religion that was began in Jamaica in early 1930.in this religion Haile Selassie is thought to be the messiah of the African people and that all people with African origin will come one day go back to their Africa, which is their homeland. Leonard Powell was the first person to preach the Rastafarian gospel about Haile Selassie in mid-1930. The Rastafarian religion believes that African people are descendants of King Solomon and his queen Sheba and hence the modern representation of Israelites in the society. This paper will address the concept of gender in the religion of Rastafarians.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

In the Rastafarian culture, a man is always the king of the house. While Rasta women are subjective to their men, just like in the African culture. For Rastafarians, women are still subjective to their men only as the law of Rastafarian requires them to do (Lake). All Rasta women always obey and respect their husbands because, to them, it is an honor to serve their husbands and its part of their duties in this world. In this, we find that the gender identity of a woman in a Rastafarian culture is accompanied by serving their counterpart men.

Women are also required to maintain a proper dressing code preferably dressing long skirts and avoiding any trousers or any suggestive dress.it is aimed at restricting them from wearing in a manner that would attract men and hence avoiding them using this as a reason of using them a sexual object (Lake). It is a code that the Rastafarian religion uses to discourage many forms of sexual misconduct. Precisely in this modern world, the rate at which women are being objectified is very alarming. In a recent study, it is clear that that fornication, adultery rape, and many other forms of sexual malpractice are becoming so prevalent in modern society (Cho). The primary reason for this increase is due to the poor dressing code that has been adopted by the society.

In the Rastafarian culture and religion, men having many wives are allowed, but a woman is only allowed to have just one man (Austin-Broos). They refer their wives as empresses, and the male is known as kingsmen of the house. They get married, but mostly they do not legalize the marriage. In recent studies revealed that most Rastafarians are married, but only a few have been able to legalize their marriages and that even those who had an event it was always referred to as a social function rather than a wedding ceremony. Due to this, they do not have any defined rules on how a wedding ceremony in their religion.

In the Rastafarian religion, taking care of a child and family is emphasized. A woman and a man are all required to participate in the growth of their children (Austin-Broos). In this culture, a woman is needed at one point to leave the man of the house at home for him to play his part in taking care of his children. It is done to create a bond between the children and their both parents to avoid one being drowned into their career and forget their roles as parents.

The religion does not allow feminism and discourages this sort of uprising. Rastafarian women are not allowed to advocate for any right that would make their authority in a house be equal to a man (Turner). It is discouraged because they feel once women are given rights equal to men, and then order will be out of the question in their families. In a recent study that showed that many men stereotype that once a woman attains equality with a man, then their respect as a man will automatically be taken away from them. Besides men feel that once a woman reaches that status of being equal in that they will undermine their natural roles and dedicate them to their male counterparts

In this religion and culture, it was not allowed for any woman to attempt for whatsoever reason to be involved in any act of abortion or use of any family planning method (Austin-Broos). For Rastafarian life is sacred, and it's only God who can take it for his reasoning but not any other person. For this reason, Rastafarians do not allow family planning because it is considered as also a means to kill a baby since it may have formed in the womb. In recent studies showed that many Rastafarians are reluctant to use the western medicine because they fear it will contaminate them (Petersen et al.). It is because their religion allows the use of herbs as their only medicine that cannot contaminate their body.

Rastafarians do not allow homosexuality in their religion because it is seen as degeneration of Babylon as they approach the end of times. For the Rastafarians, any form of homosexuality is not congruent with the rules and laws of Jah and hence the only legit way of intimacy is one of male and female. In recent studies have shown that Rastafarian homosexuality are treated harshly because the religion terms those action as not natural human being behavior and very evil (Petersen, et al.).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Rastafarian religion is not much different from other religions, mostly when gender is the question. Most women are considered as men's subjected in marriage. While a man has a mandatory requirement to participate in a Childs life, in this regard, every gender in religion has its place well defined.

Works Cited

Austin-Broos, Diane J. "Pentecostals and Rastafarians: Cultural, political, and gender relations of two religious movements." Social and Economic Studies (1987): 1-39.

Cho, Kuk. "The crime of adultery in Korea: Inadequate means for maintaining morality and protecting women." J. Korean L. 2 (2002): 81.

Lake, Obiagele. "Religion, Patriarchy, and the Status of Rastafarian Women." CONTRIBUTIONS IN AFROAMERICAN AND AFRICAN STUDIES 186 (1998): 141-158.

Petersen, Leif M., et al. ""Bush Doctors and Wild Medicine": The Scale of Trade in Cape Town's Informal Economy of Wild-Harvested Medicine and Traditional Healing." Society & Natural Resources 27.3 (2014): 315-336.

Turner, Terisa E. "Rastafari and the new society." Arise ye mighty people (1994): 9-56.