A Couple of Rasta Questions

[brertom]

Lately I've been gettin interested in the Rasta faith and i was just curious about a couple things....
Do most rastas believe in evolution or do most take the old testament literally?
Do most rastas accept homosexuality?
And would you suggest me gettin a copy of the Holy Piby for bible readings?
I know there is no doctrine but i was just wondering what the norm is.
thanks alot!

[Birmingham]

From what little I've heard, a famous rasta quote is 'peace and love to all' - so i guess that includes homosexuals :)

[natural philosophy]

as a rule of thumb when looking at what RastafarIans believe, you have to remember that there are many variations. It's not an organized religion so there is no one set dogma. As far as your questions go, many rastas take the bible literally. That's why they worship Selassie. Some rastas don't mind homosexuals. Some rastas accept homosexual people but not the act. Some rastas are very homophobic and even hateful towards them (H.R. comes to mind...). Some don't even accept white people as rastas or even as equals (Peter Tosh comes to mind...). Overall, though, I would venture to say that most rastas will accept you no matter who or what you are (Bob Marley comes to mind...). As far as evolution is concerned, I have no idea how most rastas feel about this. I don't find it a contradiction, however, to believe in JAH and evolution at the same time. It boils down to what's in your own heart.

Before picking up the Piby, I would read a book called Rasta Heart:A Journey Into One Love by Robert Roskind. It's a look at many of the varying beliefs of native jamaican rastas. Definately one of the best crash courses in the RastafarIan belief system.

Brertom, feel free to post more questions and you can PM me if you want to discuss this further. :D