A religion is a strong conviction in an often unseen supernatural being. Each religion has its own conventional beliefs and dogmas that are to be strictly followed by the believers. Most of these views relate to the superior being’s nature and sometimes the human nature. In this article I will expound on two religions, Jehovah’s Witness and Rastafari.
Jehovah’s Witness, renowned for their door to door preaching, is a Christian denomination formed in the 1870s. It was founded by Charles Tazel Russel. Although often categorized as a Christian, the Jehovah’s Witness differs substantially from the Christian doctrines. For example, they do not believe in the existence of the Holy Trinity, citing that the Holy Spirit is just but a force of God’s power and that Jesus is a creation of God and therefore as a creation cannot be considered the creator. The Jehovah’s Witness don’t participate in Christian Holidays such as Christmas and Easter. They use their own version of the Bible called the New World Translation.
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Rastafari is a religious movement that claims its roots in Jamaica. It is believed to have begun in 1930 after ascension of Haile Selassie to power as king of Ethiopia. This was the year Maces Garvey, a Jamaican leader preached to his subjects about the need for unanimity of the African people in order that they may be redeemed by the ‘black messiah’. The Rastafari believe that black people are the original inheritors and rulers of the world but slavery and discrimination has led them to be scattered in worse places such as Jamaica. They believe that Haile Selassie I is God and that he will come back to redeem them and reinstate them to their rightful place. Rastafari are opposed to shaving any hair and strive to minimize consumption of meat.
Both Jehovah’s Witness and Rastafari borrow from Christianity. Both religions also believe in a supernatural being that is all knowing and that controls everything in the universe. Another similarity is that both religions advocate for preservation of life and the environment, with Rastafari even preferring a vegan diet. Jehovah’s Witness borrows almost entirely from Christianity with a few alterations such as the Trinity, concepts about hell and the Christian holidays. Rastafari follows most doctrines from the Old Testament, for example the incentive not cut any hair was bore from Leviticus 19:27. The difference in their dogmas to the applications is very contrasting. While Jehovah’s Witness practice rationality before interpretation, Rastafari take the literal meaning of the scriptures.
While Rastafari believe in the use of marijuana in rituals to reach a higher state of spirituality, Jehovah’s Witness forbid the use of any substances that contain traces of drugs (including beverages such as tea) that may cause alteration from one’s standard thinking. Rastafari, allow for use of marijuana but with the specification that prayers must be said to Jah or Haile Selassie before consuming it, and taking of the plant for fun may upset Jah. The use of marijuana also causes the members of Rastafari to be on the wrong side of the law in most states as few have legalized the drug.
Rastafari portrays elements of preference of one race, the blacks. The religion is centered on redemption and salvation of blacks from oppression. A huge following of the religion is from people of black decent. This is contrary to Jehovah Witnesses teachings on equality. Their churches and well spread out, and they preach salvation for people of any and all cultural groups.
With time, religions are bound to change beliefs, adding to or removing the currently existing ones. This is due to factors like education, legislation, intermarriages and new inventions in communication such as social media. As awareness increases for example in the case of Rastafari, religions are forced to accommodate other groups of people such as whites or other races in this case. The doctrines of Jehovah Witnesses have also changed since their foundation, for example the views on the Christian holidays that were not forbidden before.
Secularism is the act of separation of the state’s governance from the religious governance. It also includes the abolition of laws that have been borrowed from one particular religion. While Rastafari is more flexible and open to other religions, Jehovah’s Witness is likely to oppose the idea of secularism as they are more rigid and not accepting of lawlessness as stated in their bible. The same would apply to religious pluralism.
Jehovah’s Witnesses has and is still opposed to politics specifically voting as this is seen as being secular and of the world (John 17:14). They also prefer being neutral as this grants them flexibility to talk to people of different political preferences without being judgmental. Their views about certain social events such as birthdays, abortion, blood transfusion and joining the army remain the same almost a century later. Totally contrasting to this is Rastafari that has shown flexibility and accommodation for certain views over the years, including the famous ‘you don’t have to have dreads to be Rastafari’.
Despite the different stance, the two religions, Jehovah’s Witness and Rastafari remain influential and key for bringing change to the society through faith.
