How did the Rastafari movement react to the removal from power, imprisonment and eventual death of Haile Selassie, who they regarded as the second coming of Christ?

by spaceman_

And did his death cause a significant downturn for the movement in terms of membership and support?

Elm11

Hey there!

This question has come up before, and received an excellent response from /u/ragingrage. You can find it here, and hopefully should find it very interesting!

lonniecordice

Things must be put into the right context. We first must look at the impact Christ has made upon earth whether he is regarded as the Son of God or a prophet of God.

When Haile Selassie is regarded as Christ we must first ask why? Are they any logical grounds to come to this conclusion. If there is anything that logically points to Haile Selassie as the Anointed King in the Judeo Christian sense then this is not only a Rastafari topic but a Jewish and Christian one equally.

Firstly is it the Jewish belief that the Messiah is divine? If not then we should first look at Haile Selassie from the Jewish prospective.

Secondly is it the Christian belief that Christ Jesus cannot die? They recognise His divinity as God incarnate but in the Bible Christ is able to die.

Therefore whether or not Haile Selassie died will not sway the Rastafari belief as it is based upon the Abrahamic faith system. And then simply as someone has said before there is no evidence of his death. So it that is just propaganda. As mentioned before if he really is the person Rastafari say he is then we should be more careful with what we say.