Okay, this is for the Christafari defender- lemme just explain something.

It's true that everyone has the right to believe what they want and promote what they want as long as they're not hurting their fellow beings or using force to push their beliefs. Christafari has that right, and they are exeercising it. I, too, have that right and am exercising it by dissing Christafari. I have my opinion, they have theirs, we are both free to express it. Why is it every time someone criticizes these evangelic-type Christians they (or their supporters) always complain they're being "persecuted"? Let me explain to you what persecution is, persecution is what happened to Christ and his early followers before the church joined up with Rome, they were crucified, burned, thrown in with ravenous lions, and generally not treated very well. Persecution is what happened to 1000s of innocent women who were burned at the stake by the so-called Christian church for being "witches" (i.e. not bowing down to male authority, or following the pre-Christain religions, or just being unlucky enough to get raped by a priest and get knocked up). Persecution is what happened to 100s of millions of Africans who were ripped from their motherland and brought to slave for so-called Christians. (and so-called Muslims and so-called Jews). It's what happened to the people of Turtle Island who helped out so-called Christians when they were starving, only to have them turn around and massacre them, then celebrate it with a "thanksgiving" feast. It's what happened to my uncle when a so-called Christian police shave off he knotty which he had been growing for 25 years, and stick him in a dutty jailhouse for 3 years, for one stick of herbs.

So before y'all go screaming that you're being persecuted any time somebody criticize you, you better check what that word really means.

I'm not upset that Christafari don't smoke herb. I'm not even upset that they talk against the herb- like me say everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if they attempt to back it up with straight-up LIES straight from the pages of Parents for a Drug-Free America, like "it's been proven to destroy brain cells." (No such thing has ever been proven- look it up. What has been proven is that ALCOHOL destroys brain cells, and that there is a specific receptor site in the human brain for THC, as ras Mandingo pointed out). But they have the right to their opinion even if it is wrong. But when they talk against LEGALIZING the herb- not even for proven medical uses!- it upset me. Because they are promoting people getting locked up for exercising THEIR spiritual belief (THAT is persecution) and people dying in pain.

But what really get me vex is this "obey authority" thing. Listen man, when Christ say "give unto Caesar", WHY you think he said it? What would happen to people who didn't give unto Caesar in that time? They would be slaughtered and their city would be burned to the ground. Christ had seen the example of many revolutionaries who went up against the Romans with force of arms, and got swatted down like flies. He knew any such move would be crushed by Rome's military might, so he promoted a different strategy. (Not saying that was his only reason for pursuing such a strategy).Of course he and his people would be massacred for this as well, but it allowed him enough time to get the movement started. He didn't want the Romans to have any other pretext to arrest or kill his people, other than their belief and way of life. That way it would become clear to people that they were in effect being persecuted for healing the sick, giving away their money to the poor, and DEFYING THE SO-CALLED AUTHORITY of the corrupt Pharisees who had set themselves up as a class above the ordinary Jews, and who shunned the sick as being "impure". It's like this, imagine Martin Luther King smoked weed (not saying he did, I know of no indication of this). But let's say he did, he would probably stop smoking, or keep it a very deep secret, once his movement was in the public light, because he wouldn't want to give the authorities any excuse to arrest him other than his message. So it would become clear to people that he was being persecuted for his MESSAGE, and how unjust that was, and it would mobilize people against the system. From a slightly different angle,if you were an undercover anti-Nazi operative in Hitler's Germany you would have made sure to pay your taxes on time too.

The point is, Christ never promoted "obeying every authority because they only rule because God appointed them to rule." Christ's message was very subversive to the system, it's just sometimes he couldn't be as DIRECT about it as he probably wanted to be, that's why he use parables and these things so the Roman and the Pharisee don't clock what he's talking about.

When ya want to twist Christ's message to this obey authority thing that is very troubling for I especially as a son of Africa knowing how much them slavemasters used they little selected, out-of-context bible quotes to justify slavery and tell the Africans that "[White] God tells you to obey your masters, even when they whup your ass." So, as far as you wondering what the fact that most band members are white Americans has to do with anything- THAT is what it has to do with things.

As far as you saying Christafari is not trying to come in "undercover" and infiltrate Rasta- if that is not what they are trying to do, why do they wear their fake-ass honki dreads (sorry, cheap shot)and play reggae music and sing in fake-ass "Patois", in venues like Reggae on the River? Why do they celebrate playing on a rez and "saving" Indians? (From what? Their ancestral spiritual beliefs? The alcohol that white so-called Christians gave them along with "Jesus"?)Why do they have all their tips for "witnessing" to Rastas? (These are INTENDED to be deceptive, as pointed out in another post, although I'm sure they would immediately become obvious to any intelligent Rasta, since Christafri seem to have all the subtlety of a pneumatic drill).

So basically what I'm saying is F*** Christafari, and that is defined as DISSING, not PERSECUTION. If Christafari or anyone else tells me they don't like me or says "F*** you", I might take offense, but I ain't gonna run around screaming that I'm being "persecuted". That cheapens the meaning of the word, it's disrespectful to those who are truly being persecuted.

Respect still bredren, this is a dis specifically to Christafari, not to the I.