RASTAFARIANS WANTED SOME RESPECT FOR THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS -- YESTERDAY
AUTHORITIES RESPONDED

A Victory For The Church Of Haile Selassie

KINGSTON -- Their country is the birthplace of Rastafarianism, but
Jamaicans who follow the colourful movement say they are treated as
reggae-listening, pot-smoking misfits and deserve better treatment.

"They'll give Bob Marley an honourary degree.

"But they wouldn't want a Rastafarian to marry their daughter," said Dilipi
Champagnie, an affable Rastafarian priest who won the right yesterday, in a
landmark legal case, to minister to prison inmates.

The case dealt with the religious rights of Mr. Champagnie, who serves at
the Church of Haile Selassie in a gritty part of West Kingston, and Kevin
Hall, a 26-year-old prison inmate serving a 15-year sentence for a
gang-related murder.

Mr. Hall wanted to be baptized, but Mr. Champagnie was prohibited from
using the prison chapel to conduct the ceremony. He told prison officials
that no marijuana would be used in the ritual, but his request was denied.

Marijuana is illegal in Jamaica, but it's widely used here, and
Rastafarians use it in religious ceremonies.

Mr. Champagnie said it was an insult that although Christian ministers
visited other prisoners freely, he had to speak to Mr. Hall from behind a
glass partition.

Lord Anthony Gifford, a Kingston lawyer, was to argue before the Supreme
Court yesterday that Jamaica's Attorney-General and the Commissioner of
Corrections had violated the religious rights of the church and Mr. Hall.

Shortly before the court was to consider the case, Jamaican authorities
agreed to respect the religious rights of Rastafarian priests and prison
inmates.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said the settlement would pave the way for
Rastafarians to petition Parliament to grant their churches tax-exempt
status and to allow Rastafarians to use marijuana legally as part of their
sacraments.

Rastafarian priests also want to perform weddings and other ceremonies, a
right denied them in the conservative and predominantly Christian former
British colony.

In a joint statement issued by the plaintiffs and defendants, the
Attorney-General and Commissioner of Corrections agreed to recognize that
"the Church of Haile Selassie has the right to minister to its adherents in
the correctional system."

The defendants denied that the rights of Mr. Hall and the church have "been
breached in the past" but said they now were "happy to co-operate with the
Church of Haile Selassie in the future to ensure that the rights of the
church and its members are respected."

Rastafarians have evolved since the early 1930s from a fringe subculture
into a trend-setting movement. Their reggae music and dreadlocks have
become cultural icons.

Today, Rastafarians and their imitators are everywhere on Jamaica, an
island of 2.6 million people.

Yet many still complain of workplace discrimination, snubs, and the
government's refusal to grant them full religious rights.

"We have never heard the thanks, and we have never seen the appreciation,"
prominent Rastafarian lawyer Miguel Lorne said.

David Brown, director of the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica in
Kingston, argued that discrimination has more to do with Rastafarians'
social class than their religious beliefs.

But Mr. Lorne said he suffers the same kind of police harassment routinely
faced by younger, working-class Rastafarians.

"I get stopped just as much on the road as any other Rastafarians," the
lawyer said. "I feel just as persecuted."

Now, the plaintiffs hope, that will change.

"It's clear that they now recognize the rights of the church and the rights
of Kevin Hall and other inmates to be baptized," said Lord Gifford, who
said at least 50 inmates in one prison want to be baptized Rastafarians.

"I would say that it's a victory, you know," Mr. Champagnie said. "I feel
grateful."

Rastafarians

A look at the origins and beliefs of the movement.

Origins: Rastafarianism dates back to the 1930s and the black 'Back to
Africa' movement, its adherents worship Haile Selassie, the former emperor
of Ethiopia, under his precoronation name: Ras Tafari. Believers consider
the emperor a divine being and champion of the black race, and await
redemption in the form of repatriation to Africa.

Beliefs: Devout Rastafarians have been known to reject Western medical
treatment, contraception and legal marriage, while forbidding funerals,
secondhand clothing and the eating of pork, among other taboos. But
marijuana, also known as 'the holy herb' or ganja, took on the role of a
religious sacrament as the movement gathered speed.

Favourite son: Reggae singer Bob Marley was the most famous Rastafarian
before his death from cancer in 1981, at age 36. He initially refused
treatment because of his beliefs, and left a popular legacy for the
movement in his musical artistry.

SOURCES: ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, WWW.BIOGRAPHY.COM