Rastafari Movement (mainstream)
Jamaican Afrocentric religious-political movement (1930s+) venerating Haile Selassie I as God incarnate. Distinctive dietary (Ital), dreadlocks, ritual cannabis use. Mostly low-control with strong cultural identity.
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
0 — Jamaican Afrocentric religious-political movement; mostly low-control with distinctive practices.
Profile facts
In context
Rastafari emerged in 1930s Jamaica venerating Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I as God incarnate (Jah Rastafari). Distinctive practices include Ital diet, dreadlocks, ritual cannabis (ganja) use, and rejection of 'Babylon' (Western political-economic system). Multiple internal Mansions (Bobo Shanti, Nyahbinghi, Twelve Tribes of Israel). Mostly low-control mainstream movement.
Key control doctrines
- Haile Selassie as God incarnate
- Ital diet
- Rejection of Babylon
Recovery resources
- ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) — General referral and cult-aware therapist directory.
- INFORM (Information Network on Religious Movements) — LSE-founded UK research-based information service covering new religious movements.
- Freedom of Mind Resource Center — Steven Hassan's organisation; BITE-model resources and family-side exit guidance.
See the full curated list at /resources.
Legal cases & controversies
- Historical Jamaican persecution
This profile is in progress — history, deeper BITE evidence and survivor voices are still being added. Contributions welcome via GitHub.
Timeline
- 1930Haile Selassie crowned; Rastafari emerges
- 1975Selassie dies
Sources
- Barry Chevannes, 'Rastafari: Roots and Ideology' (1994) search ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗ runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-29Phase 1 Batch J: per-group recovery resources applied via programmatic palette (closest-fit by category + subCategory + score). Palette: Mainstream-comparator lighter.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
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