Free Republic

Rastafarian inmates are being handed Bob Marley CDs, drums and shakers after their religion was officially recognized by prison chiefs. New rules mean Rastafarianism is an approved religion alongside Christianity, Islam and other major faiths. The pack has been created to ensure Rastafarian prisoners can pray together in a “fulsome and harmonious way”, a faith advisor said. However, the religion’s followers have been told that one common element of their religious practice is barred: they cannot smoke cannabis in jail. …

ADDIS ABABA - Even as hundreds of thousands of cheering Ethiopians and visitors came together happily to celebrate Bob Marley here Sunday, an undercurrent of mistrust and uncertainty swelled through the crowd. Many of the late reggae legend’s fans pose enormous problems for Ethiopia’s overwhelmingly devout orthodox Christian majority who regard the teachings and precepts of Rastafarians to be suspect at best and blasphemous at worst. Most cannot fathom how or why Rastafarians believe their former emperor Haile Selassie is god, consider Ethiopia the Biblical promised land or smoke marijuana, illegal in this country, as a sacrament. And beneath a...

SHASHEMENE, Ethiopia, Feb 1 (IPS) - When news of the Indian Ocean tsunami filtered through to Africa the day after Christmas, Gladstone Robinson was playing Bob Marley's 'Natural Mystic'. ''It's the prophecy!'' shouted the 75-year-old, shaking his knotted stringy beard and grey dreadlocks, over the din of the CD player. ''Marley's song says it all: 'Many people would die, many would have to suffer and many more would have to cry','' said Robinson in his husky voice. 'Brother, I'll tell you Babylon is going to fall.'' The month of February is indeed special for the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. It...

Marley's wife plans to exhume remainsBy ANTHONY MITCHELLASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- The widow of reggae legend Bob Marley said Wednesday she plans to exhume his remains in Jamaica and rebury them in his "spiritual resting place" - Ethiopia.No date has been set for the reburial, but it will be after February when monthlong celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Marley's birth are planned in Ethiopia. Both the Ethiopian church and government officials support the project, Rita Marley told The Associated Press and several other news organizations."We are working on bringing his remains to Ethiopia," said Rita Marley,...