ack supremacy started a church for diamond-field workers. This church was called the Afro-Athlican Constructive Church (AACC) (Salewicz “Rastafari”). Through this movement, Goodride met Grace Jenkins Garrison. They brought the Holy Piby to Jamaica in 1925. They opened a branch of the AACC under the name Hamatic Church. They were persecuted by conventional church leaders for the changes they made to the Bible. They fled to St. Thomas in Eastern Jamaica (Salewicz “Rastafari”). The roots off the Rastafarian religion were planted in St. Thomas. Early Rastafarian leaders started camps to read the Holy Piby. These people believed the Holy Piby was the closest translation to the original bible. They believed “white church scholars distorted the Amharic bible in the translating and editing process to make God and his prophets Caucasian instead of black” (Salewicz “Rastafari”). The Rastafarian religion is full of unique beliefs and practices. Four out of five people surveyed associated the smoking of marijuana with the Rasta Religion (Moravec “Survey”). The Rastafarian leaders urged the people to smoke marijuana. They believed it was a religious rite. They used “wisdomweed” to as a spiritual sacrament and to aid in meditation (White 12). It was also used for medicinal purposes. Leaders alleged that is found growing on the grave of King Solomon. They cited many biblical passages to support their theories. “Though shalt eat the herb of the field.” (Genesis 3:18) “Eat every herb of the land” (Exodus 10:12). “Better is a dinner of herb where love is, than a stalled ox or hatred there with” (Proverbs 15:17). “He causeth the grass for the cattle, and herb for the service of man” (Psalms 104:14). The Rastafarians also have to maintain an I-tal diet. They look down upon the ingestion of alcohol, tobacco, meat, shellfish, sc...
