The most important feature of Rastafarianism is not the dreadlocks. It is not Emperor Haile Selassie, although He is important. It is not the Back-to-Africa movement, as important as that is.
It is the concept of ‘I&I’. It is the recognition that man has a direct relationship with God in his own deepest inner being. This concept is called ‘I&I’, for it is recognized that unity with God does not mean there is no distinction between the ultimate ‘Jah’ and man.
Even though to many people Rastafarianism is weird, it must be admitted at least that the ‘I&I’-concept reflects deep thinking and touches upon truth, a truth denied even in many mainstream religions.
Of course, we do not mean to offend any religion. ARCO’s point of view is based on interfaith spirituality, so offence to any religion will not be found in these pages, although we maintain our right to write freely on matters of religion. But we will always do so in a spirit of what we call ‘freespect’, meaning that everybody is free to choose his/her own religion, which should be respected by everybody else. However, everybody should also feel free to respectfully discuss and challenge religious doctrine. We should be free to discuss, argue even if we must, about religion, no religion being taboo. But always in a ‘freespect’ spirit.
As to Mr. Mitchell’s opinion about immigration, we freespectfully submit that it would be against the Rastafarian I&I-principle to expel immigrants as soon as they quit their job. Jah would not approve of that. It is against humanity. Don’t forget that Jah did not draw any imaginary lines on the map of the world which people call ‘borders’. Jah only knows people, not nationalities. The ‘nation-state’ is a Babylon creation.