Jamaican Anglicans irie with the rasta hymns

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Jamaican reggae pioneers Bob Marley and Peter Tosh may have worshipped a different divinity than their countrymen of the Anglican Church but the believers of both faiths will soon be singing from the same songbooks.

In a move aimed at celebrating the late Rastafarian artists’ contributions to Caribbean culture and spirituality, the Anglican Church of Jamaica has announced that it will include Marley’s “One Love” and Tosh’s “Psalm 27” in a modernized collection of hymnals soon to be printed and distributed throughout the island.

“They may have been anti-church, but they were not anti-God or anti-religion,” Anglican Church spokesman Rev. Ernle Gordon said in announcing the first inclusion of reggae songs in mainstream religious materials.

Marley, who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, died in 1981 at age 36 after refusing surgical treatment to remove cancerous tissue, in accordance with Rastafarian belief that the body should remain whole. Tosh was killed in a botched robbery attempt at his home in 1987.

Posted by Carol Williams in Miami