“The problems which confront us today are unprecedented. They have no counterparts in human experience. Men search the pages of history for solutions, for precedents, but there are none.
This, then, is the ultimate challenge. Where are we to look for our survival, for the answers to the questions which have never before been posed?
We must look, first, to Almighty God, Who has raised man above the animals and endowed him with intelligence and reason. We must put our faith in Him, that He will not desert us or permit us to destroy humanity which He created in His image.
And we must look into ourselves, into the depth of our souls. We must become something we have never been and for which our education and experience and environment have ill-prepared us. We must become bigger than we have been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook.
We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to our fellow men within the human community.”
– His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari, Address to the United Nations General Assembly, 1963; Selected Speeches: 377f.
“Today more than ever before man realizes the bond of unity that exists within the race; he is endeavouring to employ the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of the ages.
He is employing modern science and technology; he is reaping the benefits, however limited, of political and economic unity; and to that extent, he is transcending the age-old barriers that have divided the race so long and is endeavouring to reflect on the welfare not only of himself and his immediate neighbour but also on the welfare of all the human race.
This endeavour is in harmony with the spirit of the mystics of ages gone by ‘…in the mystic traditions of the different religions we have a remarkable unity of the spirit. Whatever religions they may profess they are spiritual kinsmen.
While the different religions in their historical forms bind us to limited groups and militate against the development of loyalty to the world community, the mystics have always stood for the fellowship of humanity,’… to pursue truth – to promote those bonds common to the human race… to free the human race from superstition and fear that originate from ignorance; to enable him to transcend the apparent obstacles of race and religion; and to help him recognize the blood-ties of the whole human race…
Were the thoughts of Plato and Socrates, the beliefs of Christianity and Judaism not harmonized with Hindu philosophy; were Yoga and its various stages not exposed to Western thought; had Western religion and philosophy not been exposed to the philosophy and religion of the East…, how much the poorer would human thought have been!
In the history of the human race, those periods which later appeared as great have been the periods when the men and the women belonging to them had transcended the differences that divided them and had recognized in their membership in the human race a common bond.
[The] constant endeavour to challenge this generation to transcend its differences, to recognize its common bond and to work towards a common goal has doubtless made this age pregnant with greatness.”
– His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari, 1965; Selected Speeches: 132f.
“These are crucial times when nations rise against nations. Tensions increase, and disaster is possible at any moment. Distances are shrinking; peace and life are threatened by misunderstanding and conflict.
Now is the time when the sincere belief in man’s kinship to God must be the foundation for all of man’s efforts for enlightenment and learning – the basis for all understanding, co-operation and peace.”
– His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari, 1961; Selected Speeches: 22f.
“Today man sees all his hopes and aspirations crumbling before him. He is perplexed and knows not whither he is drifting. But he must realise that the Bible is his refuge, and the rallying point for all humanity.
In it man will find the solution of his present difficulties and guidance for his future action, and unless he accepts with clear conscience the Bible and its great Message, he cannot hope for salvation. For my part I glory in the Bible.”
– His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari quoted in the Christian Truth Magazine, Volume 23 (1970), pages 328f.
“When Jesus Christ was born from Virgin Mary, from that time on He lived an exemplary life, a life which men everywhere must emulate. This life and the faith that He has taught us assures us of salvation, assures us also of harmony and good life upon earth.
Because of the exemplary character of the life of Jesus Christ, it is necessary that all men do their maximum in their human efforts to see to it that they approximate as much as they can the good example that has been set by Him.”
– His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari, interviewed by Dr Oswald Hoffman; The Lutheran Hour, 1968.
“Had we been Christian people, had we been worthy of the name, peace would have reigned on all the face of the earth, and [we] would have risen to the level of those immortal angels who always glorify the eternal God.”
– His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari; Wise Mind 1:24.
“Men were supposed to be the equals of the living angels who unceasingly sang praises before the eternal God. Had this been so, peoples of the world would not have been divided along lines of enmity.”
– His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I JAH Ras Tafari; My Life and Ethiopia’s Progress, Vol.2: 41.
