Free Republic

MACON, Ga. - Macon Mayor Jack Ellis has converted to Islam and is now working to legally change his name to Hakim Mansour Ellis. Ellis, who was raised Christian, said Thursday that he became a Sunni Muslim during a December ceremony in the west African nation of Senegal. Ellis said he has been studying the Quran for years and that his new religion was originally practiced by his ancestors before they were brought to North America as slaves. "Why does one become a Christian?" Ellis said. "You do it because it feels right. It's the right thing for you to...

Last October 27, a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Atlanta upheld the federal racketeering conviction and 135-year prison sentence of the leader of the United Nation of Nuwaubian Moors. The successful prosecution of Dwight “Malachi” York, and the consequent destruction of the Nuwaubians’ settlement in Putnam County, Georgia, represent the latest example of official suppression of an unconventional religious groupin America—and one in which the news media played an enabling role. I first encountered the Nuwaubians in Times Square in the 1980s. Dressed in long white robes, they lived in Brooklyn and called themselves the Ansaaru Allah...

[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 5/14/02 ] FBI: Kids from 4 to 18 were abused in group By BILL OSINSKIAtlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer EATONTON -- The child molestation case against Nuwaubian leader Dwight York escalated Monday in state and federal court. Robert Seay / AP United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors founder Dwight York is escorted from federal court in Macon. Related: • Prosecutors vow to keep sect leader jailed. • Authorities search Nuwaubian compound, two arrested. • Background on the Nuwaubians • Past photos of compound In Eatonton, a Putnam County grand jury issued a 116-count indictment of the 56-year-old leader...