BC-RNS-CHAVIS-ISLAM: Benjamin Chavis joins the Nation of Islam

c. 1997 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Benjamin Chavis _ ordained a minister in the United Church of Christ (UCC) and a former leader of the denomination’s Commission for Racial Justice _ says he has joined the Nation of Islam led by Minister Louis Farrakhan. “I am affirming that the God who called me into the […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Benjamin Chavis _ ordained a minister in the United Church of Christ (UCC) and a former leader of the denomination’s Commission for Racial Justice _ says he has joined the Nation of Islam led by Minister Louis Farrakhan.

“I am affirming that the God who called me into the Christian church is the same God who is calling me into the Nation of Islam,” Chavis said Sunday (Feb. 23) in Chicago.


Since leaving his position as executive director of the NAACP under a cloud of controversy in August 1994, Chavis has been a key Farrakhan aide, helping to organize the 1995 Million Man March in Washington and the 1996 Holy Day of Atonement rally in New York.

Chavis, 49, made his announcement at the Nation of Islam’s annual Saviours’ Day gathering, which attracted 6,000 people to the University of Illinois at Chicago campus. Saviours’ Day is annual celebration of the memories of the Nation’s founder W. Fard Muhammad and his successor, Elijah Muhammad, who turned the Nation into a national force within the black community.

To join the Nation, Chavis would have had to sign a proclamation of faith that holds that Allah, or God, appeared on Earth as W. Fard Muhammad, who founded the Nation in Detroit during the Depression. W. Fard Muhammad mysteriously disappeared in 1934, at which point Elijah Muhammad took over the group.

W. Fard Muhammad is revered in the Nation as the messiah awaited by both Christians and Muslims. Elijah Muhammad is believed to be his messenger. Those beliefs _ as well as the Nation’s beliefs in the inherent supremacy of black people over whites _ have prompted mainstream Muslims to label the Nation’s brand of Islam heretical.

USA Today Monday quoted Chavis as saying: “Too many of our people are in prison. Too many of our people are on drugs. Too many of our people are on the way to self-destruction. I see Nation of Islam as a vehicle to resurrect our people from the dead.”

Lawrence H. Mamiya, a long-time observer of the Nation of Islam, said Chavis’ apparent conversion could complicate Farrakhan’s effort to align himself with African-American Christians.

Mamiya, an associate professor of religion and African studies at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., noted the difficult relationship the Nation has with many black church groups, whom it has historically criticized as extensions of a white religion.


As a UCC minister, Chavis “had credibility that allowed people who belong to the church to also support Farrakhan,” said Mamiya, who was present when Chavis made his declaration Sunday.

Mamiya said Farrakhan “seemed to appreciate this dilemma” by noting Sunday that calling oneself a Christian, Muslim or Jew is not as important as having faith in God.

Mamiya also noted that Chavis’ wife, Martha, was dressed Sunday in the all-white outfit, which includes a head covering, worn by many Nation women.

Chavis could not be reached for comment.

Chavis built his reputation through his work in civil-rights organizations and served in a number of positions with the UCC’s racial justice unit from 1968 to 1993. He was ordained to the UCC ministry by the church’s Eastern North Carolina Association in 1980. The denomination is headquartered in Cleveland.

Monday, church officials said they were unaware of any change in Chavis’ ordination status, known as “ministerial standing,” but planned to talk him to clarify his position.

“To our knowledge, he has made no request regarding a change in ministerial standing,” said the Rev. Rollin O. Russell, conference minister of the UCC’s Southern Conference, which includes the Eastern North Carolina Association.


As executive director of the UCC Commission for Racial Justice, Chavis worked with churches, communities and interfaith groups to fight racism and seek justice for African-Americans and other racial and ethnic groups.

Chavis was arrested and convicted in 1971 as the head of the “Wilmington 10,” a group of activists who were accused of firebombing a white-owned grocery store in Wilmington, N.C. In 1980, a year after his release from prison, a federal appeals court overturned the convictions.

Prior to becoming a UCC minister, Chavis was a minister in the Black Christian Nationalist Church, a sect that conceived of Jesus as a black revolutionary messiah who’s message was corrupted by white Christian leaders.

Chavis currently serves as the top executive at the Farrakhan-aligned National African-American Leadership Summit.

Chavis became executive director of the NAACP in 1993, and soon after began reaching out to Farrakhan and others outside the civil rights mainstream. The move prompted controversy, all of which came to a head the next year when Chavis was fired amid allegations of financial irregularities and sexual harassment.

Chavis denied the allegations, but agreed to a financial settlement with a former aide who accused him of sexual harassment.

END RIFKIN

AP-NY-02-24-97 1701EST

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