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New Yorker Meets Judicial Resistance On Name Change

By Howard M. Friedman

The Staten Island Advance reported on Sunday on the problems that Kyle Campbell is having in his attempt to get New York courts to allow him to change his name. Campbell is a member of The Nation of Gods and Earths, a religion affiliated with Nation of Islam, whose members commonly take Allah as a name. Last year Campbell's petition to change his name to "Black Cream Allah" however was denied by a Staten Island judge who ruled that the first two words are the title of a rap song with violent lyrics, and that allowing Allah as a name would be similar to bestowing religious authority. So now Campbell has filed a petition to instead change his name to "Original Kreeam Shabazz." Nation of Islam believes that the Tribe of Shabazz was an ancient Black tribe. Campbell is awaiting a decision on whether the court will permit this name.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on April 07, 2009 (boomark / email).