34 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 8, 2017
control of perhaps 8,000 FLDS members and
their families. Relaying directives through
devout followers who visit him in a Texas
prison, Jeffs has issued edicts against children’s
bicycles and toys, limited the right of paternity
to only 15 men, restricted people’s diets to beans
and water, ordered boys to drop out of school so
that they could become laborers on his new
home-construction project, and required
followers to turn in their automobiles for sales to
meet the cult’s debts.
114F
115 Apparently members
believe that he has been persecuted for the
religious principles that they shared with him,
which they considered to be sacred principles
beyond the authority of civil law.
In sum, the power of some leaders over their
members cannot be overestimated. Members
have invested their lives in these groups, and the
most dedicated may stay loyal to leaders even in
the face of horrendous accusations and sound
convictions. Full exposure, however, of a
group’s harmful practices (as we are advocating
here through trials and their coverage in the
media) likely will cause at least some members
to remove themselves from potentially being
harmed (further) themselves. Likewise, media
accounts likely will have the impact of
protecting potential members from joining and
becoming victims.
Group Disintegration or Division
The starkest example of a cult leader whose
criminal conviction led to a movement’s
disintegration involves Dwight York, who was
the founder and spiritual leader of a group
known as the United Nuwaubian Nation of
Moors (whose members loosely based their
beliefs and practices on aspects of Egyptian and
Native American cultures). In 2002, York was
arrested on charges of 177 counts of child
molestation,
115F
116 which—according to some
Available from http://abcnews.go.com/US/warren-jeffs-guilty-
child-rape/print?id=14228198
115 “Warren Jeffs Still Calling the Shots From Prison?,” 2014
(January 24), ABC News. Available from
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs.headlines.2013/04/warren-jeffs-still-
call-the-shots-from-prison/
116 Bill Osinski, 2007, Ungodly: A True Story of Unprecedented
Evil (p. 247) (Macon, GA: Indigo Publishing).
estimates—underrepresented the number of
assaults that he had committed.
116F
117 Prior to his
trial in Georgia, York’s attorneys attempted to
create a plea bargain, but a federal judge
determined that the plea “was simply too
sweet.”
117F
118
The trial began, along with York’s attempts to
manipulate if not derail it. He declared, for
example, that “I’m a sovereign. I’m a Native
American. I’m a Moorish Cherokee and I cannot
get a fair trial if I’m being tried by settlers or
Confederates.”
118F
119 After some of his victims
testified about the countless acts of sexual abuse
they had endured, the jury found him guilty on
all counts.
119F
120 In his sentencing, he claimed this
was a “religious case” and not a “child
molestation case,” and he alleged that he was not
given a fair trial.
120F
121 Despite this unfounded
allegation, he was sentenced to 135 years in a
federal penitentiary, and subsequently an
appeals case sustained his sentence.
121F
122 In 2005,
the federal government seized and destroyed
York’s temple at Tama-Re, Georgia.
122F
123 The
remaining number of Nuwuabian followers is
unknown, but only a small number of them
attempted to vindicate him.
123F
124 The trial and the
accusations decimated the number of followers
York had, and the community complex in
Georgia now sits abandoned. As the case of
Dwight York and the Nuwuabians suggests,
many charismatically centered groups are unable
to continue without the presence of their leaders.
Group Division
Together, overwhelming negative evidence and
significant punitive sentences, in conjunction
117 Osinski, 2007, p. 247.
118 Osinski, 2007, p. 252.
119 Osinski, 2007, p. 252.
120 Osonki, 2007, p. 258.
121 Osinski, 2007, pp. 259–260.
122 Osinski, 2005, p. 267.
123 Osinski, 2007, p. 267.
124 Osinski, 2007, p. 266. Available from
http://www.nuwaubianfacts.com/nuwaubianfacts.com and
http://nuwaubian.blogspot.com/Dr.Malachi Z.York
control of perhaps 8,000 FLDS members and
their families. Relaying directives through
devout followers who visit him in a Texas
prison, Jeffs has issued edicts against children’s
bicycles and toys, limited the right of paternity
to only 15 men, restricted people’s diets to beans
and water, ordered boys to drop out of school so
that they could become laborers on his new
home-construction project, and required
followers to turn in their automobiles for sales to
meet the cult’s debts.
114F
115 Apparently members
believe that he has been persecuted for the
religious principles that they shared with him,
which they considered to be sacred principles
beyond the authority of civil law.
In sum, the power of some leaders over their
members cannot be overestimated. Members
have invested their lives in these groups, and the
most dedicated may stay loyal to leaders even in
the face of horrendous accusations and sound
convictions. Full exposure, however, of a
group’s harmful practices (as we are advocating
here through trials and their coverage in the
media) likely will cause at least some members
to remove themselves from potentially being
harmed (further) themselves. Likewise, media
accounts likely will have the impact of
protecting potential members from joining and
becoming victims.
Group Disintegration or Division
The starkest example of a cult leader whose
criminal conviction led to a movement’s
disintegration involves Dwight York, who was
the founder and spiritual leader of a group
known as the United Nuwaubian Nation of
Moors (whose members loosely based their
beliefs and practices on aspects of Egyptian and
Native American cultures). In 2002, York was
arrested on charges of 177 counts of child
molestation,
115F
116 which—according to some
Available from http://abcnews.go.com/US/warren-jeffs-guilty-
child-rape/print?id=14228198
115 “Warren Jeffs Still Calling the Shots From Prison?,” 2014
(January 24), ABC News. Available from
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs.headlines.2013/04/warren-jeffs-still-
call-the-shots-from-prison/
116 Bill Osinski, 2007, Ungodly: A True Story of Unprecedented
Evil (p. 247) (Macon, GA: Indigo Publishing).
estimates—underrepresented the number of
assaults that he had committed.
116F
117 Prior to his
trial in Georgia, York’s attorneys attempted to
create a plea bargain, but a federal judge
determined that the plea “was simply too
sweet.”
117F
118
The trial began, along with York’s attempts to
manipulate if not derail it. He declared, for
example, that “I’m a sovereign. I’m a Native
American. I’m a Moorish Cherokee and I cannot
get a fair trial if I’m being tried by settlers or
Confederates.”
118F
119 After some of his victims
testified about the countless acts of sexual abuse
they had endured, the jury found him guilty on
all counts.
119F
120 In his sentencing, he claimed this
was a “religious case” and not a “child
molestation case,” and he alleged that he was not
given a fair trial.
120F
121 Despite this unfounded
allegation, he was sentenced to 135 years in a
federal penitentiary, and subsequently an
appeals case sustained his sentence.
121F
122 In 2005,
the federal government seized and destroyed
York’s temple at Tama-Re, Georgia.
122F
123 The
remaining number of Nuwuabian followers is
unknown, but only a small number of them
attempted to vindicate him.
123F
124 The trial and the
accusations decimated the number of followers
York had, and the community complex in
Georgia now sits abandoned. As the case of
Dwight York and the Nuwuabians suggests,
many charismatically centered groups are unable
to continue without the presence of their leaders.
Group Division
Together, overwhelming negative evidence and
significant punitive sentences, in conjunction
117 Osinski, 2007, p. 247.
118 Osinski, 2007, p. 252.
119 Osinski, 2007, p. 252.
120 Osonki, 2007, p. 258.
121 Osinski, 2007, pp. 259–260.
122 Osinski, 2005, p. 267.
123 Osinski, 2007, p. 267.
124 Osinski, 2007, p. 266. Available from
http://www.nuwaubianfacts.com/nuwaubianfacts.com and
http://nuwaubian.blogspot.com/Dr.Malachi Z.York
