New research shows converts most likely to become Black Robes

'Flips' burn with greater, different passion

MISSOULA, Mont. (RWN) - If you converted to Islam from a different religion, you're five times more likely to become a Black Robe than if you were born into the religion, a new study shows.

"We've always known that converts make the best zealots, no matter what the religion or cause," said Edwin Montgomery, a professor of religious studies at the University of Montana. "What we wanted to measure here was the lineage of a Black Robe."

Black Robes, the nation's religious police, are selected from among the most pious members of a community and trained for more than two years at the group's academy in San Francisco.

"You can turn to Allah and have a pure heart," Mullah Coolidge, a spokesman for the Black Robes Academy in San Francisco, said. "That's one of the virtues of the religion. Allah converts bad men to righteous men."

Catholics who converted to Islam were three times more likely than native Muslims to join the Black Robes, Montgomery's study found. Non-affiliated Christians who converted were seven times more likely.

"Based on our interviews, done with the cooperation of the Black Robe Academy, we think that the high number of non-affiliated Christians comes from their search for something," Montgomery said. "They were, as a rule, younger and from rougher backgrounds than the Catholics and indicated they had been looking for some kind of structure in their lives."

The study found that those born in to Islam were less likely to become Black Robes, and those who did usually come out of conservative backgrounds themselves.

"We found a lot of self-righteous 'my dad didn't go far enough' feelings in that group," Montgomery said. "But that's to be expected with the native born."

A study done by Montgomery two years ago identified converts in the Black Robes as receiving the highest number of complaints about treatment.

"That was the spark for this study," the Montana professor said. "In the earlier study, we found that converts accounted for nearly 70 percent of the excessive brutality complaints against the Black Robes. We wanted to trace it back and see if the composition of the Black Robes was consistent with that number. It's not - the Black Robes are 60 percent made up of native Muslims - but it shows that converts can be easily impressed into going above and beyond."


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