Religion Good Works and

"We are a people living in perfection and perfect peace. We are doers of the word, we are not going out to sell papers and bean pies," said United Nation of Islam National Secretary James 2X while showing me around his group's Kansas City, Kansas, "Civilization Center."

Entering the Civilization Center -- a small stucco building on Quindaro Boulevard, formerly the epicenter of urban decay around here -- I found myself searching, almost subconsciously, for framed portraits of Louis Farrakhan. I half expected to see brothers standing around in bow ties, ordering me to recognize that white people were devils, and that I needed a bean pie to wash that thought down. Although the aroma of bean pies infiltrated my nostrils, this wasn't the UNOI I'd filed in my mental rolodex.

Who were these people, the men in neat business attire, the women modestly dressed, who had decided to prune this beat-up neighborhood, known as "the worst area in Kansas," and make it a civilized Utopia?

The idea of a self-sustaining black community is nothing new. Black towns sprang up all across the country in the years after the Civil War, and throughout history various religious groups have established compounds in which members live, work and worship. The Nuwabians, a sect celebrating ancient Egypt, have created a settlement -- complete with pyramid -- outside Atlanta. Muslim communities have grown up in places as seemingly unlikely as rural New Mexico. Nonreligious movements also inspired ideals about communal living and self-improvement -- the Black Panther Party, for instance, founded and ran a series of free-breakfast programs often considered an important forerunner of today's Head Start program. Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam established numerous mosques nationwide and promoted black self-sufficiency and economic empowerment; but the UNOI seems to have gone even further in its efforts to create a haven for black self-determination.

Specializing in what it calls "Civilization Development," the UNOI is a distinct entity, founded by a man known as Solomon (a former NOI member who broke from the organization in 1978), based in Maryland and claiming non-profit status. It is devoted to reclaiming urban communities with its "value concepts" of entrepreneurial, vocational and technical training -- along with a health-conscious vegetarianism, an emphasis on small business, and a philosophical affection for mathematics.

I grappled with the concept of teaching civilization. On inner-city street corners haunted by drug dealers, gang bangers and prostitutes, incivility can be a highly contagious disease. But I remembered what I heard as a child, when my elders were always spouting about how black people needed to "do for ourselves." After almost 30 years, I finally saw those words put into practice.

Approaching a huge warehouse, I was greeted by two very respectful men. One room held a gigantic storage area of clothes, shoes and miscellaneous items, another housed a thrift shop, to the center was a barbershop.

"Here young brothers learn how to cut each other's hair," said the mild-mannered man escorting me. "No brother has to worry about foul talk at the barber shop or not being able to get a hair cut."

As we walked to the next room, a sense of pride overwhelmed me. This is indeed civilized living, I thought to myself. A young woman saluted us with hot pink fabric in her hand. Lingerie, curtains and blouses lined the room. Sewing paraphernalia lay neatly along two conference tables. Was this real? "We take donations from fabric stores and other merchandise and make curtains, lingerie, shirts, table cloths, all children's [school] uniforms," the woman's beautiful voice told me. "No child will ever have to worry about where they are going to get their uniform, and no sister wants for special clothing. Our community knows how to do for ourselves."

The UNOI complex along Quindaro Boulevard includes Your Diner, specializing in healthful, inexpensive food and excellent service; Your Service Station, where gas is served with a smile (and a plate of cookies); and Your Variety Store. Businesses here sell no red meat, no cigarettes, no alcohol -- the UNOI doesn't even hold with soda pop. In addition, the UNOI has rehabbed condemned houses, is sprucing up an abandoned school building (the future home of Islam University), and plans to open a health center.

People here were skeptical when the UNOI moved in back in 1996. Not only was this one of the roughest neighborhoods in the city, the group proposing to clean it up was a mystery to most. Was it a cult? Would members proselytize? Could they even make a go of it?

Five years later, it seems they have. Your Diner is thriving, attracting customers from outside the neighborhood with its fish dishes and (yes) bean pies. Local residents, many of whom initially admitted skepticism about the organization, now say the UNOI are good neighbors, responsible for turning around a blighted area.

"I wouldn't dare come down here before they came to this community," Lillie Welch told the Kansas City Business Journal. "Now I bring my car down here all the time. They have done a remarkable job. And the children are all so respectful."

And although the organization's website might give some pause -- Solomon proclaims that he is "Allah in person," among other possibly controversial positions -- the UNOI does seem to emphasize respect in all its dealings. There is no overt proselytizing. "Our purpose is not to come in espousing a religion," James 2X told the Kansas City Star. "There is no hidden agenda.... We are about doing."

"By their works, you shall know them," quoted one local editorial writer, who concludes by asking, "who can argue with the results?"