| dbo:abstract |
Conrad Bennette Tillard (born September 15, 1964) is an American Christian Baptist minister, radio host, activist, Democratic politician, and author. Tillard was in his early years a prominent minister of the black nationalist organization the Nation of Islam. He was at age 25 appointed Minister of Mosque No. 7 in Harlem, in Manhattan in New York City, a position formerly held by Malcolm X. He became known as the "Hip-Hop Minister," noted for his outspoken opposition to the promotion of gangsterism in hip-hop music lyrics, and for defusing potentially violent feuds between rappers. Tillard's studies took him to the University of Pennsylvania where he earned a B.A., and when he was in his 30s to the Harvard Divinity School where he received a masters, Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, the Union Theological Seminary where he earned a Master of Divinity, and Princeton Theological Seminary where he obtained a Master of Theology. Tillard left the NOI in 1997 when he was 32 years old, and returned to Christianity. He became a Christian preacher at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, then the Senior Pastor at the Nazarene Congregational Church, a United Church of Christ, in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, in New York City, and now the Senior Minister at Flatbush Tompkins Congregational Church in Flatbush, Brooklyn. He also wrote a memoir, was a radio host, and became an adjunct college professor. Tillard ran for New York State Senator in 2022, in a Democratic primary campaign for the New York State Senate against incumbent State Senator Jabari Brisport. He was endorsed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams. During that campaign, he became the subject of renewed controversy over his past history of anti-Semitic, anti-choice, and anti-LGBTQ remarks. Brisport won the primary. (en) |
| rdfs:comment |
Conrad Bennette Tillard (born September 15, 1964) is an American Christian Baptist minister, radio host, activist, Democratic politician, and author. Tillard was in his early years a prominent minister of the black nationalist organization the Nation of Islam. He was at age 25 appointed Minister of Mosque No. 7 in Harlem, in Manhattan in New York City, a position formerly held by Malcolm X. He became known as the "Hip-Hop Minister," noted for his outspoken opposition to the promotion of gangsterism in hip-hop music lyrics, and for defusing potentially violent feuds between rappers. (en) |
