Religious Briefs

’Ashes’ rally held to fight crime

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Struggling to confront a worsening homicide rate, the mayor invited pastors and citizens to don burlap sacks and ashes in a sign of biblical repentance.

Mayor Larry Langford said his “sackcloth and ashes” rally April 25 was inspired by the Book of Jonah, in which residents of the ancient city of Nineveh wore rough fabric and ashes as a sign of turning away from sin. More than 1,000 people attended at a local auditorium.

So far this year, 27 people have been killed in Birmingham, compared with 19 at the same time last year.

Since he took office last year, Mr. Langford has held three prayer rallies to fight crime and violence. Bibles were handed out at one of the events.

“This city needs to humble itself,” he said.

Olivia Turner, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Alabama, said the group has received complaints about the events and has been discussing them.

“The worry I have is that there’s a government endorsement of religion,” said lawyer Bill Messer, a state ACLU board member. “Certainly, the mayor has a right, like anyone else, to express his personal religious beliefs. As mayor, acting on behalf of the city, religion should not become part of the government itself. If it’s an official government event, that’s troubling.”

Islamic body rejects conversion rule

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Islamic authorities rejected a proposal by Malaysia’s prime minister that would have required non-Muslims to tell their families before converting to Islam.

The decision, announced Tuesday, was made at a meeting of Islamic authorities, said Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abdul Aziz, director-general of the Malaysian Islamic Development Department.

The failure by many converts to inform their families of their conversion has led to many disputes. Islamic officials have sometimes seized bodies for Muslim funerals, while non-Muslim relatives insisted the deceased never converted.

Last month, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that the government would soon require Muslim converts to produce documents showing they had told their family members.

The move was considered an attempt to calm ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities over perceived religious discrimination, which led to heavy losses for Mr. Abdullah’s ruling National Front coalition in general elections in March.

St. Louis chosen despite boycott pleas

ST. LOUIS — The African Methodist Episcopal Church will hold its convention in St. Louis this summer despite boycott pleas by local blacks unhappy with the city’s white mayor.

More than 40,000 delegates, church leaders and other AME visitors from around the world will meet July 3-11. The U.S. church, which has roots dating back to 1787, claims 2 million members in three dozen countries.

Mayor Francis Slay joined a dozen AME leaders at a news conference Tuesday to announce the convention. Mr. Slay is the target of a recall effort by a group of black city residents who also have waged a campaign to have conventions boycott the city.

They object to last year’s dismissal of the city’s first black fire chief, Sherman George.

Bishop John Richard Bryant, whose district includes states west of the Mississippi River, said planners already had signed contracts committing the church, and its estimated $30 million economic impact, to St. Louis before learning of the boycott. Besides, “in speaking with the mayor and the council of local pastors who have worked with Mayor Slay in the past, we have no regrets,” Bishop Bryant said.

From wire dispatches and staff reports