Religion Briefs
Star-Bulletin staff &
Associated Press
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NATION
Jews join blacks to honor Rev. King
BALTIMORE » Two very different congregations came together last Sunday in Baltimore for a joint service to honor the birth of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Baltimore Hebrew Congregation held a communal celebration with the members of First Mount Olive Free Will Baptist Church, who have been meeting for Sunday services at the temple because their own church in West Baltimore was ruined by fire in July.
In recent years, local Reform synagogues and African-American churches have held joint activities around the King holiday to foster understanding between African Americans and Jews.
WORLD
Malaysian Islamic state splits sexes
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia » Malaysia's only state run by the Islamic opposition party will more strictly enforce separate lines for men and women at supermarkets, an official says.
Authorities in the northern state of Kelantan -- governed by the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party -- will fine supermarkets and shops if they let men and women use the same lines at checkout counters, said party spokesman Anual Bakri Haron.
Chief Minister Nik Aziz Nik Mat has called for stricter enforcement "to safeguard the ladies" from being harassed and to avoid close proximity between opposite sexes while lining up to buy groceries, Anual said.
Every state in Malaysia besides Kelantan is ruled by the National Front coalition, which is made up of various parties representing Malaysia's different ethnic groups.
The coalition is dominated by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's United Malays National Organization party, which draws its support from ethnic Malay Muslims, who account for 60 percent of the country's 27 million people.