DETROIT — A Pentecostal minister with a history of preaching intolerance against gays and Muslims brought thousands of people from Michigan together for a 24-hour prayer meeting in this city on Friday and Saturday, despite condemnations from local faith leaders.
The minister, Lou Engle, has organized a series of prayer meetings in arenas and amphitheaters over the past decade. The events, known as TheCall, have often targeted abortion rights and gay rights. He is notorious for speaking in support of legislation in Uganda that would have sentenced gays to death simply for being gay.
The promotional website for TheCall Detroit had warned about “the rising tide of the Islamic movement,” but after complaints about that phrase, TheCall dropped it from its website.
Still, inside Ford Field on Friday night and Saturday morning, warnings that Muslims needed to be converted continued. But those warnings didn’t reach as many people as Engle expected. Although organizers had predicted more than 50,000 would attend, the mostly empty stadium seemed to have perhaps a tenth of that.
Before the event, Engle said the reason the event lasted 24 hours was that “you got to pray all night long because it’s when the Muslims sleep,” according to the Christian Post.
“We are going to pray in nightwatch that the love of love of Jesus would break in on Muslims all across this area, dreams of Jesus,” Engle told a rapt crowd on Friday night. “Let Dearborn see the face of Jesus,” he said, referring to the nearby city, which has a large Muslim population.
Racist slogans were sprayed over gravestones in an old Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem, site of a dispute between Palestinians and supporters of a museum being built alongside, police said on Thursday.
A Muslim man formerly employed at a Whole Foods Market in Philadelphia is suing the company, claiming he was mistreated for going on a pilgrimage to Mecca and for praying at work during his breaks.