Michael Jackson memorial: nondenominational

July 6, 12:44 PMPortland Humanist ExaminerMicha J. Stone

Previous Next

7 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Portland Humanist Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Michael Jackson

After tense family negotiations, it has been decided Michael Jackson's memorial service will be nondenominational. The tense negotiations among the Jacksons over which religion should prevail at Tuesday's massive memorial ended in a stalemate, sources told the Daily News. Therefore the family has chosen to proceed with a nondenominational event.

The Jacksons were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses by their mother, Katherine. Since childhood many have strayed from the faith of their mother, dabbling in Christianity, Islam and even kabbalah, a mystical Jewish sect.

Jermaine Jackson became Muslim in 1989 after a trip to Bahrain, and it is rumored Michael took an interest in Islam in recent years, perhaps even going so far as to convert to the Muslim faith. Yet Michael was also known to wear a red string on his left wrist, a symbol of kabbalah -the red string fueling rumors that he had embraced the mystical Jewish sect.

The memorial will follow a private ceremony with Jackson's family. His casket, reportedly the same $25,000 model used for James Brown, will not make any procession through the streets, and Los Angeles police told fans they would enjoy better views of the event in front of their televisions. Officers planned a massive deployment to handle the surge of people and keep them from the event.