Algeria: Imams to be kept out of politics

A new government bill barring imams from engaging in politics has triggered controversy in Algeria as the country prepares for parliamentary elections. In a statement Tuesday (March 13th) to Algerian daily El Khabar, Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs Bouabdallah Ghlamallah stated that "those who wish to be involved in politics have only to give up their calling as imams and leave the mosque, since the latter is built for prayers, not the practice of politics."