Bernice King leads crowd in prayer for SCLC unity

[August 07, 2010]  ATLANTA, Ga. (AP) -- The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter is calling for the fractured membership of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to come together after months of bitter infighting that have pushed the famed civil rights organization to the brink of extinction.

Bernice King delivered an impassioned plea Friday to an audience of about 200 that came to pray for healing and reconciliation of the group her father co-founded 53 years ago.

She told the congregation that through prayer, they would "seek to destroy the work of the enemy."

King was elected president of the SCLC in October, but has held back from taking control amid the ongoing dispute.

The SCLC was preparing to hold two separate conventions in Atlanta. King called it "an unfortunate turn of events."

[Associated Press; By ERRIN HAINES]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.