RABAT – Worshippers sat shoeless on the red-carpeted floor of a mosque in Morocco's capital in silence, listening to a preacher in a raised pulpit reading a government-written sermon urging parents to involve their children in public affairs.

The sermon, heard in mosques across the kingdom Friday, came after Morocco was shaken by an unprecedented and deadly youth uprising in recent weeks that demanded better social and economic conditions. The sermon didn’t directly address the protests, but was seen by some as an effort by the government to send a message to demonstrators in the movement, known as Gen Z 212.

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Preachers traditionally chose the topics of their sermons that precede congregational prayers. But in recent years, governments in countries including Moro

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