WASHINGTON (ABP) — Leaders of four historically black Baptist denominations closed a landmark joint meeting Jan. 28 by issuing a statement on several social and political issues affecting the African-American community.
Meeting in Nashville over a four-day period, officials of the National Baptist Convention USA, the National Baptist Convention of America, the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America came together “to participate in collective dialogue about the issues that are important to the survival of the African-American community,” according to a press release from the groups.
Many of the speakers heard by the estimated 10,000 participants dealt with social issues on which the four groups can find common ground, including opposition to government funding of private schools.
The meeting was the first major reunion in 90 years between any of the four groups — formed by schisms within older denominational groups in 1915, 1961 and 1988. While the groups ruled out a formal merger, they pledged to work together.
''A lot of times, we're talking about the same things but don't always know it because we're in four different settings,'' said George Brooks, head of educational programs for the National Baptist Convention of America.
The splits in 1915 and 1988 were mainly over control of denominational agencies. But the 1961 division was the most famous. In it, Martin Luther King Jr. and other Baptist leaders who supported the civil-rights movement left to found the Progressive National Baptist Convention after the National Baptist Convention USA elected a president who was less supportive of active resistance to segregation.
Recently President Bush and the Republican Party have attempted to woo African-Americans, who vote heavily Democratic, with stances on social issues that have resonance in a black community that is generally socially conservative. In the past two weeks, Bush has met with African-American religious leaders as well as members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
However, the presidents of the four Baptist groups issued a joint statement Jan. 28 that opposed many of Bush's stances. The statement grew from consensus on the issues reached by the conference participants, the leaders said.
The statement opposed the war in Iraq, government funds for scholarships to parochial and other private schools, and Bush's nomination of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general.
It said the war was “a costly and unnecessary military action begun on grossly inaccurate, misconstrued or distorted intelligence against a nation that did not pose an immediate or realistic threat to the national security of our nation.” It also said the Bush administration should focus more on problems at home. “Democracy in the United States deserves at least as much attention as democracy abroad,” the statement read.
In a keynote address to the delegates, former Democratic presidential candidate and Baptist minister Jesse Jackson questioned Bush's use of the gay-marriage issue as a way to court support among religious African-Americans.
According to media reports, Jackson asked the participants if any of their churches had been asked to perform same-sex marriages. When none responded, he asked, “Then how did that get in the middle of our agenda?” The audience reportedly stood and cheered.