U.S. black Baptist churches consider eventual unity, oppose war in Iraq

by Chris Herlinger
Ecumenical News International

NEW YORK — Four African American Baptist churches long-divided into separate denominations have taken a first step towards eventual unity and have also declared their opposition to the US-led war in Iraq.

      The National Baptist Convention, USA, the National Baptist Convention of America, the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America ended a meeting, held from Jan. 24 to 27, with a joint statement that evoked the memory of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, who late in his life came to oppose the U.S. war in Vietnam.

      “King’s call that we admit the wicked and tragic folly about our self-righteous choice for war rather than peace and non-violent change reminds us that preference for war always reflects wrong values,” said the statement issued at the end of the meeting of 10,000 church members in Nashville.

      The meeting was the first such gathering of the four denominations. Church leaders said eventual unification could help address issues of importance to African Americans and unity also made sense practically.

      “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 the Rev. George Brooks of the National Baptist Convention of America.

      The four denominations trace their history back to the National Baptist Convention, USA, which was established in 1895 but within two decades had been split into different factions.

      Further divisions occurred in the early 1960s and in the 1980s, so that now there are four prominent black Baptist denominations in the United States.

      What is seen as the most famous split took place in 1961 in a dispute about rights campaigner King’s strategy of civil disobedience and mass protest. A faction sympathetic to King split off from the National Baptist Convention, USA, and formed the Progressive National Baptist Convention.