Pastor: Black churches must aid family values
Baptist leader challenges other congregations to set ambitious goals
By CHERYL WITTENAUER
Associated Press
June 23, 2007

ST. LOUIS — A black Baptist leader is urging black churches to set goals for reducing by 25 percent the rate of black divorce, teen pregnancy, illiteracy, murder and HIV infection by 2012, and increasing the adoption of black foster children.

The goals are part of the ambitious Save the Family Now initiative that the Rev. R.B. Holmes Jr. rolled out this week as more than 45,000 delegates of the National Baptist Convention USA attended the group's annual Congress of Christian Education in St. Louis.

Holmes said it was time for black clergy to lead a movement, not unlike the fight for civil rights 40 years ago. Ministers must challenge the culture and forces that have hurt the black family and community, including those who "demean, degrade and belittle our mothers and daughters," he said. the rest