Bush policies opposed by black denominations

WASHINGTON — Two of the nation’s most prominent black denominations have issued statements criticizing the Bush administration’s approaches to a possible war with Iraq and affirmative action.

In separate resolutions and letters to the president issued on the same day, the Church of God in Christ and the National Baptist Convention, USA, drew on their long-standing principles and the words of the late Martin Luther King Jr. as they distanced themselves from the White House.

“Mr. President, we must confess that we fail to see the rush to war as a rational expression of the compassionate conservatism that you promised the country at the beginning of your administration,” wrote Presiding Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson and members of the General Board of the Church of God in Christ in a Jan. 23 letter to Bush.