Leaders of largest US black denomination decry separations

OKLAHOMA CITY – The United States’ largest black denomination has convened its annual meeting in Oklahoma City, and its leaders are denouncing the separation of immigrant children from families at the border.

The Rev. Jerry Young, who is president of the National Baptist Convention USA, criticized U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ use of scripture to justify the policy, saying Wednesday that it was out of context.

The Mississippi minister says up to 16,000 delegates are attending the 113th annual meeting, which runs through Friday. The denomination has about 7.5 million members.

National social issues also dominated the recent national meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas. A series of sexual misconduct cases prompted the all-male leadership of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination to seek forgiveness for the mistreatment of women and vow to combat it.