Baptist Leader Opposes U.S. Gulf Combat

The president of the largest U.S. black Christian denomination said Wednesday that he supports President Bush’s quick response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait but is against any American combat action in the Persian Gulf.

“We don’t want men and women killed over the issue of oil,” the Rev. T. J. Jemison of Baton Rouge, La., said in Los Angeles as he gaveled open the annual five-day meeting of the National Baptist Convention U.S.A. Inc.

He told reporters that food and medicine should be allowed through the economic blockade. “America should provide whatever is needed (in humanitarian services),” he said.

Jemison, a dominant voice in the 7.8-million-member denomination he has served as president for eight years, is one of several Christian leaders who have begun to qualify their support of the American presence in the Persian Gulf.

A recent joint letter issued by the Revs. John O. Humbert and Paul H. Sherry, the presidents respectively of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, urged that Western nations look increasingly to the United Nations for appropriate responses and not withhold food and medical supplies from Iraq’s civilian population.

Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning of the Episcopal Church has urged the United States to remain “open to every opportunity for a negotiated and peaceful solution.”