MEMPHIS -- (AP) -- Nine Protestant denominations pledged Sunday to launch a nationwide campaign against racism designed to help pull together the 22 million members of their congregations. ``We seek forgiveness for the sin of division,'' church members prayed as leaders of the denominations formed a new group called Churches Uniting in Christ.
The churches promise to unify their congregations, despite historical divisions based on race, and to coordinate their efforts to oppose racial injustice.
``We've got to do that or we shouldn't be calling ourselves Christians,'' said Beverly Nicholson, who joined more than 1,200 other worshipers taking the vow for unity.
The worshipers packed the Mount Olive Cathedral of the C.M.E. Church for a prayer service wrapping up a weekend of meetings for church leaders who had assembled from around the country.
Denominations in Churches Uniting for Christ are the African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church, International Council of Community Churches, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ and United Methodist Church.
``We come to pray for the full, visible unity of the one Body of Christ,'' the worshipers read in unison from a prepared text.
The unity pledge follows failed efforts for a merger of several Protestant denominations that began in the 1960s with an ecumenical group called Consultation of Church Union.
A merger failed largely because of relatively minor differences in how the churches conduct their religious and secular affairs.