Bethlehem, USA - The Northern branch of the Moravian Church publicly apologized for its past participation in slavery and vowed to eliminate racism in the church.
Representatives of the Protestant denomination approved a resolution Sunday calling slavery "the low point of Moravians in North America."
Rooting out racism "will be a major focus of the church for the next four years," said the Rev. David Wickmann, president of the council leading the province.
The church's Northern Province, which meets every four years, includes about 28,000 Moravians in congregations in 12 states, plus the District of Columbia and parts of Canada. Its Southern Province, with about 20,000 Moravians in five Southern states, approved a similar resolution in April.
The Moravian community that founded Bethlehem 250 years ago included about a dozen slaves or free blacks who worked and worshipped alongside whites, though an offshoot in North Carolina pushed most black Moravians into separate churches.
Whites make up less than 10 percent of the worldwide Moravian Church, and about one-quarter of the Northern Province is nonwhite, Wickmann said.