A national gathering of prominent black pastors deserves praise for confronting the AIDS crisis in the African-American community, but also merits criticism for counting on government to provide solutions.

According to the most recent statistics, blacks make up 49% of new HIV diagnoses, though only 13.5% of the overall population. Widely admired Bishop T.D. Jakes of Dallas wants to tie this epidemic to politics and to the presidential campaign of 2008. “We can hold our politicians accountable,” he says. “Now is the time for the church to give a clarion call to government that this is one of the issues high on our radar screen.”

Wouldn’t the church do better to issue that “clarion call” to its own members to alter intimate behavior, rather than relying on federal protection against a disease spread almost entirely through sex or drugs? Holding politicians “accountable” sounds like a way to let individuals feel less responsible for consequences of their own actions.