|PIC1|Black church leaders in the US may endorse Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama privately, but they are reticent to trumpet that endorsement publicly as the role of the church in the country's politics undergoes a major re-think.

The Rev Jeffrey Bryan turned up at a recent meeting of black ministers wearing a T-shirt with Obama's face spread across the front. In his Newark, New Jersey, church, campaign signs and pictures of himself with Obama have been posted up.

But that is as far as he will go to show his support for Obama, who made history on Tuesday by clinching the Democratic presidential nomination. On Sunday morning, Rev Bryan's congregation can expect to hear him preach on the Word of God and not his endorsement of the man who could become the US' first black president if elected on November 4.

That may be more than churches in the UK would do to express their political intentions at any given election time, but in the US it is an understatement indicative of a new leaf turning.

"It's a historical time for black people, we cannot ignore what's going on," the pastor was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. He was firm, however, that "you can't tell people who to vote for".

Black church leaders in the US have traditionally held huge sway over the political identities of their flocks, most notably in the civil rights movement, and now again in the run-up to the presidential elections, when their influence could determine which way millions of black people decide to vote.

Yet they are treading a tight path that weighs up this influence against their obligations in front of the IRS to stay out of partisan activity as not-for-profit organisations.

Around 7,500 faith leaders gathered this week for one of the US' longest-running conferences for black clergy, the Hampton University Ministers' Conference.

During the conference, the faith leaders agreed to personally support Obama whilst at the same time avoiding an outright endorsement from the pulpit, reports the Associated Press.

Philadelphia pastor, the Rev William B Moore, had not planned much beyond a voter drive in his congregation and a donation to the Obama campaign.

"The black church has, over the years, made that distinction between church and state and God and state. I think the media has made it more than it really is," he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, later adding, "We know how to walk that line."

Barack Obama made history on Tuesday when he became the first black person to win the presidential nomination of a major US party.

His campaign has been dogged by the controversial comments of his former pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, the Rev Jeremiah Wright, after videos emerged of him preaching "God damn America" for its racism and blaming the September 11 terrorist attacks on US foreign policy.

Obama distanced himself from Wright and eventually decided last month to end his membership at Trinity.