In St. Louis on Saturday, Barack Obama implored the thousands of churchgoers attending a national meeting of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the nation's largest and most politically and civicly active black denominations, to help fix national and local ills.

He preached individual responsibility, saying he knew he risked criticism for "blaming the victim" by talking of the need for parents to help children with homework and turn off the TV, to pass on a healthy self-image to daughters, and teach boys both to respect women and "realize that responsibility does not end at conception."

But Obama's main message was the government's duty to address what he said are "moral problems" -- such as war, poverty, joblessness, homelessness, violent streets and crumbling schools -- and to employ religious institutions to do it.

"As long as we're not doing everything in our individual and collective power to solve the challenges we face, the conscience of our nation cannot rest," he said.