
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 20, 1990                   TAG: 9004200810
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Short

CHURCH BARS BOY WITH AIDS

A 5-year-old boy with AIDS has been barred from attending Sunday school classes at a church while the pastor decides whether the boy may return.

The boy's foster parents said they will wait for a final decision from the Moody Church, a non-denominational evangelical church on the near North Side, before taking any legal action.

"But their decision stems from fear and ignorance, and they don't seem to want to correct that," said the boy's foster mother, Terry Rucker. "As Christians I don't know how they can defend their choice. I find their viewpoints to be outdated and sensationalistic."

The boy, whose name the couple want to be kept confidential to protect him, was born with the AIDS virus and currently is enrolled in a public school kindergarten.

Rucker, a nurse who has worked with AIDS patients at Illinois Masonic Hospital, called it ironic that the church made its decision to bar the boy the day after Ryan White died.

The Indiana teen-ager, who was initially barred from school because he had AIDS, launched a campaign to show Americans they need not ostracize people who suffer from the disease. He died April 7.

Pastor Erwin Lutzer issued a statement Thursday, saying: "The entire matter is under review."

by CNB