Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 13, 1994 TAG: 9412130069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA LENGTH: Medium
Three large placards are posted on a tiny church in a run-down neighborhood. One says ``All are Welcome,'' but a second, smaller one, adds that only those who have tested negative for the AIDS virus are welcome.
Bishop Nathan Giddings, leader of the 38-member Old Ship of Zion, said that people with AIDS aren't welcome in his congregation because ``they suffer from a plague.'' Homosexuals aren't welcome either, ``because they have abandoned the way of the Lord.''
Advocates fighting AIDS discrimination said they're troubled by the policy and are looking into possible remedies.
``They are causing a lot of harm with their signs,'' said Nan Feyler, executive director of the Philadelphia-based AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania. ``To have that kind of sentiment that's vilifying to people, especially in that neighborhood, it runs against the message we're trying to send.''
However, Feyler said that because of the separation between church and state, Giddings' congregation in North Philadelphia does not fall under federal and state laws barring discrimination against people with the disease.
But Kevin Vaughan, executive director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, believes the church could be held accountable if it could be proved that Giddings excluded anyone with AIDS or HIV, which by law is considered a disability. Vaughan said his group sent a letter to Giddings after reading about the church in Monday's Philadelphia Daily News.
Giddings, 34, said he hasn't yet turned away anyone with the disease, and believes his church, founded by his father, still can provide salvation for people with AIDS. He said he would be happy to meet with such people outside the church and pray for them.
``The Lord created AIDS, and the Lord can cure AIDS,'' Giddings said Monday inside the three-story rowhouse that is a worship hall and a classroom for about a dozen children in his congregation, seven of whom are his.
The 34-year-old minister preaches a mixture of Christian and Jewish tenets, including the belief that flood and famine will destroy the United States by the year 2000 and that women always should be subservient to men. A Star of David hangs in the window of the church.
AIDS activist Tyrone Smith said that the church's policy besmirches other Philadelphia churches that help AIDS patients.
``They are putting a lot of false information out there,'' Smith said. ``And victimizing a part of the population under the guise of a religious experience.''
by CNB