The Associated Press; Tuesday, December 13, 1994

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 are not welcome either "because they have abandoned the way of the Lord."

Advocates fighting AIDS discrimination said they are 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 that 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 wrote to Giddings after reading about the church in Monday's Philadelphia Daily News.

Giddings, 34, said he has not turned away anyone with the disease, and believes his church, founded by his father, can still 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 row-house that is both a worship hall and a classroom for about a dozen children in his congregation, seven of whom are his.

Giddings, 34, 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 should always be subservient to men. A Star of David hangs in the window of the church.

AIDS activist Tyrone Smith said 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."

Copyright 1997/The Associated Press. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, The Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020.
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