A NUMBER OF CHURCH MINISTERS have reacted with mixed views to recent calls for HIV/AIDS testing for men of the cloth and the acceptance of homosexuals and prostitutes in local congregations.Last Friday, Sir George Alleyne, University of the West Indies chancellor, asked religious leaders to open their doors to those who were not only HIV-positive but those who practised alternative lifestyles and prostitution during a faith-based forum on Inclusion and Human Sexuality In The Context Of HIV and AIDS.
Two days later, president of the Barbados Evangelical Association, Dr Nigel Taylor, called on "hundreds" of church ministers to lead by example and get openly tested for HIV/AIDS.
The WEEKEND NATION contacted religious leaders from various denominations, some of whom were all for welcoming gays and prostitutes. However, they drew the line at getting tested for the virus, saying it was a personal matter.
'Nonsense'
Rector of St Joseph's Anglican Church, Errington Massiah, called Taylor's suggestion "absolute nonsense".
"It is nonsense! Why should you want a priest to get tested? If you stand for morality, what more example could you possibly want to set for your congregation?
"I don't know . . . . These priests like they've lost the whole vision of what they should do. I believe some of them are mad. I'm not one for testing; I live a holy and godly life.
"I believe in abstinence. Some of these men have to learn to behave themselves and keep their zips up; they pull them down too often. We have to encourage people to live moral lives," he said on the issue of testing.
However, Massiah added he was not in the habit of turning away anyone from his church whether they be homosexuals or prostitutes.
District superintendent of the Wesleyan Holiness Church, Reverend Carlisle Williams, said he was in total agreement with Taylor. He, however, said he wasn't clear on Sir George's definition of "inclusion".
Father Harcourt Blackett of the Roman Catholic Church agreed with the call for inclusion, noting that Jesus Christ himself was a friend of prostitutes.
"The church must be inclusive. It must not exclude people but must make them feel welcomed and wanted. The church's ministry is to help people to experience wholesomeness," he said.
Father Blackett expressed some concern over what he called a "condom mentality" which he said was developing rapidly in Barbados and fuelling certain undesirable behaviour.
"The thinking is, you can do anything once you use a condom and it is very difficult to get people to change if they have that mentality.
"It is a concern to me because I live here at St Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral and all I have to do is drive up to Bush Hill and see people engaged in prostitution. So I've always seen this as a challenge and I've been asking our church what we can do . . . how can we respond to the situation. There are some Christians who write them off and say they are what they are, but we can't leave them by the wayside," he said.
As for getting tested, he said he believed ministers would shy away from open HIV/AIDS testing because there was a problem with confidentiality in Barbados.
Executive secretary of the Eastern Caribbean Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, Dermoth Baptiste, said the church should have a Christ-like response to those affected by HIV/AIDS.
He called it a "hospital for sinners" and in the same way hospitals had "people with all kinds of diseases, the church also had all kinds of sinners".
"But in terms of the call for pastors to be tested, I think that is a personal thing," he said.
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