A Georgia hospital system is facing accusations that it refused to allow the Gideon’s International to distribute Bibles because of its diversity, equity and inclusion policy. The Phoebe Putney Health System is one of the largest healthcare providers in the state.
The Daily Wire reports that Gideons have not been able to distribute Bibles in the hospitals for months. Unnamed sources told the news outlet that the ban was anti-Christian and a direct result of diversity policies that intentionally exclude people of faith.
The hospital claims the story is untrue.
“Of course, this could not be further from the truth. We begin every day with a brief devotional and prayer over our PA system throughout our hospital led by our Christian chaplain. We begin every event with an invocation, and we host and promote a prayer line that patients, visitors and employees can call at any time. These are certainly not the actions of an organization that could reasonably be called “anti-Christian,” a hospital spokesperson told television station WALB.
The hospital says they do not allow Gideons to walk around the hospital and if a patient wants a Bible they can request one. However, in most hospitals – those Bibles are already in the rooms.
The spokesman told Christian Post that the Daily Wire’s story was “irresponsible, untrue and based solely on the uniformed opinion of a disgruntled anonymous source,” and claimed that the system has “a large supply of Bibles donated by the Gideons that we give to any patient, visitor or employee who requests one.”