The Gideons International, known for distributing Bibles in hospitals, has been excluded from Phoebe Putney Health System in Georgia due to its new diversity and inclusion policies.
Gideons maintained a relationship with Phoebe for years but is now blocked, with DEI cited as the reason despite Christians being excluded.
Phoebe CEO Scott Steiner, who took over in 2019, has pushed DEI principles and said management lacks diversity.
“We have an incredibly vibrant and diverse workforce that is representative of the communities we serve,” Steiner said. “In some areas of our organization — like on our management team — that diversity has been less evident, and we are committed to looking at ways to making meaningful change.”
The situation “might make me a little uncomfortable, but if we’re not dealing with discomfort head-on, then we’re not diving in deeply and honestly enough.”
The health system’s DEI officer Jennifer Williams tracks supplier diversity and conducts employee focus groups.
“We began with focus groups made up of minority leaders across the health system — distilling their input into key action items,” Williams said. “Two recommendations were the establishment of a permanent diversity council and systemwide diversity and unconscious bias training. Our senior leaders and health system board quickly adopted those recommendations, and we’ve been off and running.”
Critics argue Phoebe prioritizes DEI over merit and medicine.
Excluding Gideons from sharing Bibles with sick patients in the Bible Belt’s “belt buckle” has raised questions about how inclusion policies resulted in excluding Christians.
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