"burying their heads in the sand'', PLP MP Rev. Trevor Woolridge told the House of Assembly yesterday.

In a speech that brought shouts of support from MPs, Mr. Woolridge said he was disappointed with church judgments that see AIDS as punishment for unacceptable lifestyles.

He was critical of Christians who think the fight against AIDS requires nothing more than getting on their knees and hoping it will go away.

"Know the facts,'' he shouted. "Get off your knees and get into the trenches. Follow the example of Jesus.

"Burying our heads in the sand increases the risk (of AIDS). Too many of us have turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to it. This is not a homosexual disease, it's not a drug disease or a prostitute's virus. It's everyone's disease.'' Mr. Woolridge's words were an emotional highpoint in a marathon debate that asked MPs to take note of the "devastating effects of the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus in our community...'' Health Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness said a commission was needed to coordinate the Island's AIDS-fighting efforts -- a call that found support among Opposition MPs.

Mr. Edness said the commission should develop messages targeted at blacks, who accounted for nearly 90 percent of the Island's cases.

Leading off debate of his "take note'' motion on AIDS, Mr. Edness also said: Condom distribution in schools would help save lives and had to be looked at; Businesses should implement programmes to educate employees about AIDS in the workplace; Free needle distribution to drug users saved lives in some countries but was not needed in Bermuda.

With 213 already dead from AIDS in Bermuda and many more infected, the Country had to "combat this dreaded disease at every level of our society...with all the strength and intelligence God can give us,'' Mr. Edness said.

Shadow Health Minister Mr. Nelson Bascome said: "There is no more time to talk. It's time to act.'' He called for more housing assistance for AIDS sufferers, improved support for foster parents of AIDS children, and study of a scheme by which AIDS victims could use their pension contributions to help cover their medical and housing bills.

Mr. Edness said that a commission, not necessarily a Government body, could better coordinate all Island public and private efforts to fight AIDS, while developing more effective messages for high-risk groups.

Of Bermuda's AIDS victims, 89.9 percent were black, and the AIDS message was not reaching black youth as it should.

"There is a language and there is a method you can use from a cultural perspective that can motivate people more effectively than a generalised message,'' he said.

Mr. Bascome agreed the AIDS and race statistics showed "something is wrong.'' "Maybe there needs to be a special committee in our black community,'' he said.

Mr. Edness said free condom distribution was controversial, but "until we can get every young person in this community to become sexually inactive, and I think that is an impossible dream,'' it had to be considered.

He called on all businesses to develop an AIDS policy and instruct staff about it. This would result in increased tolerance of AIDS in the workplace.

Small businesses could band together with other similar companies to develop policies, he said. Churches, sport clubs, and social clubs should do the same to educate their members.

Free needle distribution to illegal drug users had worked in some countries and should be talked about. But intravenous drug users in Bermuda who had not already died had learned of the risk and changed their methods, he said.

"I don't think there's any reason to implement such a programme in Bermuda at this time.''