Compassion falls short

A teacher's struggle with the homosexuality issue leads to his Christian school letting him go

by Charles Honey, Religion Editor

It's been nearly 25 years since the Christian Reformed Church synod called for more compassion for homosexuals.

Don Bergman, who has wrestled with the painful reality of a gay son, might have helped the CRC carry out that goal.

But Bergman isn't serving on a special committee working to make those 1973 guidelines more effective, because his views don't square with CRC teachings.

As a matter of fact, because of those views Bergman has lost his teaching job at a Christian school--a job he's held for 30 years.

If this is someone's idea of compassion, the study committee has its work cut out for it.

If a man can lose his livelihood for merely holding certain beliefs about homosexuality--beliefs he never meant to go public--forgive area gays if they're not too optimistic about how the church will treat them.

To be sure, Bergman, a social studies teacher at Kalamazoo Christian High School, was not sacked by the CRC itself. The Kalamazoo Christian School Association, a nondenominational group affiliated with Christian Schools International, voted not to renew Bergman's contract, it was revealed this week.

However, many teachers are Christian Reformed, and the association requires all teachers to adhere to historic Reformed standards. Bergman was terminated because the association board found his views "unbiblical."

"The integrity of our view on this whole issue is at stake," says Superintendent Bruce Hekman.

Familiar theme

Hekman added the decision "has nothing to do with his teaching ability."

That's getting to be a familiar theme.

It was sounded in the case of the late Gerry Crane, the former Byron Center music teacher whose union ceremony with another man brought down a storm of Bible-based calls for his removal.

More recently, the Rev. Jan Veenhof, a visiting professor at Calvin Theological Seminary, was disinvited from returning next fall because he feels modern, monogamous homosexuality is not prohibited by the Bible.

In neither case was the teacher accused of bringing a pro-homosexual agenda into class. The issue was their out-of-class lifestyle or views.

It's a bad trend. People have every right to argue against homosexual behavior as sinful, just as others have the right to argue the Bible's teachings should be read in historical context. But taking away a man's job can hardly qualify as Christian compassion--or make gays feel welcome in the church.

In Bergman's case, he's been punished for views he meant to be private. He has declined to talk to the media: A clause in his contract prevents him from publicly saying anything contrary to the 1973 CRC synodical report--which distinguishes homosexuality from the sin of homosexual practice--lest he presumably risk immediate dismissal rather than at the close of the school year.

Personal letter, public issue

At issue: CRC and school officials say Bergman supports monogamous gay relationships as morally defensible.

It all started a couple of years ago after Bergman learned his son is gay. Shortly after that, he wrote a letter to a committee studying homosexual ministry at the CRC's Classis Grand Rapids East, describing his struggle to a panel formed to deal with just such issues.

When Bergman was nominated last fall to serve on a CRC study committee aimed to implement the 1973 advisory report, somebody leaked the letter, which contained criticisms of the report. Bergman was pulled from the panel.

Hekman insists the Christian schools' dismissal of Bergman is unrelated to the committee flap. But he admits media reports made Bergman's alleged views widely known, and school parents are "uneasy" with his holding those views.

That may be. But Bergman has a right to his private views. He has the right to find answers to a painful personal situation. And he shouldn't lose his job over those answers.

Hessel Bouma III, who chaired the Grand Rapids East committee, calls Bergman's bouncing "a terrible injustice."

"It certainly is a very black mark on the Christian community, both the school community and the denomination," says Bouma, a Calvin College professor.

If the Christian community is about love, firing a man already in struggle would seem to fall short of the mark.

The Kalamazoo Christian School Association requires its teachers to show "biblical faithfulness and an exemplary Christian walk in speech and acts."

Maybe its leaders should look at that clause again, in light of their own actions.