CrossFit just fired its chief knowledge officer and oftentimes unofficial spokesperson for voicing his opinion that CrossFit-related events celebrating LBGT issues were celebrating “sin.” The company deemed Russell Berger’s opinions prejudice and harmful and officially terminated him Wednesday, the same day he made the remarks on Twitter. Berger’s firing shows there’s plenty of corporate animus to Christians in all walks of life to go around.
Buzzfeed reported “Berger got into hot water Wednesday afternoon when he tweeted about a CrossFit gym in Indianapolis, Indiana, where owners canceled a workout in honor of Pride Month. Many of the coaches and employees quit in protest, according to WTTV TV in Indianapolis. On Wednesday, the gym posted notices that it was shutting down.”
Berger, who went to seminary, tweeted this, before later deleting it:
Looks like @CrossFit‘s @BergerRussell deleted that tweet so here’s a screenshot icymi pic.twitter.com/1I2sya7ACO
— Gaycey Musgayves (@ChrisDStedman) June 6, 2018
Berger expanded on that tweet in a statement he gave to the Washington Post: “I love those who the LGBTQ community represents, and want them to know Christ, and reveling in sin is a heartbreaking obstacle to that. I use the word ‘sin’ to describe pride events, and the sexual lifestyles associated with them, because that’s what God’s Word calls it, and I believe that God’s Word is true.”
Ironically, before he was fired, Berger tweeted about CrossFit’s tolerance and acceptance of employees’ views that differed from each other. In a follow-up tweet he wrote, “Thankfully I work for a company that tolerates disagreement. I have homosexual coworkers who I love and respect, and as far as I am aware, they aren’t demanding I be punished for my views.”
Unfortunately, when Berger wrote that, he was unaware that indeed he would be punished for his views. While CrossFit has the right to hire and fire whom they want, others might observe this and say CrossFit has actually now discriminated against Berger’s religious expression, rather than this appearing to be a case where he was being intolerant of the LGBT community.
In the wake of the Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling on Monday, the Supreme Court (particularly Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch) has now made it very clear that compulsion of speech as it relates to religious views, particularly by the government, is not acceptable. Because CrossFit is a private company, they may well get away with firing Berger for his views: Hobby Lobby’s refusal to provide contraception following the Health and Human Services mandate might be a good corollary here. Still, in light of the latest Masterpiece ruling, it’s clear that there is not only plenty of government animus at work nationwide, but corporate animus too — cases like these clearly aren’t going away any time soon.
Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She was the 2010 recipient of the American Spectator’s Young Journalist Award.
