Former Alabama CrossFit official says tweets on gay 'pride' misrepresented, stands by his conviction

Russell Berger, a now-former CrossFit official who was fired after he said LGBT pride is a "sin" on Twitter, says his beliefs and intentions were misrepresented "both intentionally and unintentionally."

Berger also said he will stand by his convictions, despite the harm his statements may have caused the company.

Berger sent the statement to AL.com Thursday afternoon.

"Until my termination yesterday, I was CrossFit's Chief Knowledge Officer. My comments where imprudent, and I drug my company in a difficult position, which I deeply regret, especially considering I was not directly asked to weigh in on the subject that inspired my comments. I am particularly saddened for my employer and coworkers, who do incredible and life-changing work for millions of people, and are now forced to respond with their time and resources to this ordeal.

That being said, my beliefs and intentions have been misrepresented, both intentionally and unintentionally. As a Christian, I believe everyone, myself included, is guilty of breaking our moral obligations to God and deserves punishment. But by turning from our sin and trusting fully in Jesus Christ, we can be forgiven and reconciled to our creator. 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. The same theology that leads me to this view leads me to the knowledge that all humans are created in God's image, and are therefore inherently valuable and deserve to hear this offer of God's grace. From the Christian perspective, the most hateful thing I could do for someone would be to lie to him or her about sin and our need for Christ, as unpopular as this may be in our culture today.

Read more: https://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/06/former_alabama_crossfit_offici.html