'We could have helped him'

2008-08-13 21:12

Pretoria - Music lecturer Johan Strydom should have told the N G Kerk's Moreleta Park congregation he was gay when he applied for the job so that they could lovingly help him correct his behaviour, a dominee told the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday.

Dominee Dirkie van der Spuy was testifying in defence of 31-year-old Strydom's R200 000 damages claim against the church for loss of income and dignity after he was sacked from his post in the church's music academy for being gay.

Strydom has also demanded an unconditional apology from the church.

Van der Spuy testified that the congregation's stance that homosexuality was a sin was well known and Strydom should have revealed his sexual orientation when he applied for a post where he had to work with impressionable young people.

The church had no choice but to discontinue his services as a lecturer after Strydom refused to discuss his sexuality with church leaders, he told the court.

'Sinful behaviour'

His work up to then had been exemplary, but his homosexuality became an issue when the church received an anonymous call that Strydom was involved in a homosexual relationship.

Van der Spuy testified that had Strydom discussed the issue with church leaders, he would have had a better understanding that the church did not reject or judge homosexuals.

It believed in lovingly guiding them through the Bible to realise that God regarded their behaviour as sinful.

"We would have liked to walk a loving, spiritual path with him. If he had walked that road with us, we would still have supported him financially, although we would have asked him to stand back and not to give classes.

"If he had walked the path successfully, he would have been reinstated in his post," Van der Spuy testified.

It was the church's view that a homosexual who did not embrace celibacy could not stand in a leadership position.

Homosexuals 'could be rectified'

Asked if the congregation had acted without love towards Strydom, the dominee replied that just as a doctor who loved his patient would tell him if he had a serious illness, it would be callous for the church not to warn someone if he was on his way to an abyss.

Van der Spuy was adamant that homosexual behaviour could be "rectified" and that a homosexual person could have a new life "in peace and freedom" once he realised his behaviour was sinful and decided to break with it.

He conceded that there were different points of view, even in the N G Kerk, about homosexuality, but insisted that the Bible clearly described it as sinful.

The way he was made

Van der Spuy was told that Strydom had been involved in a monogamous homosexual relationship for many years and had worked for many congregations without any problems.

He did not believe he had a problem, but thought God had made him the way he was and accepted him that way.

However, Van der Spuy maintained that people could be misled until someone lovingly explained to them how God felt about homosexuality.

"You can be under the impression that you're right... We can all make mistakes, even people in the church," he told the court.

Van der Spuy testified that the church had quoted from the Bible in support of apartheid, but had later had to ask for forgiveness.

However, he pointed out that while the word apartheid did not appear in the Bible, homosexuality was specifically mentioned.

The case continues before Judge Dion Basson.

- SAPA