By: Dr. Jerry Bergman
Montpelier, Ohio
I have often reported on the hostility faced by those who believe that humans were created by God and not by mutations conserved by natural selection.
The civil rights of some, namely Christians, who live by their religion, are not always supported by the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC).
The OCRC was formed in 1959 by the Ohio state government. The commission’s primary function is to enforce state anti-discrimination laws. In Fiscal Year 2024, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission operated with a total biennial budget appropriation of $10.7 million.
Its approved hiring ceiling of 84 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions represents the largest portion of its funding. The OCRC enforces state anti-discrimination laws and investigates charges of unlawful discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, credit, and disability in higher education.
The OCRC was set up to protect Ohioans from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, military status, national origin, disability, age, ancestry, familial and marital status.
This goal sounds good, but of the half dozen cases I am aware of, those who accept Genesis are not defended; rather, OCRC supports discrimination. My own experience illustrates this.
I have published numerous examples in this column and have authored six books that support my contention. Before I review my case, I need to add that I have fared better in academia than many of my colleagues.
One question often asked me is, “How in the world have you, as a creationist, survived in academia for over 40 years as a college professor?” Hard work and a high level of dedication, and my easygoing personality are three reasons.
I have documented numerous times in this column the fact that academia in general is far left; 80 to 90 percent of the professors in secular state colleges are Democrats or socialists.
Nonetheless, due to some excellent instructors in this area and a long-term interest in the field, I decided to pursue a third doctorate in sociology at BGSU on top of my BGSU master’s in social psychology. I was rejected for obvious reasons, my rejection of human evolution being one of them.
I appealed to the OCRC, and they ruled against me. The ruling, written by the executive director of OCRC, Joseph Carmichael, dated January 25, 1996, stated the reason was “Bergman arranged to take incompletes in several of his classes…the admissions panel felt that such a record indicated an inability by Mr. Bergman to handle the course load and other requirements for the doctoral program.”
In this letter, I was constantly called “Mister” instead of “Doctor” out of disrespect. I was never asked why I was forced to take incompletes during one semester.
The fact that I handled the course load and other requirements for the Ph.D. doctoral program in measurement at Wayne State University was ignored. The fact is, I was more qualified than the vast majority of applicants in this area.
Why not be honest? Instead of the silly incomplete grade excuse, just give the real reason. One university dean openly said, “Creationists should not be allowed to graduate.” (https://samizdat.qc.ca/vc/quest_soc/intolerancepostmoderne.htm)
My grades were a 3.7 average for my first master’s; 3.5 for my second master’s; 3.8 for my third, fourth, and fifth master’s degrees; and 4.0 for both my first and second Ph.D. degrees (4.0 = A).
I scored in the 90th percentile for verbal GRE and the 98th percentile for the subject area, which was sociology. I am a member of Mensa, scoring in the 99.96th percentile. Only 4 out of every 10,000 people have an IQ higher than 150.
Admittedly, this test only measures certain skills, most related to academic areas. In addition, I have published over 2,000 articles in peer-reviewed journals in 14 languages, many on sociology topics.
One problem is defining religion. According to Professor Michael Ruse, in his book published by Oxford University Press titled Darwinism as Religion, evolution is a religion.
In short, the central concern of religion is worldview. Two worldviews exist that involve where humans came from, why we exist, and what happens when we die.
The position officially endorsed by our government is “where we humans came from [we evolved by mutations, which are selected by natural selection], why we exist [to survive and reproduce], and what happens when we die [our body turns to dust ending our existence].”
The prohibited worldview teaches “where we humans came from [we were created by a higher power], why we exist [to serve God, love our neighbor, and raise a family], and what happens when we die [live an afterlife in the new Heavens and Earth described in the Bible].”
This secular worldview has gained the ascendancy and has become the official faith, the “established religion” of the state. I am referring to the evolutionary worldview and the religion of Secular Humanism, of which evolution is the cornerstone.
Evolution is more than a scientific model. It is an underlying belief system that profoundly affects the way people think and live. Most, if not all, academic disciplines as practiced today—sociology, psychology, economics, political science, and even law—are rooted in the evolutionary worldview.
This “naturalistic” worldview maintains that all of reality can be explained by natural law, time, chance, mutations, and natural selection. In contrast, the “theistic” worldview concludes that everything cannot be explained solely by these criteria.
The courts have consistently ruled that the naturalistic worldview can be taught, and the other side’s worldview cannot, a ruling which results in state-supported indoctrination. The former worldview is called “science,” and the latter worldview is labeled “religion.”
As Professor Ruse rightly stated, both worldviews involve religion and science. What we see is indoctrination in what the British lawyer, eminent ornithologist, and evolutionist-turned-creationist Douglas Dewar called “the Transformist Illusion”—an unscientific hypothesis masquerading as scientifically proven truth.
———————-
Dr. Bergman is a multi-award-winning professor and author. He has 9 degrees and has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate level for over 40 years. His over 2,100 publications are in both scholarly and popular journals. Dr. Bergman’s work has been translated into 15 languages. He has spoken over 2,000 times to college, university and church groups in America, Canada, Europe, the South Sea Islands, and Africa. He lives in Montpelier and is available to present in churches and schools. Jerry can be reached at JerryBergman30@yahoo.com Bergman’s website is: https://crev.info/author/jbergman/
