It's not Israel's views that are the problem, but the fact that as part of his contract for millions, he agreed to keep them to himself!

Moreover, he doesn't speak for God nor stands in God's shoes deciding who's a sinner and who's not! I mean not all that long ago alleged Christians justified slavery because they claimed non-whites or blacks had the mark of Cain on them and therefore could be owned as slaves.

As a seventeen-year-old, I left the mormon Church once I found out men of colour couldn't be ordained for the same alleged reason. It's fine to own your own facts always providing you're prepared for the consequences of expressing them.
Alan B.

The Liberals don't seem to be aware of the issues that could keep them in government. The appalling behaviour of the Left, the climate con, 18c and freedom of speech - any number of things are there waiting to be championed. Too late now, though.

Israel Folau is not at blame for expressing his religious beliefs.
He is rightly at blame for usurping his employer's right to expression of its corporate policies by an authorised person or body.

He has overstepped the boundaries of acceptability as much as would a member of the armed services attempting to gain widespread publicity for a personal opinion because of that member's defence status.

Folau without the due prestige as a top football player would have far less credibility to those he harangued.
I doubt that he would have forgone his earnings from a major game so that he could move amongst those he perceives as sinners and preach at them.
No.
He behaved as an opportunist to gain the impact of his game playing status in order to be taken as credible.
But that just makes him an ordinary, fallible being.

Free speech, won after centuries of struggle, and fundamental to democracy, is being so fatally eroded it is desperately in need of a champion. Today’s so called Left and Right are morally empty shells, and the Old Left, who would have taken up the challenge are extinct. This is exemplified in the most recent cause celebre involving double standards on free speech and a breach of the norms of a secular society. For expressing his religious conviction that homosexuals will go to hell, interpreted as homophobic hate speech, rugby star Israel Folau has received a public flogging; and by twisted logic, threatened with the sack for breaching his commitment to “diversity”. The coruscating denunciation ignored the statement of 10th of March 2018 by The Australian National Imams Council: “From the Islamic standpoint, homosexuality is a forbidden action; a major sin and anyone who partakes in it is considered a disobedient servant to Allah that will acquire His displeasure and disapproval.” PM Morrison who had previously been uncompromising in maintaining that there was "no more fundamental liberty that any human being has" than the right to practise one's faith, now, in the midst of election campaigning, in response to Folau’s assertion of religious belief, changed his tune to, "I thought they were terribly insensitive comments and obviously that was a matter for the RA and they've taken that decision,"

"He is rightly at blame for usurping his employer's right to expression of its corporate policies by an authorised person or body".

He did not "usurp" anything. He expressed his personal views, or if you like, biblical views on certain areas.

Perhaps you don't know what 'usurp' means. It means to 'seize' or 'take over'. He might very well be in breach of RA's "corporate policies", but he certainly did not usurp them.

Rugby has a history of rapist, drunks, assaults all still playing while due to sponsorship from deviants Folau loses his career. Oh well Christians are losing their lives daily for their faith but no one would of thought we would have so many degenerates and gutless conservatives in power in Australia that would stand by and watch this happening. Secularism has produced the most radical bigots this country has ever seen and all because they don't want any light shone upon their deviant lives while they promote it to others.

I was wrong in thinking that Kerry-Ann Kennerley was a cut above the average median hack, but she has asked why out of the thousands and thousands of quotes in the Bible, why was one 'targeting a a certain section of society' used?.

Duh! Because it pertained to what he wanted to say. What other passage could be quoted that suited the subject?

Then she said it isn't Christian.

Duh again. The Bible isn't Christian?

I'm glad Folau and his homophobic cohort have so much to say and defend as their right to free speech. Because it reminds us, what we are now voting for!

And we need to remind our friend to remind their friends and all their wider circle of friends that SSM is still being argued against as if your gender bias was something a gay person could choose. And all in the name of so-called free speech

Just as a homosexual Alan Jones would it seems, conclude, given how quickly this shock jock raced in to defend the right of folk like Folau to continue to persecute a minority. Reportedly caught with his allegorical pants down on a dirty weekend with a male friend?

As for the other sinners, has he missed any one of us? At the end of life, we will be judged on our actions and words and all that flowed from them as consequential!

Please keep rattling your cages you are assisting a labour landslide!?
Alan B.

runner: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"!

Must be wonderful to be so perfect and never ever wrong! You surely must be the master reincarnated?

Waiting here for you and your (speaking for God) cohort to walk on water and perform a few miracles!

You'll have a nice day now y'hear.
Alan B.

Hi Alan,

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Well, yeah, isn't that part of the issue ? That (and I'm writing as an atheist) nobody is perfect, some of us are drunkards, fornicators, frauds, thieves, and so on, and yet we're all human ? That, for some believers, we all do time in hell for our particular offences ? For being human ? i.e. who of us wants to cast the first stone ?

Not being a believer, this doesn't involve me except empathetically (and for his slant against drunks), but if some believers want to get all up-tight and think they might go to hell as a consequence of their actions, then I'd have to say that's their prerogative. I don't believe in a hell, so it all means bugger-all to me. I'm not so sure that all that many of the 'believers' really believe it either.

So for all those drunks and homosexuals etc. out there who might believe in a hell, I suggest they get real and suck it up: that's your lot (unless you come to atheism). This bloke is a 'true believer' and believes what his particular book says, and quotes it. I don't know how many people this might involve, but why should the rest of us give a toss ?

Joe

Such is the universal dominance of commodification, that sponsors now dictate contracts and free speech. As the Wallabies’ main sponsor, Qantas pressured Rugby Australia to take action against Folau. Qantas, led by chief executive Alan Joyce, who is openly gay, was at the forefront of campaigning for marriage equality during the 2017 plebiscite. Joyce has vowed the airline will continue to campaign on social issues.
Rugby Australia has attempted to dodge the fundamental principle of free speech by claiming that no one is denying Israel’s right to have a point of view. They’re not engaging in the freedom of speech debate, they defensively profess, “it’s a contractual public persona debate."

.

Dear Graham,

.

You wrote :

« The case of Folau - in which a young working-class man is victimised because his religious beliefs offend powerful corporate interests … »

That’s one way of looking at it I suppose, Graham, but one has to admit that Israel Folau is no ordinary “working-class man” by any means. He is an internationally renowned Australian rugby union player, the record holder for most tries scored in Super Rugby history, whose annual salary is reportedly in excess of $1 million – and has been for nearly ten years.

That’s more like the salary of a CEO than of “a young working-class man”.

Considering him to be “victimised because his religious beliefs offend” is also a question of perspective. While you see him as a victim, others see him as an offender. It’s a question of which takes precedence: his personal freedom of expression or his sexual discrimination of others – the former being a right, the second an infringement of the law (and the non-respect of a contractual engagement with his employer).

Stating that his religious beliefs offended “powerful corporate interests” would seem to be something of an understatement. The last time I checked, Izzy had 354,000 followers on Instagram where he posted his controversial meme. Presumably, those are just some of his admirers.

But now the meme has gone viral and I don’t know who hasn’t seen it, particularly among the LGBT community. Presumably, they do not consider he is being “victimised because his religious beliefs offend”, as you suggest. Nor do they probably enjoy anything like his level of fame or wage bracket, even though, as you say, he is only “a young working-class man”.

Your political survey of the controversy is interesting though I am a little wary of analyses that interpret declared sociological attitudes as necessarily determined by declared political preferences at a particular moment in time, within a particular political context.

I am not persuaded it is possible to generalise the sociological attitudes of individuals in terms of their declared left or right political orientations.

.

'As for the other sinners, has he missed any one of us? At the end of life, we will be judged on our actions and words and all that flowed from them as consequential!'

or we will receive forgiveness from the One who died and rose again. We can repent as Israel so lovingly put it or will can be judged and no man will be found righteous.

The secular bigots continue to claim the bible is a fairytale and yet are so offended by the 'fairytale'. And of course the Koran says of homosexuality? Of course we will encourage muslims and everyone else to play rugby as it is all inclusive except for those quoting and believing the bible. Christophobes have always been the biggest bigots.

Since 2012, Qantas and Emirates airline have been in partnership. At the time, Mr Joyce gushed, “Emirates is the ideal partner for Qantas”. In 2017, he boasted “The first five years of the Qantas-Emirates alliance has been a great success”.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights are heavily suppressed in the United Arab Emirates. The UAE Penal Code is ambiguous as to whether homosexuality is punishable by death.
Such hypocrisy bedevils any attept at rational debate on free speech

I understand why gay people are so sensitive to criticism. We have all heard awful things said about them. I just think we take social media far too seriously. Like runner, I have known some footballers who were able to get away with doing some awful things, without anything like this punishment.

Politicians, in particular, are far too worried about social media. Remember all the talk about the number of people following Krudd on twitter? Scomo needed to condemn homophobia, but could have reminded us that this was only twitter, it isn't to be taken seriously