If it were me I'd be taking the club and the AFL to the cleaners.
I'd even be taking the protesters to court for religious discrimination.

It seems to me it's not the religious people who are intolerant of gay football players.
- The coach isn't saying that gays aren't welcome to play footy.
Moreso, it's the woke gay brigade saying that Christians are not welcome to coach football.

Either they accept the law of the land that accepts freedom of religion or they don't and get sued - every last one of them.
- It's really black and white.

It seems perfectly fine to discriminate on the basis of religion, but it's not ok to discriminate on a basis of sexuality.

- You can't have your cake and eat it too.

All people enjoy a right to protest, but they DON'T have any right to discriminate on the basis of religion, that's the law.
- All these protesters should be arrested and charged, the club and the AFL should be sued, and Christians should be banding together to pay for legal defense and class action.

Surely the churchies have some lawyers in their ranks.

...and I'm not even religious.

The Christian church has a terrible track record
toward LGBTIQ people. Hate speech and abusive
conversion "therapies" have been used against the
LGBTIQ community.

Even churches that consider themselves moderate
can't underestimate the effects on someone's
mental health of being told there's something
"wrong" with them for their sexuality.

And while some Christians have been at the forefront
of fighting for equality - even more have seen them
as an abomination. We forget that many Christians
are LGBTIQ themselves and some are calling for an
apology from the church.

As a whole the Christian community is responsible for a
huge amount of damage done in the name of religious belief.

While claims are being made that churches fear job loss
over their opinions and beliefs - the weight of current
evidence is that the people who have actually lost their
jobs are those who have been LGBTIQ and their supporters.

In this current controversy - the Essendon football club
gave their newly appointed CEO a choice. He made his choice.
The CEO had his set of values. The club had theirs.
Both deserve to be respected. Screaming persecution or
lawsuits is nonsense and mischief-making.

We have to decide what kind of community Australia wants to
be in terms of religious tolerance, freedom, and genuine
diversity.

Dear Critic,

«Surely the churchies have some lawyers in their ranks.»

You know, one day the demons in charge of hell negligently allowed their fires of torture to exceed their allowed temperature and as a result the wall separating between heaven and hell collapsed.

The heavenly angels told them, "you fell the wall, so you must fix it", which the demons disputed, thus the case came to be heard before the court of the Highest, asking "who should be responsible to fix the wall?".

The verdict? ...It is the heavenly angels who must fix the wall!

Why so? Because all lawyers go to hell...

When injustice is carried out against Christians, they should follow Jesus' teachings.
Jesus recommended to his disciples that if hit on the one cheek they should turn the other: I agree that for true Christians this would be the best course of action. The alternative of engaging lawyers and the state and its prisons would only land them in deeper trouble and spiritual corruption.

«...and I'm not even religious.»

Indeed, which is why you trust in lawyers and courts instead of in the Almighty.

---

Dear Foxy,

«And while some Christians have been at the forefront
of fighting for equality - even more have seen them
as an abomination.»

Yourself just posted numbers to the contrary: http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=9941#339196

«As a whole the Christian community is responsible for a
huge amount of damage done in the name of religious belief.»

Why should anyone be responsible for the bad actions of others, more so majoritoes for the bad actions of minorities?

«the people who have actually lost their
jobs are those who have been LGBTIQ and their supporters.»

Lost their jobs for what? For poor performance? For intoxication? For picking fights? For absentism? For illness? For business-failure/downturn? that's why most people lose their jobs, so are you suggesting that most of whom are "LGBTIQ and their supporters"?

«The CEO had his set of values.»

Don't we all?
Does anyone even know what his values are? and that they are in conflict with the club's [=making money, no matter what]?

Hey Yuyutsu,
Well if they choose to do nothing when attacked, then being eventually lead to slaughter is what they'll get, and you don't need a prophecy for that.

I have a different take on things.
Lets say someone I cared about was being attacked and seriously harmed.
Should I turn the other cheek and let them be harmed (or assuming I was religious) or should I fight to protect and defend 'one of God's children')

Should I just sit down a pray for God to miraculously intervene?
My argument would be that I have a duty to protect them, even if doing so put's me in harms way.

Now I'm not religious, and I don't know exactly what Jesus meant when he said that, if he did exist, which I don't know because I wasn't there at the time.

"Jesus recommended to his disciples that if hit on the one cheek they should turn the other"

Did he mean don't retaliate, or don't bother protecting others from harm?

I believe that if someone is attacking you, then you have every right to defend yourself.
- After all, you're one of Gods children too, and you have a duty to protect yourself (Gods creation) from harm.

- Now not to disrespect Jesus or religion, but as I stated earlier;
I don't think any of the religions have gotten things all figured out.
I think they're are flawed.

I have family that are mostly all Christians.
- Maybe one day I'll share the reasons why I'm so tough on it.

Dear Critic,

You should always perform your duty.

The question being, what is your duty and what isn't.

There is a certain class of people whose duty is to protect others.
You could well belong to that class, as far as I can tell you even seem to be.

Jesus's disciples were not of that class, they were renunciates, they had no family responsibilities, they aimed higher, thus the instructions given to them were different to what Jesus would have instructed you in similar situations.

People tend to forget that spiritual instructions (including the Biblical ones) have a context - it is not "one size fits all"!

We are a secular nation with a Constitution that
upholds the separation of church and state.

This doesn't mean that you can't join any radical
cult that you fancy and still be a footy club CEO
or a member of parliament. But it does mean that
where your views are out of step with the views of the
club, organisation, or society you inhabit, that club/
organisation/ state/ can choose to either dispense with your
services or give you a choice to select where you belong.