Should Israel Folau Lose His Job?

The previous two blogs have asked whether Israel Folau is a homophobe and guilty of hate speech. Of course he is not. This misrepresents him and his views completely.

Should he lose his job? On the face of it, he has brought his sport into disrepute. He has gone public saying that God is going to send a whole range of people, including homosexuals, to hell, unless they repent.

Yet, if we stop and think about it, should he lose his job for this? Really. Imagine if he had tweeted that God loves everyone and they are all going to heaven. Or, he had tweeted that he is praying for people that they enjoy wealth, health, and fruitfulness. Or more daringly, he tweeted that God loves all people and all those who have done anything wrong will face God in judgment after death. Should he lose his job for these comments?

These comments would barely raise a whimper and would likely go unnoticed. Yet, they are all religious comments involving what happens to people when they die.

Imagine if he had tweeted something like: “my heart goes out to all Muslim people after the horrific shooting in Christchurch.” Or, “prayers and thoughts for them.” This is religious speech in the public arena. It is very appropriate, and these two things I would agree with totally! They would widely be accepted.

Why then would we single out a religious tweet that does not advocate violence, includes no abuse by a person or incites it, is about a religious worldview many do not hold, and then say, “you’re fired!” to that person?

To fire Israel Folau for this is in my view, bordering on religious persecution. It is silencing a person who wishes to express to enquirers on Twitter his answer to their questions. 

Is it that the real issue is that sponsors are unhappy. Why is that a concern? Because sponsors pay for the game. Down here in NZ and Australia, we desperately need their money for the game as we try and keep our players here.

Mmmm, sponsors, money, mmmm. Sounds like materialism to me. In the teaching of Jesus, he mentioned a god called Mammon (it is the Sermon on the Mount I mentioned in my last blog—“you cannot worship God and Money [Mammon]” Matt 6:24). So, the good of the game is not really what is threatened, it is our god, Mammon. Indeed, sport itself is a god here as is the money that lubricates our society and keeps us entertained. The real issues of our cultures are not sexual immorality, a tweet about eternal destruction, but the love of money. We are embedded in consumption, imprisoned in a society that feeds our desires through advertising and demands we consume (or the economy crashes).

Israel Folau has expressed his personal religious view in response to questions on social media. He did so with comments that appeared homophobic and hate-filled. As shown in the previous blogs, they are not. He simply has a belief system and expresses it. Surely, as he advocates no harm to others, his human right to speak his mind cannot be suppressed by an employer in this way? That is religious persecution.

Michael Chieka was interviewed on Aussie TV last night (I write from Melbourne) (https://www.news.com.au/sport/rugby/wallabies-coach-michael-cheika-speaks-out-on-israel-folau-drama/news-story/ae41fcb096c6e81abec677282d86c781). His only argument seems to be that while he agrees that Israel Folau can hold this view, it is now distracting the team. So, he must go. Well, I don’t think that will fly in court.

When someone has the stupidity or courage (depending on your view) to speak out against the mainstream worldview, they should not lose their job unless they are inciting violence, reviling their employer, hating people, threatening them, or abusing them. He did none of these. In fact, he was alluding to the apostle Paul, many of whose ideas form foundational pillars of western civilization.

We go into dangerous territory when we terminate contracts for people going against the norm. One thinks of Colin Kaepernick and the refusal of a whole raft of American athletes to stand for the National Anthem. What he and others did was to push back at the excessive nationalism and racism they perceive in the USA. Good on them.

Whatever our nations believe, when they move in the direction of stifling religious and ideological viewpoints which do not advocate violence in the present context but speak of things on the other side of this world, we go into dangerous territory. We become totalitarian. We all know where totalitarianism led us last century. In one direction we ended up with right-wing nationalist socialist Nazism with the attempted eradication of large portions of Europe’s diverse people. On the other hand, we saw the rise of Communism and the similar eradication of different groups including Christians the Soviet Bloc and other nations.

We sit in a dangerous world now. Both trends are at play. We see it in the clash of values around Brexit, in the USA represented by Trump and Sanders (not that I am calling them Nazis or Communists, I am making my point). They represent trends. Europe is a battleground for these ideas.

In my view, leave Israel Folau alone. If you disagree, speak out, exercise your right of free speech. Don’t threaten violence. Don’t abuse. Say your piece. Fair enough. If you agree with him, support him, speak out. Don’t threaten violence. Don’t abuse. 

What we mustn’t do is let “The Man” overstep the mark and suppress speech simply because we don’t like it.

I would urge Australian Rugby not to sack Israel Folau but work through all these issues and come up with a way of allowing people to hold their beliefs and express them, even in the public realm. Why not? What’s the problem if it is not inciting violence and abusive? I would urge them to back the player’s right to do so. There should be vibrant discussion concerning how to do this. That is a better path in my view. We cannot force the world around us to agree with our point of view and fire them when they don't. That is persecution.