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Israel Folau refuses to back down, tells Rugby Australia he’s prepared to quit code

(Headline - Weekend Australian - 13 April 2018)

 

Israel Folau is a fundamentalist Christian Rugby League footballer who was asked on Instagram: "what was God's plan for gay people??".  He replied: "Hell... Unless they repent of their sins and turn to God".

As it happens he's not Robinson Crusoe in this belief. It's there in black and white in the Old Testament (the Torah) and thus found its way into the Koran. And for Christians it's repeated in the New Testament.

While it's unlikely anybody would take religious advise from a Rugby League footballer, and less than 40% of Australians opposed same sex marriage in the recent plebiscite so it's evident that most Australians think his views are nonsense, failure by the League to discipline him has put such material things as sponsorship at risk.

But surely Israel's just as entitled to express his religious beliefs as either of the Christian Archbishops of Sydney, the Rabbi of The Great Synagogue or the Mufti of the Lakemba Mosque.

Australia lacks a Bill of Rights. Yet one of the few fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of Australia is religious freedom: The Commonwealth of Australia, and thus by agreement the member States, are precluded from making laws prohibiting the free exercise of any religion.

As a person who voluntarily became an Australian Citizen back in 1976 I strongly endorse this (Section 116) and accept that if I want my beliefs to be tolerated then there is a quid pro quo - I must allow others to hold and express their religious views - no matter how silly they seem to me.

So if we Australians are to enjoy our own religious freedom we must allow Israel to freely express his, provided he's not advocating harm to others or breaking the law in some other way.

Even people who believe in Hell could not possibly construe his assertion as advocating harm, unless they think he can influence God come Judgement Day - whenever that might be.

Personally, I have no belief in a person's ability to continue to think, or to experience anything, in any meaningful way, after death - so there can be no post-mortem Heaven or Hell. But I don't mind hearing what others believe and I'm prepared to stand-up for Israel's right say what he believes.

Israel's defence that he was simply responding to a question from a fan is as transparent as a 'Dorothy Dixer' asked by a fellow party member in Parliament.   But that's not the point he's just as constitutionally entitled to express his beliefs without such 'framing'.

For more on the beliefs of Fundamentalist Christians read about ex US President Jimmy Carter's change of heart... 

Read More...

 


On Thu, May 10, 2018, at 5:04 PM, peter mckie wrote:
As the security code didn't show/refresh, I send my comment direct - for you to append.

Hi Richard, little brother Peter here,
Much as I agree with the right to believe what you want, flat earth, chemtrails, vaccines cause whatever, coffee colonics, auras, crystals, even Deities, in the religious lexicon threatening "Hell" on another IS wishing them harm. In fact; torture for eternity. It's hate speech. Same as the Mufti that called for uncovered women to be raped. 
Point being the "fundamentalists" don't read their own books. Had they, they would see Leviticus was just a (broad-scope) hateful prick, King David was gay, Jesus was a feminist, LGBT tolerant socialist, and Paul (the antichrist) wrote the 'hate' back in as a marketing exercise to raise appeal among the Roman patriarchy.
Bottom line is all Abrahamic religions are "fundamentally" "advocating" harm to others. 
Perhaps next time, instead of hate speech on social media, Israel should read Matthew 6.5.
Just sayin'  


Nice to hear from you 
The Security Code on my site is ineffective at the moment due to (Russian?) hackers - I had to turn it off.
I'll append your comment manually.  


You could be right regarding hate speech.  I suppose I'm so used to being told I'll go to hell in jest that I assume that everyone thinks it's a joke.  But I'm still inclined to regard freedom of expression, such as yours, as having a higher social and intellectual debating value than the cost of a few noses out of joint.

Big Brother

 

 

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Travel

Hong Kong to Singapore 2024

 

On February 16th 2024 Wendy and I set-forth on a 20 day trip, revisiting old haunts in SE Asia.

From Hong Kong we made a brief side-trip to Shenzhen in China then embarked on a Cruise, sailing down the east coast, south, to Singapore where we spent a few days, before returning home: [Hong Kong; Ha Long Bay/Hanoi; Hoi An; Ho Chi Min City (Saigon); Bangkok; Ko Samui; Singapore]

 

Read more: Hong Kong to Singapore 2024

Fiction, Recollections & News

The Meaning of Death

 

 

 

 

 

 

'I was recently restored to life after being dead for several hours' 

The truth of this statement depends on the changing and surprisingly imprecise meaning of the word: 'dead'. 

Until the middle of last century a medical person may well have declared me dead.  I was definitely dead by the rules of the day.  I lacked most of the essential 'vital signs' of a living person and the technology that sustained me in their absence was not yet perfected. 

I was no longer breathing; I had no heartbeat; I was limp and unconscious; and I failed to respond to stimuli, like being cut open (as in a post mortem examination) and having my heart sliced into.  Until the middle of the 20th century the next course would have been to call an undertaker; say some comforting words then dispose of my corpse: perhaps at sea if I was travelling (that might be nice); or it in a box in the ground; or by feeding my low-ash coffin into a furnace then collect the dust to deposit or scatter somewhere.

But today we set little store by a pulse or breathing as arbiters of life.  No more listening for a heartbeat or holding a feather to the nose. Now we need to know about the state of the brain and central nervous system.  According to the BMA: '{death} is generally taken to mean the irreversible loss of capacity for consciousness combined with the irreversible loss of capacity to breathe'.  In other words, returning from death depends on the potential of our brain and central nervous system to recover from whatever trauma or disease assails us.

Read more: The Meaning of Death

Opinions and Philosophy

The Origin of Life - according to God

 

 

 

Back in April 2013 I had another visit from our neighbourhood Jehovah's Witnesses,  a pretty young woman and her husband, recently married.   Like Daniel (mentioned elsewhere on this website) before them, they had brought copies of The Watchtower and Awake; which I agreed to read if they were prepared to read my paper: The Prospect of Eternal Life.

I keep a couple of copies of The Prospect of Eternal Life for just such occasions and have also given a copy to the local Anglican minister and to various other active proselytisers in the area; with similar conditions.  Of course I know it will not change their position but I do like to have the debate and amazingly so do they; it beats the usual reception they get; and they get some practice in trying to convert un-believers. 

When the couple asked my position I quickly summarised that in The Prospect of Eternal Life

Read more: The Origin of Life - according to God

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