Israel Folau & the book.
There are many aspects of the Israel Folau saga that are disturbing but for me his quoting from ‘the book’ is not one of them.
Human rights are like a dance. My rights end where yours begin and your rights end where mine begins. It is not a winner takes all endeavour.
On a personal level I find religion, in all its manifestations, disturbing and deeply believe that more needs to be done to limit its influence in society. I do not believe in invisible friends and can’t fathom how someone can believe that their invisible friend exists but that their neighbour is a fool or an enemy for believing in a different invisible friend. All invisible friends are created equal me thinks!
However, when I step back and look at the issue through a human rights lens, I am reminded of the need to be more tolerant and to be more accommodating and respectful of the religious views of my family members, friends and most of the world’s population. To them freedom of religion is core to their identity and to how they see and interpret the world and their place in it. Even in developed countries such as Australia, many believe that this freedom is under threat.
Freedom of religion also means freedom from religion i.e., you can believe what you want and should be able to practice your faith without fear - but to do so without infringing on the rights of others. This brings me to my main concern which is the aims of The Australian Christian Lobby ACL, an avid supporter of Israel Foula.
The ACL seeks to advance Christianity by seeing Christian principles and ethics influencing the way Australia is governed, does business and relates as a community.
Like you, I find this mission offensive and a direct attack on my rights. It is a direct threat on my right to freedom from religion. The ACL is entitled to promote and protect the rights of Christians. That is a noble and worthy cause - but not to seek to have these beliefs enforced on me. The ACL and its fellow travellers have opposed gay law reform, reproductive rights, a women’s rights to choose and so on, and so on. This is what we should be seeking to curtail: not someone quoting from a book.
The book clearly says that many types of people, including me and my nearest and dearest will be going to hell in a pink handbag. It is a fact - according to the book. The book also says that snakes talk, virgins give birth, owning slaves is ok, a menstruating women should not pollute a house of worship, nor should a person with a disability, and so on and so on. It is not a very nice book in parts but it is the book.
As the French writer, social commentator and philosopher Voltaire is quoted as saying, “I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
This is a founding and enduring principle of human rights and although we have qualified it somewhat - Yes you can say what you want so long as it is not legally slanderous or inciting vilification or hate…
As noted earlier, human rights is a dance. How unpleasant it is for me to be sharing the same side of the dance floor with Folau supports, characters such as A Jones and M Latham - people I distain and whose motives I abhor.
This post was originally published in June 2019. For those of you with manageable dementia you will recall that the issue was that in mid 2019, Israel Folau, a famous Rugby player, launched an anti-gay tirade on social media claiming that “Hell awaits you” to anyone who identifies as homosexual in comments that were labelled unacceptable by his employers, Rugby Australia. He was eventually sacked. He occasionally resurfaces seeking employment back in Australia.
