Noel Plum | "Respecting Religion" and the Aussie Rugby Player Ban @noelplum99 | Uploaded April 2019 | Updated October 2024, 1 week ago.
So the Australian Rugby Union player Israel Folau recently made a social media post whereupon he gave the view that homosexuals and atheists were condemned to hell. As a result of this he has been sacked from the national team (his status with his club side is actually still in the balance) for holding this religious beliefs about homosexuals. No sanction or condemnation was issued whatsoever over him holding the exact same belief about atheists.
So I find all of this quite interesting and worthy of discussion. Further, it opens up the discussion of what we actually mean when we talk about "respecting religious beliefs" and whether this really amounts to only respecting those religious beliefs that we respected anyway whilst abandoning entirely the sentiments when the religious belief runs contrary to the accepted social norms of the day.
Here are the links to the Israel Folau issue:
Israel Folau: Australia end player's contract over anti-gay message
bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/47932231
His post last year and Rugby Australia's wonderful (unintentionally) deadpan response:
bbc.com/news/world-australia-43651208
So the Australian Rugby Union player Israel Folau recently made a social media post whereupon he gave the view that homosexuals and atheists were condemned to hell. As a result of this he has been sacked from the national team (his status with his club side is actually still in the balance) for holding this religious beliefs about homosexuals. No sanction or condemnation was issued whatsoever over him holding the exact same belief about atheists.
So I find all of this quite interesting and worthy of discussion. Further, it opens up the discussion of what we actually mean when we talk about "respecting religious beliefs" and whether this really amounts to only respecting those religious beliefs that we respected anyway whilst abandoning entirely the sentiments when the religious belief runs contrary to the accepted social norms of the day.
Here are the links to the Israel Folau issue:
Israel Folau: Australia end player's contract over anti-gay message
bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/47932231
His post last year and Rugby Australia's wonderful (unintentionally) deadpan response:
bbc.com/news/world-australia-43651208
