Israel Folau - latest example of how to fleece the gullible

[Yenn]

Latest is that Rugby Australia have revealed that Folau had been warned before that his tweets were unacceptable. He had agreed that it wouldn't happen again, but it did. He could not help himself if God talked to him.

 

Just goes to show how stupid religious zealots can be. He had signed a new agreement with big increases in pay and still couldn't shut up.

 

I do tend to agree with some of his sentiments in that I think the Alphabet soup group seem to be the only ones who can be upset by what others say. We have to bend over backwards to appease them. At least bending over backwards is safer than the other way.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

You have a point, Yenn. After enduring eons of discrimination and worse, people who are a bit different now enjoy some freedoms. Public sentiment has finally swung their way.

 

However, like a pendulum, it can swing back as quickly if they alienate the great middle ground who currently support them.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

I just watched season 3 of Glitch. On ABC. It had all the compulsory ABC stuff including passionate males kissing, in bed etc. I try to be tolerant but this is deliberate provocation. There should be warnings at the start and I would not watch. By the way, it is a crap show but filmed in our town so I wanted to see it.

 

 

[spacesailor]

I am awaiting November to watch, "Fat Pizza" (spelling ) as it was shot in my road.

 

Up & down passed my house using a drone camera as well as the other equipment. (like Hoon cars).

 

I don't think I would bother other-wise

 

spacesailor

 

 

[Litespeed]

What was so offensive?

 

It was a small scene and provides context. The character was historically killed for been gay. This is context.

 

We have always had gay people.

 

 

[facthunter]

 Yes It's nothing new at all and still widespread in Countries that have severe penalties for such acts. . Penalties for people who do things you don't like  have severe possible ramifications for concepts of basic freedoms . Some thing YOU do may be unacceptable to some. Not believing in a god is punishable by death in some places.  Does that strike you as concerning? . Blokes kissing passionately doesn't do much for me, but I'm not going to jump up and down about it. A more tolerant position will make a more inclusive and fair society and one I feel more comfortable in.   Nev

 

 

[Marty_d]

I don't know why they consider it unnatural. Homosexuality is not limited to humans, plenty of animals have been shown to be attracted to the same sex.

 

Strangely enough, I don't think any animals believe in god, so maybe that's unnatural.

 

 

[facthunter]

Can we agree that religion has lot's of problems with SEX so their individual views are not likely to contribute much.  ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God  and He (&she) who is without sin cast the first stone.. Selective quoting out of context is not any answer. It just re enforces bigotry and self righteousness,a couple of things we could well do with less of.  In the early days of Christianity they were persecuted, Now THEY are wishing to do the persecuting. If the ACL get to run the show it will be something like IRAN, or worse. It's not better just because your brand of bigotry and Diety is used. The crusaders weren't that nice. Nev

 

 

[facthunter]

Perhaps I'm alone in this but I just cannot imagine anything worse than a totalitarian religious state. Nev

 

 

[spacesailor]

A totalitarian Government, were every thing is made compulsory !.

 

If it wasn't compulsory There would be few trudging to the voting booth, after all, those pollies promises mean nothing.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[facthunter]

Don't put them all in the one basket. There ARE some good ones and they should be encouraged The more that vote the better the outcome and the less it can be manipulated by set ups like Cambridge Analytica . To try to prevent someone voting here is a crime. The original purpose of making voting compulsory was to stop some, like your boss, making it difficult for you to exercise your RIGHT to vote.. Realise how lucky you are compared to MOST of the world and VOTE more CAREFULLY. (While you still CAN). Nev

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Too plurry right, Nev! Many people resent being compelled to vote. There have been proposals to make voting voluntary, most recently by Tony Abbott. His odious track record suggests that, had he remained PM, he would have taken us down the path towards religious dictatorship. Luckily, our kids are fairly safe from that.

 

 

[spacesailor]

Some IDIOTS want a dictatorship, ( they think it's a voting republic).

 

Just look at history: France, number of revolts, can't count them !.

 

Fiji, called in the army.

 

England, Armed revolution, but only the one. 

 

spacesailor 

 

 

[facthunter]

 I think the French take Government seriously. They are generally more informed about issues than most are.  They also guard their own personal freedoms .. Nev

 

 

[Yenn]

Fijis' problem was caused by allowing vast numbers of people into the country, mainly Indian and giving them the vote. They suddenly woke up to the fact that they were disenfranchised in their own country.

 

Indonesia is the worlds largest Muslim state and the religious fanatics want to make extramarital sex illegal. That seems to be starting to wake up the younger, more sectarian part of the population and it is a democracy. It will be interesting to see what happens.

 

Indonesia is having a second East Timor type of problem. For many years it has been impossible for journalists to get into West Papua and no doubt they have been treating the indigenous population badly, while Western governments cared little.

 

 

[Yenn]

Israel is now preaching in a church. He is reported as blaming the bush fires on the legalising of abortion and gay marriage.

 

If that is what he really believes I wonder about his sanity and also about his religion. Did his god really create man in his own image and also know exactly what everyone of us is thinking. If so his current disciple seems a bit off course.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

He is not alone. There are many religious nutters out there whose beliefs are way out. I've worked with an otherwise sensible bloke who warned me when he was driving us to a conference that he could be taken up at any time, leaving the car driverless.

 

We hear reports from the Kimberlies that radical Christian missionaries are still teaching our Aboriginal people that their ancient culture is evil devil worship. 

 

 

[Bruce]

Gosh its hard to know what a person really thinks, especially if he has found a niche where the pretense of such nonsense is rewarded.

 

Not only that, the person might not even know himself, since he will avoid thinking about things like what he really believes.

 

As a non-Catholic, but with several Catholic friends, I found myself embarrassed by the Popemobile. Golly, thought I, why doesn't he think that Jesus will protect him, if that's what God wants...    

 

This is by no means an anti-Catholic statement. I notice the current Pope has quit the Popemobile. AND they run the most ethical old-folks homes around, a fact that I found out getting auntie Pat looked after.

 

 

[Bruce]

Old K, the story of Hermannsburg  illustrates your story very well. The first missionaries there found it easy to "convert" the aborigines. But those missionaries found it very hard to get rid of the Aborigines old ideas. They had simply added christianity to their pantheon.

 

The old Germans died with broken hearts. Luckily for the place, the old Germans were replaced with South Australian Lutherans who were much tougher and Hermannsburg is there to this day.

 

Just how could they have expected a desert Aborigine to understand anything much from the Bible is a mystery to me. Basic concepts, like private real estate, not to mention tithing and taxes, were completely unknown to them. I doubt that they had much of a concept of sin and guilt either.

 

But they sure understood that bad fortune, like illness,  was caused by evil spirits, of which they had many.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Christians simply add to every pantheon.  Christmas day, Easter, most of the saint's days - none of it original.  Even the idea of virgin birth and Jesus dying and living again all come from older myths.

 

Still, if people want to believe in this sh*t then that's their business... if they keep it to themselves.  When they start preaching against any other groups, publicly, then they've crossed a line.

 

Hopefully this idiot has done serious damage to the conservative christians in the LNP's plans to give religion a free ride on discrimination.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

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[octave]

Re. the whole god smiting because of same sex marriage thing. If I were to seriously consider that proposition my first step would probably be to produce a map of countries where SSM was allowed and then overlay a map of natural disasters. If I did notice a correlation then I would probably investigate further to see whether the correlation was significant or not.   

 

 

[Yenn]

This whole Israel Folau thing started because he published excerpts from the bible.

 

There are some people who think that was wrong as it made everybody out to be a sinner. So Israel was brought to heel and lost his well paying job.

 

Now he has continued in the same vein and we hear people saying he shouldn't be allowed to say such things.

 

What I wonder is how he can be causing any damage, what harm is he doing? He has just demonstrated the old saying is correct.

 

It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and dispel all doubt.

 

 

[octave]

This whole Israel Folau thing started because he published excerpts from the bible.

 

There are some people who think that was wrong as it made everybody out to be a sinner. So Israel was brought to heel and lost his well paying job.

 

Now he has continued in the same vein and we hear people saying he shouldn't be allowed to say such things.

 

What I wonder is how he can be causing any damage, what harm is he doing? He has just demonstrated the old saying is correct.

 

It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and dispel all doubt.

 

 

 

Free speech means he can say it, it also means we can criticize it.

 

 

[old man emu]

If the critics had any sense at all, they would ignore anything he says. It's only their huff and puff that's keeping the subject burning. If what he says doesn't get the publicity, then how can his words and thoughts reach more than those in his congregation?

 

Sorry for the fire puns, they weren't intentional.