GoFundMe and Free Speech

Today GoFundMe page for Israel Folau was taken down because he quoted 1 Cor 6 on a meme on social media, was sacked and needs to raise money for a court case that Rugby Australia intends to through its erroneous weight at him and punish him again....for quoting scripture and offending Qantas Chief. 

1) The Death Of Free Speech

I have lamented the death of Free Speech in Australia for the last few years. Now as a point of clarification, Australia does not have Free Speech enshrined in their constitution like the Americans do. In fact, the only social freedom that’s guaranteed in our constitution is religion. (Which I have to say in under extreme threat right now). Australia doesn’t have a bill of rights, which is where free speech usually gets defined and protected in most Western Democracies. It’s also not incorporated in any Federal legislation. Instead, Free Speech is only a common law, which was adopted from the Westminster System from the UK, which means it’s a pretty loosely defined concept. However, having said all that, Australia has operated under what I would term ‘assumed Free Speech’ due to it being a Western Democracy, free from tyranny and Dictatorships.

But the Folau furor is illustrative of a deeper cancer that has developed under the surface of our current leftist leaning societal context that we now find ourselves living in. This is how Free Speech is now defined in Australia…..You can say anything you want as long as you agree with what we say. Folau made the mistake of having an opinion, (and stating that opinion), that is contrary to what the current definers of society deem to be acceptable. See these current definers of society only will accept people who are in complete agreement with their ideology and to be counter to their ideology makes you an enemy of the state…..Oh darn, I have just realized that my comment earlier that we as a Western Democracy are free from tyranny and Dictatorships is wrong…..It's just that Australia doesn’t have a named Dictator but rather an Ideology is now firmly running our country.

And in true Dictator style, this Ideology demands complete compliance without exception. Let’s talk about Margaret Court for a moment. A champion of Australian Tennis. A pioneer for women in Australia and women in leadership. Thus a Sports Arena in Melbourne was named after her….But then she committed a Speech Crime. She had an opinion that was contrary to the Dictatorship that is running our nation and so she was vilified, bullied, received death threats and there was a push to remove her name from the Arena…..Wait for what……Was she a rapist, a serial murder, did she hurt children? No, she offended our Dictator and his minions called for her blood.

2) I don’t agree with Folau’s methodology but doesn’t he have a right to say what he thinks based on his faith?

I actually think Folau could have been wiser in the way he preached about his faith and convictions. Knowing it was a potential issue for his Rugby contract, he could have used a bit more wisdom in the execution of his faith.

And whilst the furor is over his comments about homosexuality (and to be fair other sins), my issue is around the concept of people taking offense at his quoting the bible. What if I quote John 14:6 ‘I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.’ This is a fairly exclusive scripture. I am quoting Jesus saying that no one gets to heaven unless they have a relationship with Him. Do people take offense to that? I remember seeing a clip from an Oprah show, where Oprah was highly offended that an audience member said that there is only one way to get to heaven….

My point is that Folau quoted scripture and lost his career and has been hated and vilified by the most passionate preachers of tolerance and inclusion. My comments about those who are most passionate about the doctrine of tolerance is that…can't they be tolerant even of those they deem to be intolerant:- Because if not, the doctrine of tolerance is laced with hypocrisy?

As a Christian, I am watching the development of the Folau furor with great interest and alarm about the atmosphere that Christianity is now existing in Australia.

3) Closing Folau’s Go Fund Page down.

I find this breathtaking in the scope of its control. There is such a concerted effort to close Folau down. Even in the media the other day, they were putting up some of the sick kids raising money on GoFundMe…and the inference was that Folau was taking money that should have gone to those campaigns….But people have a right to choose where they put their money. And the media didn’t get how sick it was to use sick kids to push their agenda??? For GoFundMe to bow to the pressure of minority people groups, shows just how much the vocal minority are setting agendas in Australia.

What the vocal minority fail to see, is that people of faith are a large component of Australia. The ALP now admits that by ostracising people who have faith, they lost the election.

Whilst I support Israel Folau right to speak and even to defend his sacking (which I have already said, he could have been wiser about), I was happy to stay on the sidelines. However, due to the closing down of his Go Fund Me Page, if he sets up a website or foundation, I will be making a donation because the control and manipulation that has come against Folau, is crazy and I think we need to speak up.

Yep sure this about his comments on Homosexuality….but there is a day coming when we will see Sunday preachers hauled before the courts because someone has taken offense at something we preached in church.

That’s not the kind of Australia I want to live in. But it’s the Australia we are heading toward.

4) The Australia Media Are Hypocrites.

Often the Aussie media wax lyrical about the negatives of bullying. They will carry stories of 12-year-old girls who take their life due to being the victims of a bully. Yet they find no issues whatsoever of strapping on their steel-capped bully boots and being relentlessly brutal on people who they deem to be worth of being bullied. I saw an interview with two male interviewers in the lead up to the latest Federal Election, with Pauline Hanson: the interviewers were nothing short of schoolyard thugs. It was so ugly to see. Last night on the Project, the bullying of Folau, in his absence, was just outright wrong.

Again is this the kind of Australia we want?

The media still don’t get that their love affair with the extreme leftist world view, is out of step with so much of Australia. And won’t they all be surprised when in 5 years time, they realize, no one watches commercial television anymore. Programs like the Project are similar to the band playing as the Titanic sunk. They feel they are doing an honorable service but all they are doing is dancing on the decks of a ship that is doomed to sink under the murky depths and take their place in history as something that once lived and is now dead. I personally will dance on the grave of The Project.

5) Clearly, the Wallabies, Qantas and much of Australia actually believe in hell.

There was a statement going around Facebook after Israel Folau got sacked for saying sinners go to hell: it said this:

‘Imagine getting upset at someone for claiming the God you don’t believe in, said in the book you don’t read, that unless you repent of the sin you don’t care about, you will go to a place you don’t think exits.’

It got me thinking.

But watching Australian Rugby’s reaction along with the NRL, Qantas and the people all outraged by Israel Folau’s comment, proves that they all believe in Hell and they are so uncomfortable by the concept that they want to silence the Hell fire and brimstone preacher. But the point has been made….they actually believe in Heaven and Hell and therefore God and Jesus. If they truly think Hell is not a thing….who cares that Folau says they were going there.

Hamlet said  ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks’…..which means guilty people often over protest their innocence.

In this case, Australia has protested too much about their non-belief in Hell.