'Dangerous precedent': Religious leaders take action amid Israel Folau storm
Israel Folau’s ongoing battle with Rugby Australia has reportedly prompted the country’s religious leaders to take action.
According to the ABC, nine prominent Christians have sent letters to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition leader Bill Shorten about the protection of religious freedoms.
The ABC reports that Folau’s name isn’t mentioned in the letters, but the timing is certainly interesting.
“In recent years the protections to be accorded to religious freedom, and the related freedoms of conscience, speech and association, have come under increasing focus within Australia,” the letters begin, according to the ABC.
“We write to invite you to provide clarification on a range of key issues that are important to the preservation of these freedoms in our country.”
Reverend Dr Hedley Fihaki, a Uniting Church minister and the national chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations, told the ABC: “Scripture is the book the whole church is based on, so if we are not free to teach from that, not just in the private but particularly in the public domain, it is a dangerous precedent.”
What happens next?
Wallabies fullback Folau, a fundamentalist Christian, moved a step closer to being sacked by Rugby Australia this week after he was found to have committed a “high-level” code of conduct breach for a post that said hell awaited “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers” and others.
Folau faced a three-member panel over three days of hearings.
The panel issued its verdict on Tuesday and said it would consider further submissions before issuing a sanction.
The judgement came more than three weeks after RA and Folau’s Super Rugby club New South Wales Waratahs said they intended to terminate his four-year contract.
Folau has a right to appeal but a high-level breach would be sufficient for RA and the Waratahs to dismiss the 73-test back.
The offending post, which has attracted 54,000 ‘likes’ and 48,000 comments, remains on Folau’s Instagram page.
with AAP
