Two years ago, Cambridge barrister Paul Dimond offered a blunt, near-prophetic warning that Christians will be targeted if marriage laws were to change in Australia.
“It’s perfectly possible to create a society of same-sex rights and privacy rights for homosexuals and freedom of religion rights for Christians,” Diamond said. “In fact, that would be a truly diverse and free society. That is not the experience in the United Kingdom.
“You do lose your job, you will suffer educational detriment, you will be vilified, for doing no more than reading a Bible verse expressing traditional views. And it’s so abusive in my experience, it’s a new barbarism.”
Sound familiar? Last week Rugby Australia sacked Israel Folau, Super Rugby’s all-time leading try-scorer, after he posted a graphic on his personal Instagram account citing 1 Corinthians 6:9.
Rugby Australia released a statement last Thursday saying, “whilst Israel is entitled to his religious beliefs, the way in which he has expressed these beliefs is inconsistent with the values of the sport.”
“We want to make it clear that he does not speak for the game with his recent social media posts.”
“Israel has failed to understand that the expectation of him as a Rugby Australia and NSW Waratahs employee is that he cannot share material on social media that condemns, vilifies or discriminates against people on the basis of their sexuality,” the statement continued.
“In the absence of compelling mitigating factors, it is our intention to terminate his contract.”
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