The Sydney Morning Herald and the Brisbane Times published an opinion piece today which referred to the teaching of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament as ridiculous, vicious, and cruel.

Pru Goward, former NSW Liberal minister who authored the piece, said:

Christianity hasn’t prevailed for two thousand years without taking on its opponents. There was always going to be a Folau, a Christian somewhere, who was going to promote his Christian beliefs relying on the as-yet-unbanned Bible (as his faith dictates) in all its muddled, wonderful and sometimes cruel teachings to challenge today’s freedoms.

Exactly what freedoms Folau has challenged is yet to be determined. But if it’s the “freedom” not to be offended, then surely suggesting that Paul was an “ignorant and cruel” man who launched “many vicious attacks on homosexuals”, would make Goward just as guilty as Folau.

Can you imagine the outrage if the same newspapers ran a piece attacking a devout Muslim found guilty of citing the Quran? Can you imagine the nation-wide backlash if these corporations told their readers to find Islamic writings ridiculous?

If the Folau saga has demonstrated anything, it’s how blind his opponents are to their own blatantly obvious double-standards.