Lest people think I might be obsessed with Folau, they need to understand that it is not me who is obsessed, but his many enemies who will just NOT stop their ongoing persecution of him. The folks at GoFundMe thought they had won by pulling his funding campaign, only to find that twice as much was raised in a third of the time with the ACL funding campaign. Ha!
And now the lunar left is trying to say that the ACL is violating charity laws. Also, the ANZ bank has targeted Maria Folau for not hating on her husband. See these two pieces for more on this insanity:
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/charity-watchdog-could-investigate-australian-christian-lobby-over-folau-fundraiser-20190625-p5217h.html
https://wwos.nine.com.au/netball/maria-folau-condemned-by-anz-bank-over-her-views/133c9611-735a-4c14-a949-4cb7c6419626
And as long as they continue this reign of terror, I will keep writing and seek to offer a differing point of view. Let me mention a few other commentators on this, and then turn once again to all those compromised and clueless Christian critics.
Non-Christian politician Mark Latham continues to make incisive comments on all this. I have quoted him before and will continue to do so. Consider just one of his recent tweets:
We are all Folau:
Those sacked by the elites for their genuine beliefs
Those afraid to speak due to PC
Those afraid to mention their Christianity and views on SSM
Those subject to new workplace Feudalism where bosses think they own employees’ private lives, words and opinions.
Yes he nails it. We are all Folau and we will all suffer greatly if we sit back and allow him to take all the heat. He is simply representing us, and we need to support him. Another non-Christian, Janet Albrechtsen has also penned a good column and is worth quoting from. She begins:
The treatment of Israel Folau is a solid-gold lesson in how to create a martyr. From Rugby Australia to GoFundMe, censors have turned a small dispute with Folau into a big one about us. Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle started from a sensible premise when she said diverse views should be respected. In a liberal democracy, we have the freedom to speak, to think for ourselves too, to freely worship different religions and freely gather together also.
Then, money talked. Qantas can direct its sponsorship money wherever it chooses. That is the deal in a free country, too. When Castle chose money, rather than resisting Qantas and making the case that rugby players have the right to express different views, she started the process of making Folau a martyr for a bigger cause than himself.
The politicisation of corporate Australia, with chief executives virtue signalling about social causes at shareholder expense, is bad enough. When sport goes the same way, watch the backlash from grassroots Australians. This is not some harmless exercise designed to make the sporting field more civil. The sporting censors are stifling basic freedoms, be it Folau expressing his religious beliefs about homosexuals, adulterers and thieves, or the right of a bloke watching an AFL match to direct a few choice words at an umpire.
And she concludes:
GoFundMe’s sham inclusivity policy excludes many millions of people who share Folau’s Christian beliefs. The actions of the crowdfunding site are both morally hypocritical and potentially contract-breaking. Talk about an own goal. Folau has now raised much, much more than $700,000 in 24-hours through a fund set up by the Australian Christian Lobby. Quiet Australians standing up again.
Which is why the Prime Minister should have stood up for Folau on Monday, instead of trying to handball the issue away. Morrison, a religious man, need not worry about critics coming after him for defending fundamental values. They will come for him, just as they accused John Howard of harnessing the votes of social conservatives. The attacks were a vote winner for Howard among mainstream Australians.
Speaking for quiet Australians, Morrison could ask whether we are back in the Dark Ages where people are persecuted for religious beliefs by self-appointed cultural dietitians, without recourse to the law. The legal system and GoFundMe have been used for far worse than testing the rights of a man to speak publicly about his religious beliefs. Disagreeing with Folau is all the more reason to defend his right to speak freely. After all, defending people you agree with is no test of a genuine commitment to this most basic human right in a liberal democracy.
Christian armchair critics – again
Yes quite right. But it is the condemnation coming from Christian Pharisees that really bothers me. Plenty of folks are condemning Folau, claiming he is just a greedy money grabber, and he does not need a funding campaign. We expect the secular left to say dumb things like this, but sadly too many people claiming to be Christians are parroting this same nonsense.
I have dealt with heaps of these folks this week. It gets rather tiring to keep having to counter their fuzzy thinking and sloppy moralising. They stand in judgment over Folau, acting as judge, jury and executioner. Yet why do I suspect that most of these carnal critics would be the first to scream. “It is wrong to judge people!”? The hypocrisy is palpable.
Let me once again address their dodgy and off-base criticisms. One person who has written a lot of this on the social media, challenging me on this, is much more fair and balanced than most, So let me simply offer here my reply to him:
Thanks **** but respectfully, I am not so sure that you understand the battle to be honest. You continue to see things amiss here. First of all, do you have Godlike abilities? Are you omniscient? How in the world can any of Folau’s critics know anything with certainty about his financial situation? How can they know how much he gives away? How can they know what he may have done with his earnings? And how can they know what he has or has not done to put his own money (and time and career and reputation) into this battle? I am amazed that Christians are sitting in judgment on their brother here, claiming all sorts of inside knowledge that only God can have.
And how in the world do you know what the donors are doing with all their money? I gave to Folau. Do you know about all my other giving? Have you got inside knowledge that convinces you that I never gave to other persecuted Christians? How odd! Guess what: I have and I do give to other lesser known Christians. As would have thousands of these donors. So you are judging a whole group of people when you have absolutely no basis for doing so. That is hardly a Christian thing to do. It is up to God – not to armchair critics – what they do with their money, who they support, and what causes they give to. They are answerable to God for this, not the critics who know nothing about them.
And if some people wrongly ask for money, or misuse the funds they get, then God will judge them – and we can too. You offer one story of misused funding, but then you want to tar and feather everyone. Again, that is not very charitable or helpful. Sure, all Christians need to be wise and discerning as to who they give to, and what causes they support. I have often written about that, as in this piece: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2012/06/16/do-you-know-where-your-money-is-going/
And if Folau gets more attention and therefore more funding than someone like me, so what? That makes perfect sense: countless millions of people know about Folau, and so millions of people are willing to give to his cause. Good on them. Hardly anyone knows about me, so I would not expect millions of people to donate if I were in a similar position. And every single one donating has done so willingly. They WANT to give – and for very good reason. They know that they are Folau. They identify and stand in solidarity with him. They KNOW what is at stake here, and they KNOW they will be next, so they gladly give, hoping Folau will have a big win over the diabolical Rugby Australia, Qantas, and the other rainbow corporate powers.
Also, all the money the ACL receives is being put into a special fund, only reserved for the massively expensive legal battles with Rugby Australia which has heaps of money, including $28.4 million of taxpayer funding. If there is money left, it will presumably be used for other such legal cases – maybe when I am jailed by the PC thought police. I will be so glad that fund is available, and I will praise God for all those wonderful donors. So what we have here are tens of thousands of Christians donating their hard-earned cash because they know what is at stake and they see the vital importance of getting involved. How any Christians can sit in judgment on them absolutely staggers me to be honest.
And one popular Christian radio host has just come out with an appallingly bad comment on all this on the social media. She seems to think we either stand for religious freedom or help the poor. Um, duh – why in the world can’t Christians do both? Here is what this gal said:
$1.5 million dollars has been raised by the Australian Christian Lobby for a multi millionaire Lamborghini driving football star. Thoughts. Every 15 seconds a child dies in the developing world. 5.4 million children under the age of 5 die every year, many from preventable issues. 2.5 million of those children died within the first month of their little lives. I can’t stop thinking about how many babies we could save with that $1.5 Million dollars. Perhaps Israel could pay his own fees by selling one of his many multi million dollar homes, and the ACL could save these children’s lives instead.
I keep picturing a mother in Africa holding out her starving baby to me and begging me for help. And then picturing a multi millionaire standing in front of me asking me to pay his court bills because he broke a contract. I know what Jesus would call me to do. Without a doubt. I just weep for this mad mad world. It just all sucks.
*Opens bible and reads about helping the poor and oppressed. ” ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me.’
Oh good grief. Puh-leeese. This is what I wrote in response, but was not able to post on her page:
Sadly you completely miss the point Lucy. Folau was unfairly fired from his job, losing his income, his career, and his reputation. He now has a legal defence fight of $3 million. If you were booted from your job because of discrimination, you would certainly appreciate it if people volunteered to help with your legal fees. Folau is representing all of us. If he loses we all lose. Freedom of religion is very important, and it must be fought for before it is too late. And these people are freely giving to him because they know how important this is, and they know that they could well be next in this persecution. And how in the world do you know if all these supporters, and Folau himself, are not giving plenty away to poor people as well? You simply come across as another Pharisee here as you judge your brothers and sisters in Christ. I expect the Christ-haters to say foolish stuff like this, but not those claiming to be followers of Jesus Christ.
BTW, nearly $2 million has already been raised in less than two days! Take that Rugby Australia! Take that GoFundMe, and Qantas, and ANZ, and all the other virtue-signalling corporate tyrants. The people have had a gutful of this madness and the Big Business rainbow repression. They have spoken with their wallets. Well done Australia.
The link is here: https://www.acl.org.au/donate_izzy
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