Rugby Australia terminates Israel Folau's contract over social media post - Said Hell awaited homosexuals (among others)

[TheImportantFart]

Rugby Australia has terminated the contract Israel Folau over a social media post in which he said "hell awaits" gay people.
Folau, one of the sport's top players, published a message on his Instagram account saying that hell awaits "drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, idolators".

RA chief executive Raelene Castle said she and NSW Rugby Union chief Andrew Hore made "repeated attempts" to contact Folau directly and via his representatives but he failed to communicate with them.

Ms Castle said: "As a code we have made it clear to Israel formally and repeatedly that any social media posts or commentary that is in any way disrespectful to people because of their sexuality will result in disciplinary action.

"In the absence of compelling mitigating factors, it is our intention to terminate his contract."

The decision comes just five months before the start of the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

The post in question:

Article link

 

[Pixy]

Well, he did threaten the vast majority of the Australian population by saying that drunks would be going to hell, along with liars and thieves.

 

[Unog]

Yeah, that'll really show him. How dare he make his opinion public.

 

[vertexwindi]

He's not wrong. Die gays.

 

[Krokodil Overdose]

I was confused by this, until I saw the "only Jesus saves" at the bottom of the post. Anyone who thinks they'd have done this if it had said "Only Allah Saves," raise your hand.
Everyone who raised your hand, use it to slap the stupid out of yourself.

 

[KeyserBroze]

I don't understand, if Fornicators, Adulterers and Drunks are in Hell.. what's the motivation to go to heaven?

Edit: Worked it out, Homosexuals are also in hell so your punishment is that you can get drunk but you cant get black out drunk and pass out.

 

[The Penultimate Warrior]

Jesus loves you all - unless you do something he disagrees with, then you will burn for all eternity.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

I was confused by this, until I saw the "only Jesus saves" at the bottom of the post. Anyone who thinks they'd have done this if it had said "Only Allah Saves," raise your hand.
Everyone who raised your hand, use it to slap the stupid out of yourself.

+1, I agree. I guess they would chicken out if the guy had said "Only Allah Saves".

 

[Pixy]

+1, I agree. I guess they would chicken out if the guy had said "Only Allah Saves".

They wouldn't because then the far right pollies and the Murdoch press would be hounding him.

 

[TheImportantFart]

Just saw this on his Twitter:

The absolute madman

 

[MG 620]

This is bullshit. People should be free to ignore and attack his opinions, should they disagree. Banning someone for saying something "wrong" is a bad move.

Is Australia no better than our dear friends in New Zealand?

 

[MadDamon]

Will I go to heaven if I take the d every night but repented to Jesus beforehand?

 

[nothingtoseehere]

Recent developments -

• Israel Folau failed in bids to have his contract reinstated
• Rugby Australia said they would set aside considerable funds to fight him ever being reinstated
• Israel Folau set up a GoFundMe to help him meet legal expenses
• Journalists everywhere got angry and pointed out that lots of sick children weren't getting help via GoFundMe
• GoFundMe had about $750,000 AUD in a couple of days, many contributions citing things like 'I'm doing this for FitzSimons and Ellis' - a couple of the public sporting commentators who had condemned Folau and the GoFundMe
• GoFundMe cancelled the campaign for breaching their terms and conditions

Fierce reaction to GoFundMe’s move

Israel Folau only needed to look at the social media accounts of GoFundMe to have an indication of how his cause would be viewed.

www.news.com.au

GoFundMe’s Australian manager Nicola Britton released a statement saying “after a routine period of evaluation, we have concluded that this campaign violates our terms of service”.

Ms Britton said GoFundMe was committed to the “fight for equality” for LGBTIQ+ people and fostering an environment of inclusivity.

“While we welcome GoFundMes engaging in diverse civil debate, we do not tolerate the promotion of discrimination or exclusion,” she said.

“In the days since Mr Folau’s campaign launched, more than one million dollars have been donated to hundreds of other campaigns, large and small, acrossAustralia. Those acts of kindness are the heart of GoFundMe.

“Our platform exists to help people help others. We look forward to helping more Australians fundraise for causes they care about in the coming months and years.”

But Folau has no shortage of defenders. Liberal National Party Senator James McGrath reacted swiftly to GoFundMe’s decision on Monday.

“The true test of a democratic nation is not how we treat those with whom we agree but how we treat the rights of those with whom we disagree,” he said.

“Freedom of speech is timeless and should not be restricted by the leftist gormless oxygen thieves of GoFundMe.”

 

[Meat Poultry Veg]

Will I go to heaven if I take the d every night but repented to Jesus beforehand?

I know this is a troll question, but I'll answer it like it's serious.
[PAPIST]Technically yes, but the thing is, you do not know the day or hour of your death. People die in freak accidents all the time and if you die in a state of mortal sin without access to the Sacraments (confession, Eucharist, Extreme Unction) you will go to hell.

Furthermore, planning sins beforehand with the idea you can get them confessed later is the mortal sin of presumption as well as a violation the first greatest commandment (1 John 5:3) [/PAPIST]

 

[Babyspackle]

If you post religious / political shit while representing a public buissiness you should have a reasonable expectation you could be fired for it, especially if you're going against public opinion. People have already said how others would react if he was preaching islam, but what if he was coming from an atheist angle saying how anyone who believes in religion is foolish or worse, that it only exists to procure funds and control the masses or some shit like that?

I think its total bullshit that gofundme pulled his campaign however. I mean I generally think that shit is over-used / promotes meaningless public discourse as a career, but I don't actually think this guy calculated all this.

 

[Pixy]

In the wake of this the government is trying to pass a bill that has measures against so-called 'religious discrimination' in regards to employment. It's mostly just the Christians who're backing it.

The Christian Lobby is trying to force through legislation because they're still salty over the Same Sex Marriage Vote. The Muslim community is behind it, too. It's the legislation that'll unite the country.

 

[buying gf]

I'm interested to see how the case will progress in a higher court. One potential issue for Rugby Australia is that Tolu Latu has played in the most recent games for the Wallabies and also this year played for the Waratahs, Folau's former state team. Earlier this year, Latu was found by the police drunk and asleep at the wheel of a moving car. He was also driving on a suspended licence. He did not inform player management that he had been arrested. They found out a few days after the incident as the media reported on it and during that time between being arrested and the media reporting on it, he played a game for the Tahs. He plead guilty to all offences, got suspended for a few weeks, lost his drivers licence and had to pay a fine.

If the defence is that they're firing him based on a breach of the Code of Conduct, shouldn't drink driving and lying by omission to player management be considered a more serious breach? There are some different circumstances, like Latu pleading guilty and Folau's previous behaviour, but Latu did break an actual law as opposed to Folau making a dumb social media post.

Folau's still a retard though and the Wallabies are better off without him.

 

[Pixy]

If the defence is that they're firing him based on a breach of the Code of Conduct, shouldn't drink driving and lying by omission to player management be considered a more serious breach? There are some different circumstances, like Latu pleading guilty and Folau's previous behaviour, but Latu did break an actual law as opposed to Folau making a dumb social media post.

He didn't have a mob after him on social media, however. Amazingly enough, there are some exceptional individuals out there who are trying to link Folau's case to a recent one of a Border Force or Home Affairs worker who got fired after she was found to be running a twitter account that espoused opinions negative towards her employer. It was completely legal, as government employees aren't meant to espouse political opinions on public platforms.

 

[buying gf]

He didn't have a mob after him on social media, however. Amazingly enough, there are some exceptional individuals out there who are trying to link Folau's case to a recent one of a Border Force or Home Affairs worker who got fired after she was found to be running a twitter account that espoused opinions negative towards her employer. It was completely legal, as government employees aren't meant to espouse political opinions on public platforms.

Wow, for that to be even a remotely comparable case you would have to argue that RA is an inherently homosexual organisation. But I suppose that isn't that far from the truth.

 

[Pixy]

Wow, for that to be even a remotely comparable case you would have to argue that RA is an inherently homosexual organisation. But I suppose that isn't that far from the truth.

It's a stretch, but since they're both making the rounds in the news cycle, it was inevitable. The argument they're trying to make is that both of their work contracts restrict their non-existent freedom of speech (with freedom of religion mixed in for Folau's case). Especially the government worker.