Yes the ones that go about it legally will be out in the open. But there will be even more people who will be knocked off illegally and without due process.

Why even more? It's happening under the rug already (as you say). 

It's happening whilst its illegal. Now with it being legal under the proviso of certain conditions being met, their will be more abuse.

Whatever helps you justify your faux-puritanical persona, Mr resident contrarian.

It's just what naturally feels right. I can't think of too many things I'd want to do less than conform and follow the crowd.

This life is all that you've got man. Keep being who you naturally are. Hold on to the things that make you different, because if they're empowered in the right way they can positively set you apart from everyone else.

The conformists should be very thankful to people you say are contrarian. It's because it's always the contrarians that push society, push boundaries and innovate. Look at Galileo, Da Vinci, and Pythagoras as some examples and there are plenty more.

I am also a practicing Orthodox Christian and in my life I try to better myself and improve myself.

I really do feel sorry for you, but it's not too late for you to start differentiating yourself rather than living a life others want you to live and being accepted by these so called norms which are not norms at all.

ACL up to 350k for Folau lol, he's playing this very well.

-PB

I really want to see this go to court.  I'm interested in what they're going to say.

I know he breached his contract and got sacked for that.  The more interesting question is whether what he got sacked for should ever have been allowed to be written into it.

If it does go to the High Court I'm betting that he'll get off.



Also how are all the arsehats that are defending Folau now but were happy to throw Scott McIntyre and Yasmin Abdel Magied under the bus.  That pisses me off.  If you hold a principled position you can't pick and choose who you support and who you don't.

For the record I don't agree with what Folau said but I have no problem with him saying it and he shouldn't have got sacked.   

He can do whatever he want & I vehemently disagree with his sacking & the closure of his legal defence however anyone who donates money to a multi million dollar asset athlete is quite frankly a fucking idiot.  

Disagree with the donating part.  I'm blown away by people who are trying to tell other people what they're allowed to donate to.

Got into a barney with a bloke at work because he said he's a millionaire and doesn't need the money.  All true but that's not the point.

Canning his Go fund me was really stupid and plays right into the 'freedom of speech' narrative he and his supporters have been pushing.

Over $650k now.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/1000-a-minute-folau-gets-back-more-than-600-000-20190625-p5210t.html
https://www.acl.org.au/donate_izzy

I guess I'm a fucking idiot than 😎, and pretty happy to be one according to you. 
Just because someone has more money than I do, it doesn't mean I shouldn't support him when what he's fighting for is the exact same thing I'd fight for. 
And just for record he might be rich, but he's no where near as rich as who he's going up against in court, and also who is helping and or pushed Union to sack him in the first place. 
He shouldn't have to lose millions of his own hard earned money defending himself and others in this country. 
But anyways like I said I'm happy to labeled whatever for donating because I know what's right and wrong. Isreal Falou getting sacked, and just as worse GFM closing his fundraising page down is a disgrace, especially in a country like Australia. 
People talk about the sick kids on there and how it should be about them, and then turn a blind eye to the many other fundraisers still on that website that haven't been taken down, which have zero to do with any kids, and in some cases actually raising money for people who broke the law so they can defend themselves in court. 

I really don't see what the issue is. If I go for a job and HR stumbles onto something on my social media that they find incongruent with the companies values, they're not going to hire me, it's no different to a pro-sportsperson. It's not a freeze peach issue either because it's not the state outlawing what Folau can say, it's a private company deciding they don't want to be associated with those views.

And of course the Christian lobby has tacked onto it as another battle in the never-ending culture war over issues that don't really matter. It's all so tiresome. 

Best auto correct EVA !

But yeah you're right it was written into his contract so he doesn't have a leg to stand on.  I'm more interested in whether that sort of thing can be written into a contract.  If he genuinely holds those beliefs, and you can't discriminate on the basis of religion, it will interesting to see how they rule on this.

Otherwise imagine this for a thought experiment.  You work for a Christian boss who is anti-gay marriage.  One day he's trolling through your facebook posts and finds you in an online argument abusing some christian for not voting for gay marriage.  And then you get sacked because you don't reflect company values.

Far fetched? Maybe.

Completely unverifiable btw.

I wonder what other Rugby players are thinking considering its their paychecks he's coming after.

-PB

Surprisingly good article here from news.com.au laying out the likely arguments in court.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/sports-life/one-unresolved-legal-question-at-the-heart-of-israel-folaus-case/news-story/387b057b25ab325d35ea494b9ed087b3

Depending on the terms, you can’t contract in our out of things. 

Yeah it's a tough one. The saying "the right to swing my fist ends where your face begins" comes to mind, i.e. the right to practise your religion stops when it gets into hateful territory (as imo people have a right to not be targeted for their sexuality). If I had a religion that argued that it would be ok to discriminate based on race, if you wanted to be consistent then the same justification used for Folau could be applied then.  

I think the distinction is that you can't discriminate based on religion as an identity, but you can discriminate based on religious beliefs. You can't (and shouldn't) be able to discriminate against someone because they're Christian/Muslim or whatever, but once they start using that religion to spread hateful messages it's justifiable to cut ties in my opinion. Obviously, it's in the interest of the Christian lobby to conflate the two so it looks like he's being attacked for being a Christian, which he is not. 

he has raised over 1.5 million now...

People are jumping behind a good cause.

This shows that we have a nation of bigoted idiots.

And now it is at $2 million. It's good to see not only Christians but people from all religions, and even athiests themselves are donating, which goes to show how stupid of a decision it was by Rugby Union to sack a perfect role model of their game. 
What I find even more amusing was the fact the GFM page shut down Isreal's donation page which had donations roughly at $800k after 4 days. The response by those angered was a big jump in donations where it has taken only 2 days this time to raise $2 million. 
Even if the $3 million target isn't reached at least this will help Isreal get his representation without digging into his own money. 

Rob - If Folau was sacked for saying something racist, would you be supporting him and would you donate money to help pay his legal fees?

There's two ways of answering that question. 
1. If what he said was in fact racist, then I wouldn't donate a cent. 
2. If he was sacked for a racist comment which I didn't consider racist, then yes I would donate. 

Ok so let's say the first situation occurred. 

Why is racism not ok but homophobia is? Both are forms of discrimination.

Because like in the second option I don't put it under homophobia. 
To me homophobia is when you hate homosexuals and want nothing to do with them. Isreal doesn't fall into this category. 
Isreal Falou clearly is a Christian, there is no doubting that. On top of that he's one who follows his religion pretty well and loves to preach it to those he loves. Remember he constantly preaches on his own personal accounts, so for anyone who disagrees with him they can simply stop following him. And what he preaches to his people is everything that's in the bible, he doesn't pick and choose. 
Remember his post mentioned drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, thieves, fornicators, idolaters, and athiests will go to hell if they don't change their ways. At the same time the media won't mention the line that was added below this message which was Jesus loves us all. Now even I fall in that group and I could bet my money on it that you could also fall in this group so if I take no offence as a Christian, then how on earth does someone else who believes this religion is nothing but a made up lie take offence?
You actually would have to be seriously retarded if you took offence to a post you don't believe in. It's the equivalent of me being offended by Tom Cruise for his Scientology beliefs. I basically laugh off the shit his religion preaches simply because I don't believe it for a second to be true. I'm not going to jump up and down, bitch and moan, and call for him to be sacked because he offended me. 
So back to your original point I won't support someone who is racists, or even homophobic. If Isreal Falou basically had only shared that homosexuality is a sin and rubbed off all the other sins, then that would tell me he's simply stirring and picking on homosexuals. If on the other hand he came out and said I don't acknoledge homosexuals and don't talk to them because they are all going to hell ect ect then I wouldn't have bothered to support him, but again he mentioned many people, so basically he was preaching in what he believes. 
At the very same time and I'm being 100% honest here, if Rugby Union had a code of conduct stating we don't tolerate Christian views and players aren't allowed to preach, then I wouldn't bother supporting Isreal because as a Christian he shouldn't want to play for a code like that, but that isn't their code of conduct because apparently they don't discriminate against anyone, even though clearly they have discriminated against every single Christian out there by sacking Isreal Falou, and what's even worse is ANZ Bank calling for the sacking of his wife for supporting her husband. This is a total disgrace and I can't believe there would be anyone supporting this disgusting move in this country, especially the same people who preach they believe in freedom of speech/expression/religion.

^^ Paragraphs are your friend.

But anyway whilst I wouldn't donate I have no problem with anyone that does.

I want to see this go to court because there's a principle here that needs to be tested.  

To those who like trains, I found a live stream of the construction of ANZAC (or Domain) station. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCp0jN1Lk44

It beats or the circular discussions of issues that will never be solved. :)

I like trains and I have no idea why, especially abandoned lines....

fantastic!

There is a very big issue at stake here which is why Israel Folau is receiving a lot of support from the wider community.

There is a freedom of speech issue and also whether employees have a right to censor and dictate to their employees what they can and what they can't put on their social media especially when what Folau did was in affect just quote a Bible or religious text.

lt's about religious freedom. The Bible is a sacred text believed by Billions of people worldwide. This is sacrosanct.

People know when their rights are being eroded.

The text Folau quoted was extremely inclusive. It includes virtually ALL humanity, including myself, you, all of us on this forum, and even Israel Folau himself.

The Bible does not discriminate and I think you will find that virtually all humanity is fallen, not just homosexual people.