Taking a step back and looking at the Folau controversy.

If you’re in Australia and you have managed to not realise that there is a controversy around Israel Folau well I think you must be doing a bang up job of keeping your self clear of just about every single media channel there is.

It’s a bit all-encompassing at the moment, especially if you’re a part of the LGBTIQA+ community. There’s a lot of talk about homophobia, a little about transphobia — bearing in mind of course that Israel’s response was provoked by reading about the progressive Tasmanian Birth Certificate legislation passing both houses of parliament.

There’s a plethora of opinion about free speech, about religious freedom and whether or not an organisation that employs you has the right to have a say in what you do or do not post online.

The opinion is flying free and fast. Some of it considered a lot of it knee jerk reaction and sometimes as nasty as the homophobic post Folau posted to start this whole thing.

This has occupied my mind somewhat today and I’ll have a bit to say and add my opinion from a couple of perspectives but what has really gone through my mind most is that if we want to be treated with human dignity it is incumbent upon us to do the same, regardless of what a person says about us.

I am not saying we should fail to call things out but to do so in a way that does not diminish the humanity of another.

It seems a bit counterproductive to be saying Folau treated us in bigoted ways when we turn around and hurl insults back at him in return. The thing is it cuts both ways really. It’s the old golden rule to do unto others as we would have them do unto us, or as Michelle Obama said ‘When they go low we go higher’

Make no mistake Folau used his platform to make homophobic transphobic comments that did and continue to do harm to queer folk. That is a non-negotiable reality. However, Folau is a human person and should be treated as such. We do ourselves and our own advocacy progress a disservice not to do so. We also provide fuel to the right to claim we are treating them hatefully.

This may be an unpopular position, I get that, and it is a hard one to hold. There is a part of me that could easily drop down into hurling hurtful things about Folau straight back at him. It’s hard, but it’s always hard to take the high road of seeking justice.

I have a few thoughts about what is going on.

Firstly, the freedom of speech angle. For all the talk from some quarters that Folau’s freedom of speech is being impinged, it isn’t. He has not been stopped from saying the hurtful homophobic things he has said, nor is he being prosecuted for them. He continues to live freely and unabated from making these comments.

I believe freedom of speech is important. But let’s actually think what that means. It is freedom to say, without fear of prosecution what you think. There is a false belief this means freedom from consequences, but this is clearly false, just ask the media outlets that just lost to Geoffrey Rush.

The right to freedom of speech also does not include the unfettered access to any platform of your choosing to blast out your comments. I can say what I like but I can’t rely on being provided with a platform — be it social media or otherwise from which to proclaim them.

But he was just quoting the bible, no actually he was expressing an interpretation of the Bible, one that fails to hold up to any robust theological critique. There is much that I could say on this point from a theological point of view, but in the simplest of terms if Folau was truly simply posting a bible verse then surely he would have actually quoted a published translation of the text. There is, after all, a plethora of reputable translations available to him.

But he didn’t, because his intention was never to simply quote a bible verse, it was to declare damnation to those of us who are queer. Some very minor points of theology — because I just can’t help it — firstly the word homosexual in the apparent text Folau was misquoting — The Greek word it comes from is something of an oddity and was only first translated as homosexual in 1949 when the RSV was published. — There is much written about this word in theological spaces with very credible theologians showing that homosexual is likely the least best translation of the Greek word in question.

The theological argument of the word translation though is not the most stand out issue, of course, the stand out issue is in fact that Folau adds an interpretation of hell to a text that has no mention of hell in any way shape or form. I’ll leave the theological argument about the existence of hell to others more qualified, but what the text actually says is one will fail to enter the kingdom. Now is it just me is that startlingly different to eternal damnation in burning flames?

The idea of Religious Freedom. This is just bollocks. Folau has not been stopped from practising his religion in any way shape or form. The free practice of religion in Australia is not at risk. Indeed, Folau just in the last couple of weeks stood in his church and damned us all to hell all over again and after doing so is at no risk whatsoever of not being able to do so again on this coming Sunday. The mere idea that the practice of religion is at risk in Australia is clearly laughable.

What is really going on is that the religious right doesn’t like being told that what they are saying is hurtful, harmful, bigoted and unwelcome. The religious right long for a Gillead like a theocracy. They lament the supposed disappearing of a Christian nation. Australia is not now and never has been a Christian nation. Australia is and has been since it’s federation a secular democracy. To pretend otherwise is just untrue.

Fired for religious belief. Again this is untrue and a misdirection perpetrated by the right. Falou was quite entitled to be paid lots of money to play Rugby for various clubs whilst maintaining his religious beliefs, indeed captains of the Wallabies — The Australian National team, have done so previously.

Falou has form for posting things not in line with the culture and direction of Rugby Australia previously, that being the case he entered into a contract that prohibited him from doing so. It was Israel Falou’s signature on that contract, not some random person. He willingly agreed to those terms and then went ahead and willingly breached them.

The simple reality of his contract being ripped up was his failure to adhere to it.

It is wrong to think that this whole thing is just about the contract. It really is far complex than that. But his termination was without question about his failure to adhere to that contract.

Imagine our world, though, if those so upset about the so-called injustice against Falou activated about real injustice. You know like:

• Refugees held in endless detention
• Homelessness
• Working poor
• People being denied housing for being trans or queer
• Trans folk being murdered on a regular basis
• Queer folk being regularly bashed and beaten
• People fired for coming out
• Treatment of disabled folk
• Indigenous incarceration
• Deaths in custody

Imagine it though, it could be a kinder more just world than it is.

So many want to appeal to the scripture. Well, I can do that too. As Jesus faced death the command he had to give to his followers was to love one another. Time and again Jesus appealed to love. To love one another, to love God and to love the other.

Of course, it wasn’t just Jesus the Hebrew prophet known as Micah sort God and asked what does the Lord require of me? The answer — To Do Justice, To Love kindness and to walk humbly before one’s God.

Imagine the world if these folk stopped banging on about the religious freedom they already have and started practising the words of Micah. Imagine that world.

Yeah just imagine that.

Originally published at A Transtistic Life.