So Israel Folau is it again.
Barely a year after his last homophobic outburst Folau has again hit Instagram with an appalling post anchored in his need to share his religious beliefs. ‘Christianity’ he calls it, but it’s as far from ‘love thy neighbour’ as I am from being an All Black. Why does he do it? Well, it’s one of those religious requirements, this evangelising, and, in my view, it’s brought unbelievable grief wherever it’s been practiced.
My first response was that his meme looked rather like an audition notice, a list of those qualities required if you sought selection to the Qantas Wallabies rugby team. Folau issues a dire warning in the form of his meme. ‘WARNING’ he shouts. ‘Drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, idolaters. Hell awaits you. Repent.’
I wasn’t shocked as many – perhaps – most of my friends fall into those categories. I’d suggest, so do his. Sinners all, we humans. After all, isn’t that a requirement if one is to repent and be saved?
It’s hard to misunderstand his intention, I’ll give him that. He is a godly man, a man of Jesus, a man of staunch convictions. When it comes to his career, however, he is a man of intense stupidity, that is, unless his goal is good old Christian martyrdom.
The Qantas Wallabies who, one must assume, pay his not insubstantial salary, made it clear, mid 2018, that his last homophobic outburst was totally unacceptable but, against a rampant tide of outraged public opinion, they did nothing more than slap him on the wrist with an unused condom. Until yesterday, I have to admit, his ongoing silence made it seem as though he had, at least, learned to keep his mouth shut.
Not so.
This latest mind numbingly stupid outburst has hit our news media like a Trump Tweet. Momentarily gone are the irrational criticisms of Jacinda Ardern, learned observations about celestial black holes are retired to the back burner and the seemingly endless Kiwi commitment to ‘whataboutism’ is silenced because, suddenly, and without warning, we’re back again to the seasonal topic du jour, Israel Folau’s rampant homophobia.
Suddenly, advocates of free speech have become passionate in support of his right to speak his mind regardless of topic and/or consequences – he has a right to express his opinion – and the ongoing, often vile, debate about curbing hate speech in Aotearoa continues to divide the country like a 1981 apartheid rugby tour.
Fundamentalist Christian’s, likewise, cite Folau’s right to have an opinion and to exercise his freedom of speech, but they angrily add his right to hold a religious opinion, any opinion, no matter how heinous and discriminatory, and to spout it in public forums as much as he likes without any risk of censure.
They’re right of course, Human Rights law in this country does protect his right to speak about whatever he chooses with impunity – as long as the theme is religious. I’ll go as far as to suggest that, when Jacinda’s finished toughening up our gun laws, she might want to take a serious look at this one, too.
However, in my view, this whole thing has very little to do with freedom of speech and even less to do with Folau’s colonialist religious views though these often provide an angry smoke screen to the truth.
I seriously believe that his motivation is more to do with a stubborn refusal to acknowledge that the words he uses from the platforms of power he has access to – 316,000 Instagram followers, 130,000 on Facebook and 121,000 on Twitter while wife Maria, a Kiwi icon, has 21,000 on Facebook, 85,000 on Instagram and 23,000 on Twitter – do actual damage to the souls he says he’s trying to ‘save’. Truth is, he thinks all those homos are trash and he doesn’t give a rat’s butt about them. All the evidence points to this being his most unChristian of actions, his most selfish grab for personal salvation.
Tuiloma Lina Samu, Pasifika Human Rights Advisor to the NZ Human Rights Commission, writes in a wonderful letter to Folau published in The Spinoff that ‘an unquestioning belief in and holding fast to the Bible is very much a feature of our lives as Pasifika peoples. Our cultures are entrenched in our Christian faiths and this has been central to our modern-day cultures since we were colonised. But our peoples also need to remember that fa’afafine, fa’afatama, fakafefine/ fakaleiti, fakafifine, ‘akavaine and sexually diverse cultures are more ancient and authentically ancestral than our Christian religion is.’
Tuiloma Lina Samu, Pasifika Advisor to the NZ Human Rights Commission
This is critical to a contemporary understanding of Folau’s hateful ramblings and why they are potentially dangerous to exactly the young people he is trying to convert and save. He’s not ranting to them, he’s selfishly evangelising to save himself.
There’s no question Folau’s a hero among Pacific peoples and much of what he is preaching can be heard from the pulpits of his community every day of the week. I get that and, while I have serious disagreement with both the context and the content of much of the sermonising, I am neither Christian nor of Pacific heritage so I hold my tongue out of respect.
I do believe, however, that an unselfish Christian person might look more closely at the consequences of their words and ask themselves ‘just how much damage am I doing to the most vulnerable young people from my own communities who identify as LGBTQI and am I able to say mea culpa when tragedies happen that I have doubtless contributed to?’
I have no issue with Folau following whatever religion he chooses and I’m even ambivalent to his believing whatever perverse misrendering of the scriptures might appeal to him but when it comes to knowingly promulgating messages designed to harm vulnerable people then I draw the line. It’s people like me who traditionally get to pick up the pieces and I’m happy to do that because our system has cracks in it that people fall through. I fell through them when I came out and there was always someone there to help me heal and to help me learn. What is despicable is knowing that I’m picking up the pieces of kids who have been consciously pushed down by someone they looked up to, someone they admired who should have known better. With power comes responsibility, and Folau has yet to learn what this means, what his obligation to his followers is. In as much as I know anything about Jesus’ message, I believe he said the way to salvation was through him. If I’m right then Folau could do well to emulate his savior and commit to not leaving anyone behind, and to picking up and carrying the vulnerable. It’s a damn good message and one he’s currently missing in his insane need to bring hellfire, brimstone and damnation down on the heads of everyone else. I’m sure his bible warns that what you wish on others doesn’t become your own fate.
If you’re upset by the bigotry you’re reading from Folau then maybe contact one of the support groups I’ve attached to this ramble. They’re all great – or if you just want to chat, flick me a message. I’m happy to help.
Also published here:
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