Israel Folau and Free Speech

Firestorm! An Australian sports figure writes on his social media platform his own opinion. The sports world in Australia goes ballistic. The media brands Israel Folau a bigot and homophobe. There are calls for his being fired for declaring his opinion about who is on their way to hell. Wow, let's sit down and consider what this is about and what it is not about.

Some say that he is welcome to have his own opinion, but he shouldn't declare that opinion if the content might offend someone. Some don't want him to express any opinion at all if it is 'out of bounds'  Wait a minute, who decides which of your opinions are worthy or proper or agreeable? Do you really want the thought police 'out there?'

Imagine if Anthony Mundine or Khoder Nasser, Usman Khawaja or Fawad Ahmed were being told they couldn't say that homosexuality is out of bounds in their religion. Muslims hold that as one of their beliefs. Would their sports association dismiss them for that, too?

Someone is crossing the line here, and it's not Folau. Or did he?

You see, the issue, they say, is that Qantas and Rugby AU have said that their sportsmen are not to say things which will cause some fans to withdraw their support. Folau signed an agreement with that position less than three months ago. So there are TWO issues, one the signed agreement, and the 2nd is the matter of Rugby telling their players what they can or cannot say.

Commentator Alan Jones weighed in. News.com.au reported today 

"Folau has found an ally in broadcast heavyweight Alan Jones after Rugby Australia vowed to terminate the contract of the Wallabies star after he posted an image which included anti-gay sentiment to Instagram this week. Folau, 30, was widely slammed for calling on “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters” to repent for their sins or else “hell awaits” them.

Jones, a former coach of our national rugby team, is pointing the finger at Rugby Australia. “Rugby Australia are only worried about the quids, they’re only worried about the sponsorship,” Jones said on his 2GB radio show on Friday morning.“That’s why they asked Israel to sign a contract in which he wouldn’t say this and he wouldn’t say that and that his views would be consistent with (Rugby Australia sponsor) Qantas.“He’s made comments about religion — who will end up heaven and who will end up in hell. Who cares? It’s an opinion. I don’t necessarily agree with what he said, by the way, but a lot of people don’t agree with what I say.

“We’re going down a very, very narrow road here and this has gone on and on and on this crap. I’m telling you, out there people are terrified of saying anything. They are frightened, they don’t know what they can say. We’re on a slippery slope here ... it’s got nothing to do with Israel, or rugby, or religion, or homosexuals, or whatever. Where are we in this country on free speech?”

Sports figures worldwide regularly make comments about their beliefs, just like movie folks accepting their Oscars. In the US, sports and religion, especially after a significant victory, go hand in hand.  The US media wrote this about former star player Tim Tebow: "Evangelical quarterback Tim Tebow is known for demonstrating his faith on the football field, including wearing Bible verses on his eye black in college and dropping to a knee in prayer (launching the meme “Tebowing”). The son of Baptist missionaries, he spurred a movement to let homeschooled athletes compete on public school teams and starred in a pro-family Focus on the Family ad during the 2010 Super Bowl. At the University of Florida, Tebow won the 2007 Heisman Trophy. He went on to play for the Denver Broncos and New York Jets in the NFL."

Michael Chang won the French Open when he was 17 (still the youngest male to win a major) (see this link: /) Chang has always been outspoken about his faith in Jesus, beginning in 1989, when he won the French and then told the interviewing commentator, “I thank the Lord Jesus Christ, because without Him, I am nothing."

Social media is exploding with calls for Folau to be gone, and others who like this blog, are standing with Folau. Some religionists and prime ministers, even Christian ones, are not speaking up as loudly as they might in defense of Folau's right to free speech. Listen to this from Lyle Shelton today on the radio. AUDIO.  What happens if gagging becomes the norm? 

God, give Israel Folau great wisdom and terrific lawyers.

God, help our country to calm down about the religion of non-offense and learn to disagree agreeably. 

We really need help.

#OneWayReligiousTolerance

...then they came for the Jews...

I'm in almost shock as I read the news from Bondi this week. And the rest of the Jewish community is beyond unhappy as well. Waverley Council has knocked back the appeal of its citizens for a new synagogue to be built on Wellington Street. Maybe they would say, "Too many cars" or "not enough parking" or "the grading of the footpaths needs to be improved." But not one of those excuses were even mentioned. Why would the synagogue not be allowed to build on its property it owns already?

According to news.com.au, the Council "banned the construction of a synagogue in Bondi because it could be a terrorist target, in a shock move that religious leaders say has caved in to Islamic extremism and created a dangerous precedent. The decision, which has rocked the longstanding Jewish community in the iconic suburb, was upheld in court this week as the nation reeled from the alleged airline terror threat and debate raged over increased security measures at airports and other public places.
The Land and Environment Court backed the decision by Waverley Council to prohibit the construction of the synagogue, because it was too much of a security risk for users and local residents.
Jewish leaders are shocked the decision appears to suggest they cannot freely practice their religion because they are the target of hate by Islamist extremists — and that the council has used their own risk assessment of the threat posed by IS against it."

Yup, that's what it says. "they cannot freely practice their religion because they are the target of hate by Islamist extremists"

The hashtag OneWayReligiousTolerance is my phrase for this madness. Let a Muslim seek to build a mosque in Lakemba or Auburn and let the local council there deny their request because of security reasons. You will see marches in the streets; you will see terror and hostility like never before.

Look, to be fair Pastor Niemoller was not a stalwart pro-Jewish Lutheran pastor (compare Dietrich Bonhoeffer) but his quote is too good to miss. We must speak out on behalf of those Bondi Jews. We must stand up for religious freedoms, especially if the synagogue will maintain its own security, as it does worldwide, and certainly here in Sydney at schools and other synagogues.

Shame on the Waverley Council.
Let's write our local members (MP) .
Let's write our Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull (twitter to @TurnbullMalcolm) and demand someone notice this travesty of justice, actually injustice. Or else Niemoller would be shouting "What will you do when they come for you?"

For more read the Daily Wire article which cites the News report on the 3rd. Read it here.

Can we say "Christmas"? In public?

I check snopes so often it's not funny. Here's the one I check this time of year from Jewish actor Ben Stein and his confessions for the holidays . He says, "I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are — Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they're slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we're all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year." This is in reaction to the overreaction of so many to the "Christ" references in the holiday celebrated by Christians and with his obvious commitments to the Jewish religion.

Down in Victoria, the education guidelines are hardly clear. In fact the guidelines could have been drawn by a primary school kid with a new crayon. Here is the article by The Age reporter Henrietta Cook . She reports, "State school students can sing Christmas carols in class time, but they can't sing hymns. And honey-dipped apples are allowed for Jewish New Year, but programs that use the Koran and Bible are banned from class time." Sounds as clear as mud.

I have coined the phrase and hashtag #OneWayReligiousTolerance to indicate that as long as something is clearly secular the government will allow it, but once Christianity (and by that I mean personal faith in Jesus as Messiah) is openly shown, the government will seek to disallow it. Sadly.

The other night I watched two different carols singalong shows, one from Sydney's Domain and one from Brisbane. They had no trouble singing "Oh Holy Night", "Hark the herald angels sing", and such great carols of the past with beauty both in stage and voice. And the people seemed to desire and enjoy singing along. After all, these were 'carols' events. And those same events take place in neighbourhoods all over Australia and other countries. Carols in the Parks and Carols in the Church buildings and ... abound just now. They are wonderful events for families and singles, for believers and others to enjoy this festive time of the year. No one is required to attend. No one is required to sing. But the events shouldn't be demeaned to disallow songs with messages that are uncomfortable.

I remember singing sacred music in my public high school, which was 30% Jewish in those days. We sang sacred music because we in the madrigal and concert choirs considered the Jingle Bells playlist to be juvenile and pedestrian. We wanted music with bite and that was entirely sacred. To be fair, "Silent Night" is a bit simple, but our choir director found some significantly tough arrangements for all his own demands. We were better for it; the Christmas concert (Now retitled "Winter" concert) was full of powerful and beautiful music. We had 8 other months of the year to sing secular music. This one was special.

I like the hymns for their poetry. I like the hymns for their focus. Christmas is not only about the season of giving. It's not only about family. It's not just Currier and Ives and snow scenes. It's not just (for us in Australia) barbecues and prawns, beaches and time off work. Christmas is about a Jewish boy born in Bethlehem. It's personal for me. And whether Jesus was even born in December is to me irrelevant. This is as good a time as any to celebrate his birth. And his life. And his mission. And his love.

Sorry if that offends you.
Sorry if I offend you.
Sorry if he offends you.

Christmas is about light bursting into our darkness and bringing hope to the hopeless. Jesus is the glow in the dark reality who loves us and still lives to help us. Find out more here just now. "Born is the King of Israel." Merry Christmas.

Boycott, Divest, Sanctions(BDS): Consider the down side

BDS is an acronym for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. In 2005, Palestinian civil society issued a call for a campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights. Some churches even joined this noisy global movement which seeks to stall Israeli life. In response, Meyer M. Treinkman, a pharmacist, offered to assist them in their boycott as follows:

Any Muslim who has Syphilis must not be cured by Salvarsan discovered by a Jew, Dr. Ehrlich. He should not even try to find out whether he has Syphilis, because the Wasserman Test is the discovery of a Jew. If a Muslim suspects that he has Gonorrhea, he must not seek diagnosis, because he will be using the method of a Jew named Neissner..
A Muslim who has heart disease must not use Digitalis, a discovery by a Jew, Ludwig Traube.
Should he suffer with a toothache, he must not use Novocaine, a discovery of the Jews, Widal and Weil.
If a Muslim has Diabetes, he must not use Insulin, the result of research by Minkowsky, a Jew. If one has a headache, he must shun Pyramidon and Antypyrin, due to the Jews, Spiro and Ellege. Muslims with convulsions must put up with them because it was a Jew, Oscar Leibreich, who proposed the use of Chloral Hydrate.
Arabs must do likewise with their psychic ailments because Freud, father of psychoanalysis, was a Jew.
Should a Muslim child get Diphtheria, he must refrain from the “Schick" reaction which was invented by the Jew, Bella Schick.

Muslims should be ready to die in great numbers and must not permit treatment of ear and brain damage, work of Jewish Nobel Prize winner, Robert Baram. They should continue to die or remain crippled by Infantile Paralysis because the discoverer of the anti-polio vaccine is a Jew, Jonas Salk.
Muslims must refuse to use Streptomycin and continue to die of Tuberculosis because a Jew, Zalman Waxman, invented the wonder drug against this killing disease.

 Muslim doctors must discard all discoveries and improvements by dermatologist Judas Sehn Benedict, or the lung specialist, Frawnkel, and of many other world renowned Jewish scientists and medical experts. In short, good and loyal Muslims properly and fittingly should remain afflicted with Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Heart Disease, Headaches, Typhus, Diabetes, Mental Disorders, Polio Convulsions and Tuberculosis and be proud to obey the Islamic boycott."

 Oh, and by the way, don't call for a doctor on your cell phone because the cell phone was invented in Israel by a Jewish engineer.

OTHER NOBEL CONSIDERATIONS (Compare and contrast):
Meanwhile I ask, what medical contributions to the world have the Muslims made?"
The Global Islamic population is approximately 1,200,000,000; that is ONE BILLION TWO HUNDRED MILLION or 20% of the world's population.
They have received the following Nobel Prizes:
Literature:  1988 - Najib Mahfooz
Peace:  1978 - Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat
1990 - Elias James Corey
1994 - Yaser Arafat:
1999 - Ahmed Zewai
Economics:  0
Physics:  0
Medicine: 1960 - Peter Brian Medawar and 1998 - Ferid Mourad
TOTAL: 7 SEVEN

The Nobel Prize is an annual, international prize first awarded in 1901 for achievements in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace. An associated prize in Economics has been awarded since 1969.Nobel Prizes have been awarded to over 850 individuals,of whom at least 20% were Jews, although Jews comprise less than 0.2% of the world's population (or 1 in every 500 people). 

Overall, Jews have won a total of 41% of all the Nobel Prizes in economics, 28% of medicine, 26% of Physics, 19% of Chemistry, 13% of Literature and 9% of all peace awards.

Jews have been recipients of all six awards. The first Jewish recipient, Adolf von Baeyer, was awarded the prize in Chemistry in 1905. As of 2013, the most recent Jewish recipients were James Rothman and Randy Schekman (Medicine); Arieh Warshel, Michael Levitt and Martin Karplus (Chemistry); and François Englert (Physics), all in 2013.

Jewish laureates Elie Wiesel and Imre Kertész survived the extermination camps during the Holocaust, while François Englert survived by being hidden in orphanages and children's homes. Others, such as Walter Kohn, Otto Stern, Albert Einstein, Hans Krebs and Martin Karplus had to flee Nazi Germany to avoid persecution. Still others, including Rita Levi-Montalcini, Herbert Hauptman, Robert Furchgott, Arthur Kornberg, and Jerome Karle experienced significant antisemitism in their careers.

The oldest person ever to receive a Nobel Prize was Leonid Hurwicz, a Polish-American Jew who received the 2007 prize in Economics when he was 90 years old.

Other issues of comparison and contrast:
The Jews are NOT promoting brainwashing children in military training camps, teaching them how to blow themselves up and cause maximum deaths of Jews and other non-Muslims.
The Jews don't hijack planes, nor kill athletes at the Olympics, or blow themselves up in German restaurants.
There is NOT one single Jew who has destroyed a church.
Jews don't traffic slaves, nor have leaders calling for Jihad and death to all the Infidels.

 Perhaps the world's Muslims should consider investing more in standard education and less in blaming the Jews for all their problems.
Muslims must ask 'what can they do for humankind' before they demand that humankind respects them.

Otherwise all you have is #OneWayReligiousTolerance and that’s not going to help anyone.