Unrepentant Israel Folau tells Christian lobby he’d do it again
Sacked Wallaby Israel Folau today spoke publicly for the first time addressing supporters at the Australian Christian Lobby who helped raise $2 million for his legal fight against Rugby Australia. WHAT HE HAD TO SAY
NSW
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Israel Folau’s multimillion-dollar rugby career is in tatters thanks to his social media post that sparked an ugly religious debate, but he has a simple message when asked if he would do it again.
“I would absolutely,” he said.
But the 30-year-old also admits: “My intentions around posting that and sharing the truth of what the scriptures say ...I didn’t think it was going to come to the point where I’m in this situation now.”
Folau made the comments as a keynote speaker at the Australian Christian Lobby’s annual conference themed Not Ashamed in Darling Harbour on Saturday t in reference to the Instagram post he posted in April condemning homosexuals, drunks, adulterers, and other groups.
As he made the comments, the Wallabies — the team Folau was sacked from in May over the post — were preparing to do battle against England at the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Folau took the stage at 11.15am to a standing ovation from the 1000 strong crown in the International Convention Centre and sat on stage for a Q&A session with ACL managing director Martyn Iles.
Opening the session, Folau told the crowd he was blindsided when Rugby Australia sacked him over the post.
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“I never had a special social media clause within my contract,” Folau said. “I had a standard contract, the same as every other player.”
Folau told the crowd RA had not warned him over previous social media posts.
“I was quite surprised that I was called into to have a meeting about the post and that the intentions were to terminate the contract. That was a real surprise to me,” he said.
“Before I even posted up the post, it never cross my mind that I would get fired from my job.”
But he did know it was going to upset people, he said.
“I knew it was going to be offensive to a lot of people but the greatest thing about that is there’s a way out for the sacrifice of what Jesus Christ had done on the cross and that’s ultimately the message of love and what I wanted to show … to people out there.
Folau told the crowd that he would have taken offence to his post, which condemned homosexuals, drunk, adulterers and others, prior to becoming religious.
“Absolutely and some of those things that were in that post I was certainly in one of those categories,” he said.
Asked how hard it has been for him sitting on the sidelines, Folau said “It’s been extremely hard.”
“You have your days where different thoughts run through your mind and you kind of think could I have done it a better way, or why did I do that?” Folau said.
“ … Every single day I go to bed … with a peaceful heart …”
Despite potentially losing millions, Folau said he wouldn’t change his situation, was confident about his future and that “about 0.1 per cent” of what had been reported on him in the media was true.
“ … I had a real purpose in my heart that if I was to find myself in a situation like this that I was going to do what’s right by God and send up for the truth regardless of the things that you may lose within this lifetime,” he said.
Prior to speaking, Folau emerged at the front of the stage to pose for photos with fans.
Folau was sacked by Rugby Australia on May 17, which terminated his multi million dollar contract after he posted to social media that homosexuals, among others, would go to hell.
The Instagram post on April 10 condemned “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters”, and quoted a passage from the Bible.
It was not the first time he had posted such material.
Folau made two posts in 2018, including one that responded to a user’s question on what God’s plan for homosexuals where he answered “Hell, if they do not repent”.
A second post was of a a sermon containing elements of hate speech by a deceased American Evangelist.
Rugby Australia claimed Folau’s latest post breached its professional players code of conduct, a decision that was upheld by an independent tribunal.
Folau has taken action at the Fair Work Commission where he is asking for and apology plus $10 million compensation for his lost contract and other lost commercial opportunities.
Folau’s court case with Rugby Australia is set for February 2020 but he and Rugby Australia will head to mediation on December 13.
If the mediation fails, a three to five-day trial will start on February 4.
The Australian Christian Lobby raised more than $2 million in donations to support Folau’s case after his controversial GoFundMe page was shut down.
Opening the conference, ACL managing director Martin Iles told the audience Folau’s sacking was one of three major events in the last year that demonstrated “these are incredibly difficult times to be a Christian” where followers were subjected to “scorn”.
The other two were the Federal Election and the NSW abortion law debate, Mr Iles told the audience.
He praised Folau for taking a stand against Rugby Australia and critics saying the sportsman had raised an “incredible voice” in the public dialogue.
Other speakers, like Dr Stephen Chavura, spoke about the cultural changes away from Christian values in today’s society.
Dr Chavura told the audience that over the last 70 years promiscuity has crept into society, universities have been radicalised while Christianity and morality have come to be seen as the enemy.
On Thursday, the radical American preacher who inspired Folau took aim at the Australian Government after he was apparently denied a visa to enter the country.
Pastor Gino Jennings, who has caused significant controversy in the United States for previously referring to women who wear tight clothes as “hoes” in his sermons, had applied for a visa to preach in Sydney and Perth in the next fortnight.
In a rant during a live streamed video from a sermon in Nassau, Bahamas this week, Jennings said like Folau — who was sacked by Rugby Australia following a homophobic social media post and is suing them for $10 million — he was being punished for his beliefs.
“To my viewers who are watching live from Australia, your government, your embassy, don’t want to grant the old troublemaker a visa,” Jennings said on stage.
Earlier, the dumped Wallabies star had sensationally accused one of the tribunal members who found against him of bias because of her human rights work which advocated for the lesbian, gay and transgender community.
The born-again Christian fullback claimed Kate Eastman SC should never have sat on the tribunal which found he had breached his contract when he posted a warning on Instagram that “drunks, homosexuals and adulterers” were destined for hell if they did not repent.
In documents filed on Thursday in his Fair Work Commission fight with Rugby Australia and the Waratahs, Folau claims Sydney barrister Ms Eastman had acted for Rugby Australia in the past and had failed to disclose that she had sat on various committees and associations “that advocated for the LGBTI community”.
His outburst came after it was revealed the mother of rising Wallaby debutant Jordan Petaia was revealed as the woman who infiltrated the church run by Folau’s father.
Helen Petaia admitted she corresponded via Facebook with Folau’s cousin Josiah using a false name.
In the correspondence, Ms Petaia probed the 20-year old student about the beliefs of the Truth of Jesus Christ church which is run by Israel’s father Pastor Eni Folau.
Part of the correspondence between the pair was later leaked to a newspaper triggering Josiah Folau’s dismissal from this job as a teacher and boarding house supervisor at St Gregory’s College, a Catholic private school at Campbelltown in south-west Sydney.
The incident came after Israel Folau was dumped by Rugby Australia over social media posts that suggested homosexuals would go to hell.
Ms Petaia said that in the aftermath of this sacking Folau was held up as a model of Christianity and she was motivated to reveal the truth about what his church taught.
“I suppose I was concerned with Izzie’s influential factor that he, in a sense, was someone who was influential with young people, because I have seen that happen before,” she said.