James Morrow: In today’s Australia, no Christians need apply

Andrew Thorburn was faced with the dilemma of choosing between his faith and football - and promptly quit as Essendon CEO after just 24 hours in the job.

And so it has come to this: No Christians need apply.

For those just catching up to the news, on Tuesday the new CEO of Essendon Football Club in Victoria had to step down after less than 24 hours in the job.

The man, Andrew Thorburn, came to the role after a long career in business that saw him rise to the head of NAB.

But in his private life he was also the chair of a group of churches that called themselves City on the Hill, and that was apparently all too much.

Thorburn’s church, like pretty much every other church that claims to follow the Bible, says that marriage is between a man and a woman and that sex outside marriage – whether gay or straight – is a sin.

This has been the position, incidentally, of the three monotheistic religions – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam – since time immemorial.

Gone after less than 24 hours in the job.... Andrew Thorburn.

But Christianity is, to the so-called progressive left, a uniquely dangerous doctrine that also underpins Western civilisation and post-settlement Australia, and so must be driven from the public square at every opportunity (witness the attacks on the practice of opening parliament with the Lord’s Prayer).

And as the case of Greater Western Sydney AFLW player Haneen Zreika showed earlier this year, it’s only Christians who are made to pay the price for their beliefs.

Back in January she refused to wear a “pride” round jumper because it conflicted with her Islamic beliefs.

She was allowed to simply sit out the game without penalty or punishment because her circumstances were “complex”.

Contrast this with the way players for the NRL’s Manly Sea Eagles were dragged for days because they said their Christian beliefs forbade them from promoting what they believed were sinful practices via “pride” jerseys.

The double standard is blatant.

Greater Western Sydney AFLW player Haneen Zreika.

The Manly Sea Eagles rainbow pride jersey.

And it puts the lie to claims by those who drove Israel Folau out of the game that it was only his public stances on Christianity and specifically homosexuality that were the cause of his ouster.

So much for the idea that he would have been fine if he’d just kept it to himself and gone to church on his own time.

This is totalitarian, and no different from places like Eastern Europe in the bad days of Soviet domination or communist China now.

How else to describe a situation where one must publicly sign up to the official ideology on private morality or wind up dragged and disgraced and told no matter what your qualifications you won’t be allowed the job?

There were other issues, too, that saw Thorburn undone.

His church also opposes abortion (again, nothing surprising there) though the best Thorburn’s enemies could do was hook on to a post on the church’s website comparing terminations to the Holocaust, an obviously offensive post but one which he claimed no knowledge of and which was posted before he became chair.

If we’re honest about it, this is about de-normalising any moral qualms about abortion, not the over-heated rhetoric of one particular pastor.

Former Australian rugby player Israel Folau (centre) Picture: AFP

Now, of course, his enemies are backtracking and trying to make it all about Thorburn’s conduct at NAB and all the dodgy dealings at the bank that were revealed by the Banking and Finance Royal Commission a few years ago.

This is ridiculous and nothing more than an attempt to cover their tracks by religious bigots who initially cheered the decision and are now desperately trying to make it seem like it wasn’t about his faith at all.

Essendon President Dave Barham himself admitted that it was all about Thorburn’s faith.

“In the interview process, you’re not allowed to ask about people’s religious (beliefs),” he said Tuesday.

“It’s against the law, but what we did, as soon as we saw them, we acted.”

Essendon President David Barham. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

Note he did not say, “Oh, we just found out that NAB got towelled up along with every other major financial institution in the country by a Royal Commission that was on the front pages for months.”

A quick scan of Essendon’s board reveals it is made up of a whole mob of high flyers in sport, media, retail, property, and education.

None of this would have been news to any of them, in fact the idea that the outcome of the Royal Commission would have been new information is laughable.

This is not about litigating whether gays should be allowed to marry or women should be allowed to terminate pregnancies.

Rather, it is about whether one is allowed to have a differing opinion on these or many other questions of morality, framed through the prism of one and only one particular religion, and still be allowed in public life.

A tolerant society allows people their private beliefs.

Essendon failed that test this week, and gave a win to those who would in the name of “tolerance” make Australia a very intolerant place indeed.