The fundamental flaw with Folau’s beliefs

WE need to question how it is that people like Israel Folau knows God’s plan. Or how it is that he knows, other than through reading an mythical ancient text, that “gays will go to hell”, writes Brian Morris.

We need to question how it is that people like Folau knows God’s plan. (Pic: Hannah Peters)

WITH so much passion surrounding free speech it’s not difficult to see why divisive arguments flare up over highly charged social issues.

But on occasions there can be an underlying third factor that gets lost in the maelstrom of pro-and-con debate. One such example is rugby star Israel Folau and his recent Instagram comment that told Australia “gays will go to hell”.

With weeks having passed, the furore around Folau’s comments and beliefs has not abated, and Folau himself has doubled down on his view that Hell was God’s plan for gay people, “unless they repent of their sins and turn to God.”

On one side, the footballer has been condemned by Rugby All Black TJ Perenara, World Cup referee Nigel Owens, Super Rugby player Brad Weber, Wallaby Nic White, and Welsh great Gareth Thomas.

Conversely, Scott Morrison has come out in support of his evangelical compatriot, praising his anti-gay remarks. While free speech must he held as a foundational principle in a democracy, Folau’s comment was ugly and provocative. But Morrison is on record as wanting to crusade for religious freedom — but only in defence of Christianity. The Guardian reports the Treasurer as saying, “I think he (Folau) has shown a lot of strength of character in just standing up for what he believes in and I think that’s what this country is all about.”

Folau has doubled down on his view that Hell was God’s plan for gay people, “unless they repent of their sins and turn to God.” (Pic: Mark Metcalfe)

Apart from these predictable “he’s right” or “he’s wrong” comments, there’s a third dimension to this kind of social fracas which is seldom touched on by the media.

Social controversies such as Folau’s, which are underpinned by religious beliefs, need to be closely scrutinised on the basis of ‘free speech’, and particularly, on the imperative of evidence and historical truth.

A religious declaration of “God’s plan” cannot be stated as fact when the Old Testament as verifiable history is palpably wrong. We know from contemporary biblical scholars and from every branch of science that the Genesis, Exodus and the other Bronze Age stories are allegorical myth, not the word of God, and not a moral blueprint for modern society.

Even the Israeli Institute of Archaeology has given up finding any evidence of Moses and 600,000 escapees from Egypt wandering around the Sinai Peninsula for 40 years. Because like Adam and Eve, Noah, and the burning bush, it just didn’t happen.

Since that ancient epoch, the world has progressed significantly at every level, through dramatic advances in education, science, technology, and two centuries of social enlightenment. And because of that, obnoxious religious calls to execute gays has no place in modern society.

Believe in any ‘god’ you wish, but ritual religious prejudice toward other citizens is primitive behaviour. (Pic: Mark Kolbe)

Believe in any ‘god’ you wish, but ritual religious prejudice toward other citizens is primitive behaviour. Society has moved beyond slavery, capital punishment, and subjugating women. Fundamentalist Christianity — as with dogmatic Islam — needs to reform and modernise.

We need to question how it is that people like Folau knows God’s plan. Or how it is that he knows, other than through reading an mythical ancient text, that “gays will go to hell?”. He is euphoric about his devotion to Jesus, but nowhere in the New Testament is the Nazarene ever quoted as condemning homosexuals. All anti-gay references emanate from the legitimately discredited Old Testament.

Religion has added nothing new for three millennia except for global division over conflicting beliefs. Christianity is in decline in all progressive countries, and that trend will continue while fundamentalists persistently deny social and scientific progress, and blindly cling to the Old Testament as the “infallible and inerrant word of God.”

Brian Morris is the author of Sacred to Secular.

Originally published as The fundamental flaw with Folau’s beliefs