Second Folau loses job over religious comments

A second member of the Folau family has lost his job after expressing his religious beliefs.

Josiah Folau after placing 9th in the State in the HSC Studies of Religion 1 course. Picture: Facebook

A second member of the Folau family has lost his job after ­expressing his religious beliefs — with the Catholic Church at the centre of a new furore over terminating the 20-year-old from his tutoring role.

Josiah Folau lost his job as a tutor and boarding house supervisor at St Gregory’s College in southwest Sydney after making inflammatory comments in which he called the Catholic mass “a ­paganistic ritual rooted in heresy, evil and devil worship”.

The sacking follows the dismissal of his famous cousin, top rugby union international Israel Folau, for allegedly breaching the players’ code of conduct with declarations on social media that ­homosexuals and other “sinners” would go to hell.

Josiah Folau’s Instagram post.

Josiah Folau, a former school captain at St Gregory’s who made the state’s top 10 in religious studies in 2016, was told more than a week ago he was no longer wanted for his part-time job at the school.

He had recently posted comments on Instagram that were highly critical of the Catholic Church, while comments attacking church doctrine were published in some mainstream media last month.

Both Israel and Josiah are recent “born again” Christian converts who attend a small church at Kenthurst in Sydney’s northwest, the Truth of Jesus Christ, which is run by Israel’s father, Eni.

Israel Folau's cousin Josiah Folau.

As revealed by The Australian yesterday, lawyers for Israel Folau have lodged a claim against Rugby Australia in the Federal Circuit Court that argues he was unlawfully dismissed in May under a key part of the Fair Work Act that disallows sackings because of a person’s religion. The star rugby player wants full reinstatement so he can resume his playing career.

His lawyers say his use of social media to express “biblical teachings” was not connected to his employment as a rugby player.

He also wants an apology and financial compensation.

Israel Folau’s termination dispute has fuelled national debate over religious freedom and a campaign to strengthen related laws.

The termination of his cousin at St Gregory’s has widened the issue beyond the rugby code of conduct to acceptance within the Catholic Church, and its systemic school system, of what employees can say outside work time about their religious views.

Josiah Folau declined to comment yesterday but The Australian was told it was made plain to him that his services were no longer ­required, effective immediately, more than a week ago.

St Gregory’s principal, Lee MacMaster, confirmed his departure from the school. “We have met with Josiah recently and in our discussions, Josiah has made the decision to discontinue his casual employment at St Greg­ory’s College,” Mr MacMaster said. “We respect Josiah’s privacy in this matter.”

George Williams, professor of law at the University of NSW, said the second Folau termination was more complicated than the first because it centred on the way the Catholic Church protected its religious freedom by “determining who they employ”.

Professor Williams said the church had already had this kind of argument relating to the employment of gay teachers, but a school staffer making highly critical comments about the church was broader, and showed the law was “poorly equipped” to deal with such a situation.

“They (the church) would say it infringes on their religious beliefs when someone makes statements against their faith,” he said.

“So it may be a freedom of speech issue — but about issues conflicting with the freedom of employees to express their views.

“The conflict regarding Israel Folau is about religious beliefs only; this is about religious freedom within a religious organisation, and the law is poorly equipped to deal with this.”

Besides recent Instagrams in which he spoke out against the Catholic Church, Josiah Folau was reported by Nine media and news.com.au as telling the ­mother of a young rugby player that the church was “false and filled with lies”.

He wrote to the mother after she attended a bible studies meeting at the home of church founder Eni Folau. Quoting from his uncle’s sermons, Josiah Folau said only his church had “the truth”. He also dismissed women preachers, saying that to accept them meant “Satan’s got you”.

He said homosexuality was a sin “worthy of death”.

Friends of Josiah Folau described him yesterday as a “gentle giant” and widely liked, but said his apparent quick conversion to a fundamentalist-style religion had “shocked” them.

Martyn Iles, managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, which raised $2.2 million for Israel Folau’s legal fund, did not return calls yesterday seeking comment about the treatment of Josiah Folau.