Folau claims Australia's bushfires 'God's judgement' for gay marriage

Immense courage on his part for expressing his beliefs knowing there’d be retribution from the powers that be.

Some people talk about freedom of speechand human rights, this guy stood up for his

Probably more to do with Australian coal than God freaked by homosexuality. Coal produces 40% of total CO2 released. Still some people believe the world is flat. It is isn't it?

"God's judgement" for the legalization of same-sex marriage and abortion

Yep. This is why God would finally burn down a place. Murderers, corrupt officials, pedophiles, rapist, and more are not enough to incur God's wrath. But gay marriage is.

What Folau is saying is that you can get away with everything with God. Just don't marry the same sex and don't have an abortion. I can cheat with as many women I want. I can kill people. I can indulge in pedophilia. But I will always be okay as long as I don't cross those two lines.

So, let me get this straight; Coal produces 40% of all CO2 produced (presumably by any means), therefore Australia bursts into Spontaneous Combination. O.K.”I See”.

Has he joined Jerry Falwell's church, or maybe the Westboro Baptists?

I hope that one day humanity will be able to get free a any religion. It has been a plague for centuries.

Wow. I bet his religious beliefs were from his parents and his "god" magically shares all the same opinions that he does. Funny how that works out.

Well, not going to do his lawsuit any favours. All they have to do is say:

Court: You believe you were wrongly persecuted, correct?

Folau: That's correct.

Court: You also believe gay marriage caused the bush fire that has led to thousands being evacuated, and countless properties destroyed.

Folau: Well... umm.. that's different!

Court: Did you, or did you not say you believe this is God's punishment for gay marriage, and is "but a taste of what we will get"?

Folau: I did, yes, but...

Court: So, you believe you were wrongly persecuted against, but that the victims of a very large fire, and the nation, deserved what it was getting and will get more if they don't heed your words. In other words, your judgement is clearly questionable.

What was that gag about Gerald Ford, that he'd played too much football without a helmet?

We should bear in mind that Folau's "church" is more like a cult, with only about 30 members and under the complete control of Israel Folau's dad. I really don't know why anyone takes this guy's views on gays, or atheists, or anything else, seriously.

The bush fires were started by a guy setting fire to his field of cannabis plants because he thought the cops were coming for him and now under arrest.

At least he is consistent.  ly crazy.

Maybe God just had a score to settle with bushes?

"God's judgement" for the legalization of same-sex marriage and abortion

Let me just correct that erroneous statement.

"God's judgement" for the persecution by religious zealots against his creation of homosexuals and his gift of free will and a right to choose.

Just another of God's experiments gone wrong.

"The burning bush is an object described by the Book of Exodus as being located on Mount Horeb. According to the narrative, the bush was on fire, but was not consumed by the flames, hence the name."

Maybe he took too many knocks , maybe he was dropped on the head when young, or maybe he was just born this way, but this sorry excuse of a human needs serious help.

Progressives: We love POC, such as aboriginals!

Aboriginals: Gay marriage is wrong.

Progressives: NPC noises

Immense courage on his part for expressing his beliefs knowing there’d be retribution from the powers that be.

Courage? More like stupidity.

Some people talk about freedom of speechand human rights, this guy stood up for his

and in so doing his words discriminate against others who are simply trying to freely express themselves.

after being fired in May for posting on Instagram that "hell awaits" gay people and others he considers sinners

That should be people that God considers sinners, at least according to Folau's interpretation.

The comments were slammed as "appallingly insensitive" by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, himself an evangelical Christian.

So can we expect Morrison or church leaders to tell that that the bible is not to be believed? Somehow I don't think so. In which case, are they not just hypocrites?

Madam, thy protest too much. It's obvious he's a gay man in denial

It never seems to occur to religious boneheads like this that many of the societies who don’t share their intolerance don’t have too many problems with natural disasters.

I heard the least damaged area of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina was the Red Light District.

Folau can be forgiven for his foolish beliefs since the poor boy clearly completely missed out on a science education. I hope one day he will acquire some of the scientific knowledge needed to comprehend the wonders of the real world and the miraculous reality of life and the universe revealed by the microscope and telescope.

We can debate Folau's religious philosophy all day and never come to an agreement. That's fine. What I object to is the "cancel culture" that seeks to punish him for his beliefs by getting him fired. It is a dangerous precedent to set. He never harmed anyone, never set a fire never attacked anyone. He's got extreme views and isn't afraid to let everyone know.

Should we apply the same standard to people on the opposite end of the political/cultural spectrum? Try to get people fired and deplatformed for extreme secular beliefs? I would say no.

Progressives: We love POC, such as aboriginals!

Depends on the ‘aboriginal’.

Aboriginals: Gay marriage is wrong.

This ‘aboriginal’ said that. Your telling use of the plural is misleading and disingenuous.

Judge people on an individual basis and don’t make excuses for them based on what their holy book says.

He’s a bigot.

Note the use of the singular. It is more accurate, honest and doesn’t attempt to distort things with unnecessary and transparent generalizations.

Should we apply the same standard to people on the opposite end of the political/cultural spectrum? Try to get people fired and deplatformed for extreme secular beliefs? I would say no.

I think if a non-religious person was actively discriminating against religious people in cases like employment, it should be judged in the same way.

I think it’s also worth mentioning that the religious pass people often give to those expressing bigotry ( I don’t dislike gays, god does ) needs to be revoked. Many religious people come to the conclusion that discrimination against gays is wrong, so it follows that those who do not choose this way of thinking.

Not far from the traditional understanding of many Japanese, i.e. that natural disasters are punishment by the gods for 'impure' thoughts or actions of whatever kind, meaning that the gods, or ancestor spirits need to be appeased on any and every occasion.

In the olden days this kind of interpretation actually helped people come to terms with terrible and ghastly tragedies that defied any rational human explanation, and probably drove them to seek comfort in a deeper religious setting or understanding.

In today's political climate such thinking just seems bizarre, and runs the danger of being used by others to justify unthinkable actions.

Progressives: We love POC, such as aboriginals!

Total lack of intelligence shining through.

Folau is of Tongan heritage, but to the right wing nutters all that matters is the color of the skin!!!!

ulysses:

I just logged on to say the same thing, but you beat me to it. And that bit about the color of the skin? Dead right, buddy.

And how do they explain brush fires for the last 1,000 years...when gay marriage was just legalized this century but land has been burning since lighting was invented by GOD.

Ignorance and stupidity are older than Christianity but here lately Christians and Republican's are sucking all the stupidity up...

Not all Australian supports same sex marriage. The result of the non compulsory plebiscite 2 years ago was 61.6% yes and 31.4% no. Has Folau checked all the victims of the recent bushfires are yes voters and no one against same sex marriage is among them?

This is just a pathetic statement from a religious homophobic fanatic hateful rugby player who was banned from RWC2019.. What a loser...

Homophobic? Please. I doubt that he is afraid of gay people. He simply finds their lifestyle distasteful. Hateful? I didn't see anything hateful in what he said. His views fall into the mainline of Christian belief- "hate the sin, love the sinner". Much the same as Jesus did. Please show some evidence where he said that he hates gay people.

Religious and fanatic? I'll give you those. No question. But also irrelevant. People get fanatic about many things from religion to politics to sports. Big deal. As long as his behavior is decent, his rhetoric is irrelevant.