That’s a very poor attempt at an apology. Playing the victim, and blaming the rest of society. Seems they had their arm twisted into it. Hope it isn’t accepted and the fight continues against the religious discrimination bill.
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It just gets worse at Hillsong.
Or hopefully better. They have such a poor reputation that something needs to change if they’re going to be able to salvage it and I think a new leader and a new PM and some time out of the media might enable them to do that to be known for their good works of which I’m hoping there’s a few but I haven’t had anything to do with Hillsong ever but I am from a pentecostal church of which I know we do quite a bit for different groups but is never really heard or known about.
UPDATED
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Alright, I’ve been trying to hold back from writing this one but I feel like I need to because unfortunately we’re seeing yet again more hatred and bigotry and intolerance and things being blown out of proportion by the media to stir division and unfortunately, many people are suffering from it.
I want to write about the Manly 7 issue from last week and I want to put forward a few alternative arguments and thoughts and things that don’t seem to be being reported because it’s just become another shouting match for people and people are getting hurt, not feeling heard or feeling loved and accepted.
Firstly, a disclaimer. I’m a Christian and I have many different beliefs on certain issues, some I’ve had for a long time, others I’ve changed as I’ve grown and with the benefit of hindsight and learning and others that go against the way the views of Christians are portrayed.
I know that I’ve said offensive things in the past, which I apologise for. Whether they were views I had at the time or views which I just simply didn’t elaborate as well as I should have.
Anyway, I want to draw attention first to a similar issue from a few weeks ago and draw some parallels to show some of the hypocrisy with the arguments at the time and against the arguments of last week.
A few weeks ago, Adam Bandt removed the Australian flag from behind himself for a press conference. The opinions on this ranged from “get over it, it’s just some colours on a bit of cloth” to “but the flag is symbolic of so much more” to everything in between.
Funnily enough, the people saying to get over it are many of the ones not liking the rainbow flag at the moment and the ones saying it was symbolic of so many other issues before are the ones saying to get over it now.
The rainbow flag means different things to many people, to members of the LGBTIQ+ community it’s a hugely important piece of who they are. To many others in the community, they have no thoughts either way for or against it. For others though, it’s symbolic of a whole range of issues from gay and lesbian rights to the whole gender theories currently going around. The rainbow has also been a huge part of Christian’s lives and their faith for a long time. I know that Christians have taken other things over the centuries and given them new meaning and I’m sure that upset a few people too, but there are some who are upset with the rainbow being taken and given a new meaning, of which they don’t fully agree with it all.
While the rainbow flag stands for many things, when it comes down to the media attention after something like last week it’s simplified to - if you don’t like it, you hate those who it stands for with no middle ground, no in between. You hate all the gays, lesbians, bisexuals etc… That’s not true in all instances and not true in I reckon the majority of instances.
I’m not that old but the world has changed extremely quickly, when I was at school there was heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual and there were “trannies” - I don’t mean that in an offensive way, just reporting how it was. That was it. There’s now a lot more terms, some of which likely existed before (intersex I’d imagine has been around for a long time but certainly wasn’t in the mainstream) and there’s a lot that fall under the Queer banner. There were also only two genders, boys and girls. There’s now many different schools of thought around this, some universally accepted, others not.
As well as the changes in all of those have been a lot of changes in the ways of thoughts about sex and relationships, there’s a lot more prevalance of the open marriages and open relationships etc… as people all define what their standards are. These might not have a direct relationship with the rainbow flag but are all seen as part of a changing shift to the views of many things and it’s ok to not agree with all of them. I have no idea what level of faith these players have, they probably believe in the no sex before marriage rule. I believe they come from nations where there is a much higher religious culture than here in Australia. That’s ok too.
Christians do themselves no favours at times, I won’t dispute that and they have done wrong in the past and made mistakes just like any of us but to see them all being tarred with the same brush here and to see the hatred I couldn’t stand by and say nothing.
To see me and all other Christians - including the ones who are gay/trans etc… constantly labelled as bigots, homophobes, full of hatred etc… for all those under the banner was disappointing and also incorrect.
I don’t see that this issue needed to be as big as it was, it’s been blown up and involves 26 million more Australians than it needs to and it’s causing stress and angst for many who it doesn’t need to. I don’t know if there’s any openly gay players on that team but I doubt that there were issues for them with these players before but the way the media has jumped onto it now, they’ve created issues.
Surely they could have all sat down last week and said "hey, we want to wear the pride colours on our uniforms and give players the choice of which uniform they want to wear and feel comfortable in. I’d imagine many would choose the rainbow one and there could still be some who can wear the standard white one and give everybody a chance to speak to their peers if they choose to. If there’s an openly gay person on the team they can explain why they’re wearing it and encourage others to and for others they can explain why they don’t feel comfortable wearing it. It can all be done in a respectful and tolerant manner.
I’ve never seen a news report saying that anybody anywhere has been sacked for not participating in Red Nose Day or Jeans for Genes etc… Nor have I ever seen anybody not wearing a pink ribbon or a white ribbon etc… accused of hating those victims of breast cancer or domestic violence etc… So if somebody chooses not to wear the rainbow for any myriad reasons, I don’t see that their job should be at risk nor that it should be seen as a sign of hatred towards others.
Just one final thing, again, I have tried to write this in a respectful way and I don’t want to generate hate or anxiety etc… for anyone. I’m not gay but I’ve tried forever to try and fit in while often being on the outer. Through life I’ve learned that you can’t please everybody, not everybody will like you and you have no control over other’s thoughts and feelings. As much as it sucks, and I know it does and it causes me anxiety, you can control your thoughts and feelings and you can choose how to treat others and we’re all human and agree on different things and have a broad range of experiences that have shaped us all into who we are today. There’s already way too much hate going on in the world, please don’t let the way things are reported and misreported give you reason to hate anybody else without knowing the full story.
Apologies for the novel, but unfortunately the short and sharp things seem to be what gets us all in trouble with these things.
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The selective references to religious text has prompted legitimate criticism of hypocrisy; why aren’t those same (few) players refusing to wear gambling ads, or to wear mixed fabrics, or play on the sabbath?
Religion’s certainty of faith (without requiring proof, even ignoring evidence to the contrary), has always been about telling other people what to do (‘I know that’s a sin, this isn’t, and you’ll suffer eternally if you disagree with me’), and it’s been used to oppress people for millennia.
It’s ridiculous that some religious people - who self-select, self-identify as a follower of a religion (we can change which if any religion we follow) - are now complaining about being criticised for trying to push their beliefs onto others as if criticising them equates to discrimination based on inherent attributes, which people don’t choose/can’t change (skin colour, racial background, sexual orientation, etc.).
(I’m not saying you’re necessarily doing that, but some are, and there’s a big difference between religion being criticised versus discriminating against & condemning people for attributes they were born with.)
The players who stood down weren’t being asked to abandon their religion or beliefs, they were asked to wear a jersey with a motif to promote inclusivity and respect.
It shouldn’t be a controversial position that everyone deserves to be included and afforded respect, regardless of race, creed, colour, or sexual orientation (amongst other things) - something that has its roots in many religions, but its also basic human decency.
The actions of the 7 sends a message to the LGBTIQ+ community that can easily be interpreted that they’re not welcome, despite it possibly not being the intention.
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When you join a football club you have to do a lot of things without a choice. If you don’t want to abide by corporate decisions, you should leave the club. This isn’t about personal freedoms or freedom of religion, it’s corporate responsibility.
Also more generally, freedom from religion is something we should appreciate more than freedom of religion.
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Hey if they are happy to promote alcohol. A pride journey promoting equality should not have been a big deal. I’m Christian, but for fuck sake this was grandstanding , not only did they let their team but potentially made a damaging representation that LGBT are not considered in Rugby league.
Fucking morons.
There’s just no way to be able to sit down with the country and have a good long talk about any of these modern day issues. We live in a world where information is bite size and outrage is often blown way out of proportion thanks to the anonymity of social media and the lack of responsibility you need to use it.
A lot of these issues - where there is such a divide in opinion but it goes nowhere - are borne out of fucking corporations siding with a cause. Gillette, Allens/Cheer, Triple J/Australia Day, all good discussions we should have that are marketed and used as campaigns to make money. Wouldn’t ya know it, a corporation has ignited this one too. I wonder how many people downloaded the PointsBet app since this all started?
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Described as an “Anglican lifeboat for faithful Christians”, the newly formed Diocese of the Southern Cross was announced at the Global Anglican Future Conference in Canberra over the weekend.
The new group will be led by retired Sydney archbishop Glenn Davies, who described the formation of the new diocese as a “sad day”.
The diocese’s first church service was held at an RSL club at Beenleigh in Logan, Queensland.
Further splintering of churches just makes more followers turn their back on religion.
If they’re really against relaxing previous prohibitions (such as against divorce), shouldn’t they just go back to where the Church of England originally split from, the Catholic Church?
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Uhoh cue the meltdowns. I see a culture war coming.
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The talking heads at Sky News would be having a meltdown.