When it is apparently OK to totally misrepresent someone.

I am getting pretty sick and tired of the way the Media is treating Israel Folau over this whole trumped up event.



In a story in the Sydney Morning Herald written by Tom Decent titled "$1000 a minute: Folau gets back more than $600,000", the writer included the following sentence: "Folau posted a photo on Instagram on April 10 that said homosexuals were destined for hell unless they repented their sins."


In a daily Mail article titled "'What exactly has been achieved?' The Project host Waleed Aly reveals why he thinks Israel Folau's GoFundMe page SHOULDN'T have been removed" written by Zoe Zaczek and Charlie Moore, they included the line "Folau was sacked by Rugby Australia last month for beaching his contract with an Instagram post that said gay people are sinners and will go to hell.'

(Note: it should be "breaching" but it was spelt this way in the article).


The other day the ABC radio news report included a similar claim about what Israel Folau said, and used terms very much in the same vein - that Mr Folau said that Homosexuals would burn in Hell. (Note: this is not a direct quote, but from my memory as best I can recall.)


This is simply a gross misrepresentation of the facts.

In my recent post I included the exact wording of the post that is at the heart of all this fuss, and I will do so again here.


Here are the words that Israel Folau himself wrote and posted:

Those that are living in Sin will end up in Hell unless you repent. Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him.

Now if you read carefully, you will note that Israel Folau does not even write the word "Homosexual(s)". At all. Not even a sideways reference to homosexuals.

It is wholly and totally untrue what the media are saying that Israel Folau has posted.

Now with that single line of text that Mr Folau posted of his own words, he also posted direct and complete quotations from the Holy Bible, King James Version.
The verses he posted are as follows:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these , adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21 KJV

_______________

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 2:38 KJV

_______________

And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Acts 17:30 KJV

Any unbiased reader will note that passages quoted by Mr Folau ALSO DO NOT MENTION homosexuals.

In fact it is only the graphic that Mr Folau posted that even uses the word Homosexuals:

And even in that, the graphic does not single out homosexuals, but simply includes them amongst a list of 8 different terms.

And the thrust of the words, the verses, and the graphic is NOT that people will burn in Hell, but that in fact there is a way for people to avoid that fate.

To represent Mr Folau in the way that the Media has and continues to do is first of all deceitful, wording the accusation in such way as to force a reader into a negative mindset, but it is also misrepresenting the truth.

It would be far more accurate for the media to represent the truth, and say that Mr Folau has used Scripture to point out that any sinner is bound for Hell UNLESS they repent.

For this is truthfully what Mr Folau has done.
He has not singled out any group, and not named any group other than "Those that are living in sin".
He certainly has not singled out "Homosexuals" as it is constantly reported that he has done.

I am not normally one that claims that the media is biased, but in this case it appears to be almost universal that the Media is intent on focussing this matter on the FALSE claim that Mr Folau has singled out Homosexuals.
That is how they have reported it since the start of this mockery of a trial by media, and it is certainly the way that Rugby Australia has presented it, and it is also the way that the Qantas chairman has presented it.

This is a blatant misrepresentation of the truth for the purpose of stifling freedom of speech.

I find it interesting that the Qantas chairman can publicly promote the opposing view and do so with his Qantas chairman's hat on, blatantly and proudly saying that he represents the Qantas organisation, and he has the apparent right to promote the gay agenda without any repercussions; the chairwoman of Rugby Australia can promote and support the gay agenda without repercussions; the media can present and represent the gay agenda without repercussions, but a man who has NOT EVEN SINGLED OUT THE GAY COMMUNITY can suffer the kind of attacks and repercussions that we see of Mr Folau for a MISREPRESENTED comment against the Gay community that HE DID NOT EVEN MAKE.

This is not tolerance of any kind - this is an unwarranted attack, based on a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts of the matter, in order to justify NOT TOLERATING a point of view that opposes what the Media wants to promote.

And it is shameful.