Peter Singer defends Folau

The Israel Folau case dominated the news all week and it was interesting to see how his support picked up through the week.

First was the pulling down of the fundraising website – under the guise of inclusiveness but really as one newspaper put it – it was inclusive exclusion.

It seems you can fundraise on gofundme for a half-million dollar Ferrari to make yourself feel better – but not for Israel Folau.

Then Folau’s wife – herself a sporting personality – was targeted and bullied. Surely a low point in the saga.

But I was surprised by an article from the prominent atheist Peter Singer who pointed out that using the same rules, if the Apostle Paul had played for the wallabies – his contract would have been ripped up.

Singer certainly doesn’t share Folau’s beliefs but defends his right to express them and pointed out that the comments on Instagram could not in anyway be interpreted as hate speech.

If that’s the view of a prominent atheist – what are we arguing about?

I’m Russell Powell for the NSW Council of Churches