If Andrew Thorburn is guilty by association with City on a Hill,why is Daniel Andrews not guilty by association with the Catholic Church?
Andrew Thorburn’s forced exit from Essendon has crystallised insecurities held by people of faith about holding moral views against the secular majority.
The Essendon-Thorburn saga highlights that never before have Australians known so little about the foundational text of Australia’s biggest religion. And never before,it seems,had such strong opinions on it.
City on a Hill pastor Guy Mason repeated his apology for the words he used in a sermon,while a religious discrimination expert laid out a dual path for possible legal action against the Bombers.
Andrew Thorburn’s messy departure from Essendon football club prompted a conservative church to apologise for likening abortion to concentration camps.
Ex-bank boss Andrew Thorburn did not declare to Essendon that the church he chaired held views that might be a concern for the Bombers before he was hired as CEO.
While the Essendon CEO’s humiliating exit is further evidence of football club dysfunction,faith groups see a growing intolerance for religion in public life.
Its religious services could be mistaken for those of a Hillsong-style Pentecostal church. But the youthful,self-described “movement” is part of the Anglican Church.
The Essendon Football Club is now embroiled in a public debate about freedom of speech and religion,and Age readers have some strong views about what has happened.
I ticked the no-religion box on census night,but I believe in many things. Things like love,dignity,reason,respect and my fellow human beings.
LGBTQ rights groups,meanwhile,want the government to pass separate legislation protecting gay and transgender students in religious schools against discrimination.