Mike Hosking speaks to rugby ref Nigel Owens about Israel Folau's comments on homosexuals. / Newstalk ZB
Israel Folau has opened the door, so here's our chance.
Get religion out of sport, in areas where the people who run sport do have a right to exert control.
I'm talking about banning all those hand signals by players to the heavens, along with the religious insignia on armbandsand "thanks to God" references during post-match interviews.
I don't really care if Folau's homophobic raving occurs away from official rugby duties. Free speech is free speech and the Folau family is on a roll.
His wife, Silver Ferns netball star Maria Folau, is standing with God and by her man and his views. They are no doubt mightily relieved to be enjoying such a healthy and inspirational non-same sex marriage.
For my money, it's not hate speech from Folau. It's just silly, pathetic, foolish and embarrassing speech. Telling homosexuals to "repent their sins and turn to God" speaks for itself intelligence wise. I feel sorry for the bloke, that his world is so limited. What a sad way to live.
But if a gay person wants to come out and claim that heterosexuals should all burn in hell, I'd have a good old laugh at that as well. These aren't dangerous people. They are silly people.
Now Wallaby Curtis Rona has piped up in support of Folau, saying: "I believe 110 per cent in what the gospel says, that's why you dedicate your life to Christianity...for him to be getting all this negative feedback is very undeserving."
It's instructive to know what some religious people feel about homosexuality, and to know that not all religious footballers feel the same.
The former Australian rugby player Digby Ioane stated: "...the God i grew up with loves everyone...Don't let anyone tell you are not worth it."
Well said Digby.
Meanwhile Wallaby great Tim Horan reckoned that Folau should have kept his views "around a barbecue cooking a sausage with six mates". The trouble is, Tim, social media is the modern barbecue.
What really bugs me, to put it mildly, is all the free advertising those religious footballers get when they praise the Lord after scoring a try, along with the way they can turn their body into free religious billboard space. In my set of beliefs, religion is just another product.
It is not clear, to me, what right sports administrators really have when it comes to shutting down what players say in their own free time.
But it is clear what right sports administrators should exert in controlling their own spaces. And I am constantly offended by the way religious symbolism and promotion is allowed to intrude on professional sport.
Whereas we can choose to follow the world according to Israel Folau, game day — which we subscribe to — is another matter.
What sticks in the craw is the way religious sports people think they can ram their beliefs down my throat in time that we pay for. Young footballers have basically decided that they can use their sport to promote their religion.
As a devoted atheist, I am absolutely sure that there is no form of being up in the clouds running the universe. There is no afterlife. As a friend once said, unfortunately we don't get to turn up at a theme park to see our old mates.
At the same time I will defend, to the end of the world, the rights of people to believe whatever they want to believe. Just keep religious beliefs and promotion off the field.
I felt like throwing a tablet through my tablet during a recent sevens tournament, where every second bloke interviewed wanted to give God every drop of credit and often before the first question had even been asked. Seriously.
This is not about asking religious footballers to deny who they are, what they believe, to stop worshipping or anything else. It's about asking them to respect other people's beliefs. It's not a lot to ask.
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