Australia: Chief Executive Of Football Team Fired Due To Church Membership

In Australia, Christians Are Having To Choose Between Their Church Or Their Job

DAVID ROBERTSON/

A Rubicon has been crossed in Australia. For the first time, someone has lost their job not because of something they said or did, but because of the church they belong to.

Essendon AFL is an Australian rules football team. Based in Melbourne, it has a membership of over 80,000 and is a major player in what is a large and lucrative sport in Australia.

This week it appointed a local businessman, Andrew Thorburn, as its chief executive. He lasted one day in the job and the story is best summed up by the Herald Sun headline, "Essendon's chief executive Andrew Thorburn has stepped down after shock link to church was revealed."

Notice the language. This was a 'shock link' - not to a strip club, not to a gambling syndicate, not to a drugs scandal - they would barely have raised an eyebrow. This was a shock link to a church.

This was not even a link to 'controversial' social media posts (aka Israel Folau). The new CEO was forced out not because of anything he said or did, but simply because he is linked to a mainstream Christian church which teaches the Bible - he is the chairman of their board.

In theory it is illegal to discriminate against someone because of their religious beliefs. But as the Essendon club president admitted, "In interview processes you're not allowed to ask about people's religious beliefs. It's against the law. But what we did, as soon as we saw them, we acted."

In other words, once they did check Thorburn's religious beliefs (or the beliefs of the church he belongs to), they then decided to discriminate and determine that he was not a suitable candidate.

The Essendon board declared that this was nothing to do with religious beliefs and that Essendon was a club where everyone was welcomed and respected. If Essendon really was a club where everyone was welcomed and respected then they would welcome Andrew Thorburn - but by 'acting' on the basis of the beliefs of Thorburn's church, the Essendon Board have told all Muslims, Catholics, evangelicals and others that they are not welcome.

Only those with pre-approved beliefs will be welcomed. Those who blaspheme against 'progressive' doctrines will be suitably excommunicated. Welcome to the fundamentalist church of the woke

Reading the media and listening to the Victorian Premier, Dan Andrews, one would think that City on a Hill was a Westboro Baptist-type extremist cult. In reality, they are a mainstream evangelical Anglican church.

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