Folau slap-down: Kochie hit with blunt comeback on Sunrise
A prominent voice who is in support of Israel Folau has gone head to head with Sunrise host David Koch on Monday morning.
Australian Christian Lobby boss Martyn Iles is a vocal supporter of Israel Folau and backed the crowd-funding effort to raise $10 million before it was later taken down by GoFundMe.
“I suppose a big issue is why does he need to raise money from other people? He is pretty well off himself. The core case could earn him $10 million. To use other people’s money to earn $10 million,” Koch said.
“It could earn $10 million but it could also cost $3 million,” Mr Iles countered.
“Firstly, what is the point of the fundraising campaign? Is it for money? It is actually about creating a grassroots support network. It’s more about PR for the case, it’s more about raising the profile of the case.
“People have been asking me for days before this happened how we could be a part of it. He has offered that. But also, I will offer this — how much should it cost him? I mean, it’s cost him his job, it’s cost him his career. He’s banned for life.”
Koch countered by saying, “Yeah, it could earn him $10 million.”
Mr Iles confirmed while the lawsuit could earn him a hefty figure, that the money would go to other causes.
“He’s not going to keep the $3 million that people are giving him. That’s going straight into trust, and it can only be distributed for legal expenses, so it’s pretty secure.”
After further discussion, the pair discussed free speech, with Mr Iles stating he did not believe it was Folau’s intention to be purposefully inflammatory.
“Didn’t he bring it on himself? Why did he need to be so inflammatory? Everyone believes in free speech, there’s no doubt about that, but what’s the line you draw between free speech and hate speech?” Koch asked Iles.
Mr Illes replied: “Well look, he doesn’t believe himself that he was being inflammatory.
“I mean if you look at his social media record, he’s got a lot of posts on there which are scripture, he’s got a lot of posts on there which talk about themes like repentance and judgment and all that stuff.
“He’s just expressing his religious beliefs. He believes he has to share the Bible with his fellow man, and that is something that all Christians believe.”
However, the conversation took a tense turn after Kochie said the Bible is a “bit weird in parts” and further said it condones slavery.
“Well it doesn’t,” Mr Iles replied.
“Well it does. There are parts of it that do condone slavery,” Koch continued.
“There are other parts that say men should value their goats and their cows more than their wives. Divorce is adultery.
“So, you should basically, an extension of that, anyone who divorces should go to hell. So, there are some weird things in there that just are not relevant to today’s society, and make Christians look bad," Kochie added.
Iles shot back by saying, “Well, I won’t turn to you for theological advice.”
“No, no, no, I’ll give you the list if you like. I’ll come up with a list of all the weird...” Koch countered back.
“There’s a messy amalgamation of things there, but let’s put that to one side,” Mr Iles tersely replied.
“These conversations should be able to be had. We should criticise, we should debate, but what it’s cost him is unreasonable. Which is that he has posted scripture, which is part of the mainstream beliefs of millions of Australians, and the politically correct baseball bat has been wielded against him," Mr Iles exclaimed.
“He’s lost his job, he’s lost his livelihood, he’s actually been dragged through the mud in the media quite badly.”
The fundraising campaign claims to be about “creating grassroots support network, raising the profile of the case and giving people a voice to buy into the whole thing,” according to the Australian Christian Lobby.
Mr Iles appeared on The Sunday Project on Sunday evening where he was asked by host Lisa Wilkinson if he agreed gay people would go to hell.
He said the “mainstream Christian belief on this is that all of us are born going to hell”.
“We’re all sinners and I don’t think it’s helpful to say that Israel Folau’s post targeted homosexuals. It didn’t,” he said.
“I was on the list. I think each of us were on the list. We’re all sinners. We will be judged by God and we will be found wanting.
“And yeah, we’ll be judged on our sexual behaviours. Me, as a straight man, will be judged on my sexual behaviours and found wanting.
“And that’s what Israel was saying, when he was talking about salvation in Jesus Christ available to all, and millions of Australians believe that.”