The late great scientist and writer, my favourite evolutionist (including Darwin, I might add on the grounds that he was funnier), Stephen Jay Gould, was a wonderfully liberal and tolerant man. Rather than tell proponents of a strict biblical interpretation of the natural world to just fuck off and go pray, like… errrr, someone less tolerant (no names) might do. To those who claimed that ‘the world was built just like we see it just 5,500 years ago, with every mountain hand sculpted by God, every fossil just put there for His fun’, Gould said ‘fine, that’s your “belief”, but it ain’t science’. So he proposed his wonderful paradigm of NOMA. Non-overlapping Magisteria. In which religion could say precisely what it liked, in the world of the spirit, of blind belief, of biblical adherence, but science was entitled to the same consideration in things which are evidence based, empirical or borne out by study. Basically: you wanna believe in fairies, devils and miracles that’s fine and we won’t criticise, but don’t fucking quote them as ‘scientific fact’ cos they ain’t.

I always thought that a very elegant way round a problem, particularly in a nation (that’ll be America) where the teaching of evolutionary theory is still either banned or moderated by insistence of creationist (biblical) theory alongside, in some states.

And so to rugby.

????

Yeah, rugby. Because there’s a royal row going on. Heads are rolling. Because people are not sticking to their own magisteria but interfering with things about which they know precious little other than their own prejudices, borne, as are all prejudices, out of ignorance, and reinforced by some woolly and ambiguous sentence in some part of the bible. The same kind of sentences that justified (in the eyes of the Dutch Orthodox Church) the apartheid system, the stoning of women rape victims in strictly Muslim countries and the almost universal homophobia in the entire world of religion.

Israel Folau is possibly the best winger in world rugby. Fast, strong and a devastating finisher. Yet for some unaccountable reason chose to post a message on social media attacking gay people as being ungodly. Also threw in drunks, adulterers, fornicators (???), thieves, Arsenal fans (definitely ungodly) and estate agents. He had to ‘speak out’ because of his God. Blah, blah, fucking blah.

He has been suspended from Australian rugby. But not before several other rugby superstars had ‘liked’ or supported his comments. Most notably Billie Vunipola, the England Number 8 and, ironically, fairly renowned drunk (no evidence of fornication so far, other than his children). Who now faces sanctions for his own take on the ‘man was created to mate with woman’ biblically inspired bollocks.

I’m guessing that Israel Folau and Billy have a few million followers on Twitter. Who follow them because they are gods of their game. Not because anyone wants to hear their intolerant and antiquated discriminatory views. However much God might be on their side. It’s not their place to make such comments. Not their context. Save it for church.

Happy Saturday

A xxxx