{"title":"Adiaphora","authors":"Mark Jennings","doi":"10.1558/jasr.22486","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In April 2019, athlete Isileli ‘Israel’ Folau was sacked for posting anti-LGBTQ+ social media messages. The ‘Israel Folau case’ was contentious in Australia and internationally. Although Folau claimed to be expressing genuinely held Christian beliefs, he has previously articulated heterodox anti-Trinitarian ideas. Throughout Christian history, orthodox beliefs concerning the Trinity have been central. Conversely, same-sex desire has been variously tolerated or censured, but has mostly been regarded as adiaphora: a matter of marginal importance. I argue that the support Folau received from two conservative Christian bodies—the Australian Christian Lobby and the Anglican Diocese of Sydney—suggests that in Australian conservative Christianity, ‘orthodox’ sexuality is now regarded as central, with orthodox belief now de facto consigned to adiaphora.","PeriodicalId":41609,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Academic Study of Religion","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal for the Academic Study of Religion","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.22486","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In April 2019, athlete Isileli ‘Israel’ Folau was sacked for posting anti-LGBTQ+ social media messages. The ‘Israel Folau case’ was contentious in Australia and internationally. Although Folau claimed to be expressing genuinely held Christian beliefs, he has previously articulated heterodox anti-Trinitarian ideas. Throughout Christian history, orthodox beliefs concerning the Trinity have been central. Conversely, same-sex desire has been variously tolerated or censured, but has mostly been regarded as adiaphora: a matter of marginal importance. I argue that the support Folau received from two conservative Christian bodies—the Australian Christian Lobby and the Anglican Diocese of Sydney—suggests that in Australian conservative Christianity, ‘orthodox’ sexuality is now regarded as central, with orthodox belief now de facto consigned to adiaphora.
期刊介绍:
The Journal for the Academic Study of Religion is a fully refereed interdisciplinary academic journal. The journal reflects the wide variety of research dealing with all aspects of the academic study of religion. The journal is committed to presenting cutting edge research from both established and new scholars. As well as articles, it publishes book and film reviews, conference reports, and the annual lectures delivered to members of its partner organisation, the Australian Association for the Study of Religion. The Journal for the Academic Study of Religion is published three times a year and issues alternate between thematic and regular issues. Regular issues include articles on any topic that bears upon the academic study of religion.