Just a gentle warning that nowadays if you believe the stuff that Christians have believed for the past 2,000 years then you're always on the verge of being cancelled:
[Andrew] Thorburn is, by all reports, a remarkable and gifted leader, having been the CEO of two banks, one of them with 35,000 employees. On Monday, 3 October, it was announced that he had been appointed the new CEO of his beloved Essendon Football Club, which he described as "one of the proudest days of his life".
The appointment proved to be short-lived, however. For it also became known that Thorburn acts as the Chair of the Board of City on a Hill, a large Anglican church with seven congregations across Melbourne, Geelong, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and Wollongong.
"Oh my!" you're probably saying. "What is 'City on a Hill'? It must be part of a really bad sub-denomination. They surely believe the most terrible things!"
Oh wait nah nevermind:
But it wasn't anything Thorburn himself said or personally believes that made his appointment untenable — it was simply his association with City on a Hill. The media found a sermon (still on the church's website) that was preached by one of their pastors in 2013 which expressed a strong view about the moral status of abortion, and another which expressed a similarly strong view concerning homosexuality. The current leadership of the church have recently chosen to engage with these issues in more nuanced, sympathetic ways. But that seems to be irrelevant, because some have decided that only one view is permitted in Australian society, and any deviation is not to be tolerated.
A progressive's first instinct when he encounters church teaching that has been around since the days of Christ:
Thankfully, faithful Christians aren't so easily cowed. In Thornburn's own words:
My faith is central to who I am. Since coming to faith in Jesus 20 years ago, I have seen profound change in my life, and I believe God has made me a better husband, father, and friend. It has also helped me become a better leader. That is because at the centre of my faith is the belief that you should create a community and care for people, because they are created by and loved by God and have a deep intrinsic value.
As it happens, I do sometimes disagree with things I hear in church - but I believe strongly in the right of people to say them, especially when taken in context. Reducing complex matters to a sentence is dangerous. Australia has a long tradition of diversity and religious freedom, and that must include preserving space for religious people to be able to express their religious beliefs.
Football clubs come and go, people get canceled and unpersoned, but Christ always abides. Thank you for reminding us of that, Andrew Thornburn!
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
