It's ridiculous.
There are a millions concessions atheists and agnostics make in order to uphold one's freedom of religion.
Christians talk about "sinners" and the fate that awaits them. How they are lost, how they have turned their back on God, how the have fallen victim to the great tempter and on and on. And the majority of us accept it because we understand that without freedom of religion we are not free to be fence sitters or non-believers. That freedom holds us all in balance and allows any of us, from either side, to change our mind at any time without any physical/real world consequence. It's a cornerstone of true freedom.
If this is the road that Oz rugby want to walk then it is up to them to take all religious manuscripts, doctrine and oral systems and spell out exactly what constitutes hate speech in each faith or tradition. In other words, edit them accordingly.
They then need to pass their order of muting religious views through human rights and constitutional courts and affect bans on certain religious views.
Yes, views, not speech, but views.
The reason being that it is illogical to ban the spoken word without outlawing the ideas behind it. It's akin to saying that you can grow all the poppy you want but if you are caught with it you'll be charged. If a minister in a church can preach freely, and collect millions in donations while doing so, there is no reason why a sportsman cannot discuss his views pointed publically.
That is to say, unless the player openly supports something he believes to be evil, he is not worthy of the jersey. The bible places an onus on believers to speak out and fight against what it determines to be evil. It's key to the evangelical Christian system.
This man is following what he and billions of others believe to be the word of God. His faith tells him that no man or government can dictate above scripture. And he follows his faith. That is what he was taught to do, likely since childhood. And he has has followed orders.
This is discrimination on the basis of religion. And it is contrary to freedom of speech, association and religion.
I've never had an issue with tolerance. Be it gays, lefties, rightists, alternative lifestyles whatever. Do as you fucking please.
As it stands, myself and many like me have had just about enough.
Careful, we'll start fighting back soon.
