Well, that did not take long. As we all know, a brand new CEO was forced out in record-breaking time. Not even 24 hours into the job and he was a goner. The incident served as further proof that our Woke elites and secular Left will not tolerate dissidents.

And we are not speaking about some mass murderer, or suicide bomber, or child molester. Pfft… The fellow in question was something much worse. He is Andrew Thorburn and his crime was to be an open, biblical Christian. For daring to be associated with a church that actually believes its own Scriptures, all hell broke loose.

Because his church believes what all Christians have normally believed about key moral issues – along with what Muslims and Jews have always tended to believe – he was deemed to be unfit to hold any sort of leadership position, even at a football club.

Yes, that has got to be the bottom of the barrel… Imagine, say his critics, actually believing that babies in the womb should have human rights like the rest of us. How prehistoric! What is wrong with this guy? Hang him. Better yet, throw him to the lions. We have no place for those sorts of believers in the AFL. In fact, we have no place for such scum in a tolerant and equitable society.

It sure is a good thing this guy, who is clearly off to the right of Attila the Hun, is no longer there to cause so much mischief and mayhem – even though he had already said that the sexual status of his footy players would be of no concern to him.

And just imagine belonging to a church that says it wants ‘to know Jesus and make Jesus known’? I would have thought every real-deal church on the planet wants to do exactly that. Are not the various AFL cultural pride rounds all about this: promoting and seeking to make known all sorts of lifestyles, values, and beliefs?

On a regular basis, the AFL has a Woke weekend, whether that be a LGBTQ+ pride round, or a Muslim pride round, and so on. That is just peachy. But promoting and celebrating Christianity in your own personal life? That is obviously a step too far. Away with the scoundrel!

But this is where we are at as a culture.

When it comes to Christianity, all is verboten. Thou Shall not be a Christian or even think about letting your Christianity be made known publicly. Anyone who dares to do that is now Public Enemy Number One.

But imagine what would have happened if a Muslim was appointed as a CEO to an AFL club. Would there have been similar sorts of headlines everywhere about this? Would they be demanding that he be checked out for his views? Would they ask him if his mosque teaches the un-PC parts of the Holy Text that call for homosexuals to be killed, infidels beheaded, and women subjugated? Would he have been forced out?

Soon after this episode we learned about Haneen Zreika, the AFLW’s first Muslim player who pulled out of a pride round. She said this about her decision: ‘I didn’t want to make a big deal of it, until the AFL rejected me from wearing a normal jersey. That was a shock to me. I love what the AFL do and the way they include everyone, but you can’t have a round where you include people but exclude someone that it impacts their faith. I really feel like an outsider, like, “no mate, you’re not part of us”.’

As far as I know, she has not been booted out of the club yet.

And something even more interesting concerns another big sporting event: the 2022 FIFA World Cup to be held next month in Qatar. For those not in the know, Qatar is a traditional Muslim-majority nation. Consider this little bit of welcoming information that the government wants all visitors – especially those from the West – to be aware of. There are certain things you will not do while there – or else. This list includes:

• no alcohol
• no homosexuality
• no immodesty
• no profanity
• no disrespecting of mosques
• no loud music
• no dating

Hmm… Just about everything the West champions or enjoys is prohibited in Qatar. And even as a brief visitor, if you dare to engage in any of these things, be prepared to suffer the consequences . So does that mean the Australian media, the AFL, politicians like Dan Andrews, and all the rest have loudly and clearly voiced their strongest disapproval of all this?

Does that mean they are all insisting that we must ban people from going there and we must condemn Qatar in the strongest of terms?

As it turns out, the answer to these questions is a big no. Of course they haven’t. Offending Islam is almost as big a taboo for the Western Left as attacking Christianity is a must.

All this reminds me of a guy named Joe. Being an old fellow, and originally from the state of Wisconsin, I at least know all about Senator Joe McCarthy (1908-1957). He has long been a bogeyman of the Left. For daring to expose communism in America in the late 40s and early 50s, he was – and still is – demonised by the progressives. Thus McCarthyism has been added to our dictionaries as a pejorative term.

Perhaps he is most well-known for asking this question of others in his Senate hearings: ‘Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party of the United States?’ His attempts to purge communists out of the State Department and other areas resulted in some folks losing their jobs and others being publicly vilified.

While he did have his faults and weaknesses, he rightly understood the very real dangers of treason and communist infiltration in America.

How does this tie in with Thorburn? It is not difficult to see the connection. He and other Christians must be prepared for a new element in the job interview process. They must be prepared for this question: ‘Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Christian Church?’

That seems to be all that matters now. Forget about any qualifications you might have. Forget about decades of experience and service. Forget about an impeccable track record. Forget about past successes and victories. Forget about a sterling character. Most of our elites, politicians, and Woke corporations want to know only one thing: are you a Bible-believing Christian? If so, they do not want you.

The truth is, Christophobia is alive and well and spreading fast. Don’t believe me? Just have a quick chat with Andrew Thorburn.