Parts of BLM did not align with my Christian beliefs says rugby player

1 de August de 2020

Rugby player, Billy Vunipola decided to join the ones who don’t support Black Lives Matter movement (BLM) by refusing to take a knee before Saracens’ Gallagher Premiership defeat at Bristol on Saturday.

Although his elder brother Mako knelt, the England number eight and Christian of Tongan heritage, remained standing because he affirms that parts of BLM did not align with his Christian beliefs.

“What I saw in terms of that movement was not aligned with what I believe in. They were burning churches and Bibles. I can’t support that,” the rugby player said.

“Even though I am a person of colour, I’m still more a person of, I guess, Jesus,” he added.

“A similar situation happened with the Black Lives Matter movement last week when we were asked if we want to take a knee or not,” Vunipola told The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast.

The 27-year-old was acting in support of Australia full-back and Christian Folau, who stated on social media that “hell awaits” for “homosexuals” as well as a list of other sins in the New Testament.

Vunipola subsequently received formal warnings from the Rugby Football Union and Saracens and he reflects on the episode by stating that although he was proud to have defended his faith, he would now take a more measured approach.

“I could easily have been, ‘I’m not going to support this’,” Vunipola said.

“I didn’t sleep for two or three days after I saw his post because something inside me was saying, ‘Do you actually believe in Jesus Christ or do you not?’ That was the challenge I was battling with, not what Folau had said.”

“It was something that challenged me to step up to a level I’d never been before in terms of, ‘Am I actually going to put myself in a position where people dislike me and ridicule me?’.”

“I didn’t enjoy being ridiculed, I really didn’t. But at the same time what I did find comforting is that I stood up for my faith and I didn’t just fall by the wayside.”

“(Now) I wouldn’t go about it the same way, it would be more of a conversation from my point of view. I’d talk to whoever had any questions.”

“If it happened again now and I was asked, ‘Billy do you stand in support of it?’ I would have to say yes because I’ve made my position clear.”

“The way Folau came out with it was very abrupt and direct. Sometimes the Gospel is direct.”

“But at the same time, we need to accept people for who they are and what they want to do with their own lives. It’s not for me to judge, it’s for God.”

“At the middle of it all – to have forgiveness or to go to Heaven, or to not go to Hell – is believing in Jesus Christ and essentially that’s what I wanted to get across.”

???? @bvunipola on Folau, his faith and not taking a knee at the weekend. pic.twitter.com/QMzVSEl8ZJ
— The Good, The Bad & The Rugby (@GoodBadRugby) August 19, 2020