CEO fired after one day because of his church membership
The Daily Article
The Denison Forum
4.9 • 576 Ratings
🗓️ 11 October 2022
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Andrew Thorburn was chief executive of the Australian Football League club Essendon only a day before reports emerged that he was also the lay board chairman of an Anglican church called City on a Hill. When people dug into past sermons from City on a Hill, they discovered biblical truths about sexuality and abortion, which caused public outrage.
Thorburn resigned his position as a result, stating, “Today it became clear to me that my personal Christian faith is not tolerated or permitted in the public square, at least by some and perhaps by many. I was being required to compromise beyond a level that my conscience allowed.”
Author: Jim Denison, PhD
Narrator: Chris Elkins
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Daily article podcast for Tuesday, October the 11th, 2022. Today's article is |
| 0:09.7 | narrated by Chris Elkins and written by Dr. Jim Denison. This is a story from Australia, but it has |
| 0:16.3 | direct implications for Americans and anywhere else people embrace biblical truth and morality. |
| 0:22.6 | Andrew Thornburn was chief executive of the Australian Football League Club Essendon |
| 0:28.6 | only a day before reports emerged that he was also the layboard chairman of an Anglican Church called City on a Hill. |
| 0:35.6 | In 2013, the church published an article urging people |
| 0:39.4 | with same-sex attraction to seek help from senior Christians |
| 0:42.8 | to survive these temptations. |
| 0:45.6 | A 2013 sermon also stated that while we look back |
| 0:50.3 | with sadness and disgust over concentration camps, |
| 0:53.4 | future generations will look back with sadness at disgust over concentration camps. Future generations will look back with sadness |
| 0:55.9 | at the legal murder of hundreds of thousands of human beings every day through medicine and in the |
| 1:02.7 | name of freedom. Daniel Andrew, premier of the Australian state of Victoria, told reporters, |
| 1:09.4 | those views are absolutely appalling. I don't support those |
| 1:12.9 | views. That kind of intolerance, that kind of hatred, bigotry is just wrong. Escendant President |
| 1:20.7 | Dave Barham quickly issued a statement. We acted immediately to clarify the publicly espoused views on the organization's official website, |
| 1:30.3 | which are in direct contradiction to our values as a club. |
| 1:34.3 | Thornburn resigned his position as a result, stating, |
| 1:37.3 | Today it became clear to me that my personal Christian faith is not tolerated or permitted in the public square, or at least by some, |
| 1:46.5 | and perhaps by many. I was being required to compromise beyond a level that my conscience allowed. |
| 1:53.4 | Dr. Albert Moller is right. This story tells us a great deal about the velocity of social and moral change and the challenges that will |
| 2:02.5 | face Christians, if not immediately, then very quickly. If we want job security, he suggests |
... |
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