An Anglican bishop has branded the religious statements of Australian rugby union player Israel Folau as hate speech.

The Bishop of Grafton, the Right Reverend Dr Murray Harvey, said free speech should not be used to vilify others.

Key points: Bishop believes Folau's statements on social media constitute hate speech

Bishop believes Folau's statements on social media constitute hate speech A hearing has found Israel Folau committed a "high-level breach" of the professional players' code of conduct

A hearing has found Israel Folau committed a "high-level breach" of the professional players' code of conduct Grafton Bishop wants Folau to use his platform to send a positive message

"I think there's a difference between free speech and sometimes that can go over the borderline into hate speech," Bishop Harvey said.

"Certainly, he's got that right to free speech that we all have, but with rights come responsibilities."

Bishop Harvey's comments followed a hearing this week that found Folau committed a "high-level breach" of the professional players' code of conduct over controversial social media posts.

One of the posts proclaimed hell awaited "drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters".

Folau has not apologised or expressed any regrets for the posts, and was awaiting a decision on what his punishment for breaching the code would be.

When does free speech become hate speech?

Bishop Harvey did not have an opinion on how Folau should be punished by his sport, but said he wanted the 30-year-old to understand that words had consequences, sometimes dangerous ones, especially among young people who might be questioning their sexuality.

Anglican Bishop of Grafton the Right Reverend Dr Murray Harvey believes religious social media comments made by Israel Folau constitute hate speech. ( Supplied )

"I'd like [Folau] to just to rethink some of his comments because when free speech starts to threaten other people or make other people feel unsafe or undervalued, then that kind of stuff becomes hate speech in my view," he said.

Bishop Harvey said while Folau was free to hold particular religious views, how he expressed them in public was another matter.

"Threatening people in this way cannot be disguised as protected religious activity — if it was then things like ethnic cleansing could be justified on religious grounds as having divine approval," Bishop Harvey said.

He believed Folau could achieve more for his faith by rethinking his choice of words, particularly in the public arena.