UPDATED 5.44pm A petition against Destiny Church's tax-free status is gaining momentum as Brian Tamaki hits back over the backlash to his homophobic sermon blaming gays, sinners and murderers for earthquakes.
The petition, on Change.org, sprung up after the self-appointed Bishop's Sunday sermon in which he told his congregation the earth "convulses under the weight of certain human sin".
The sermon came one day before a massive 7.8 earthquake struck central New Zealand killing two and leaving thousands stranded, with limited food, water, shelter and communication.
He also blamed a gay priest and the people of Christchurch for the devastating earthquakes that hit Canterbury in 2010 and 2011 which killed 185 people.
"The land actually speaks to God. It spews itself up after a while - that's natural disasters. Because nature was never created to carry the bondage of our iniquity," Tamaki said.
The comments have attracted widespread condemnation and have been labelled homophobic.
Prime Minister John Key called the comments "ridiculous".
"It's madness. The reason we've got earthquakes is because we have tectonic plates that are moving," he told Chris Lynch.
Parliament's Maori MPs are taking a dim view of Tamaki's allegations.
Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox said everybody knows earthquakes are caused by tectonic plate movement.
"To be casting aspersions as such is pretty threatening to the stability of our country."
And Labour MP Peeni Henare is as equally scathing calling Tamaki's comments disgusting.
"To make those kinds of assertions reminds me of the speech of my grandfather that said, in Maori there are two things that make you crazy, one is Whakapapa the other is religion."
Today Tamaki hit out at media in a tweet about the saga.
"How's this for so called media fairness... not once did TV1 and TV3 and Close Up at 7 [sic] contact me for response or comment... they had an agenda."
At the same time a petition against Tamaki's Destiny Church and it's tax-free status is growing.
The petition, set up by Aaron Smithson with a single signature, has now attracted more than 15,000 supporters.
"With the recent news from the self-appointed "Bishop" Brian Tamaki that gays were to blame for the earthquake in Kaikoura, I call upon John Key and the New Zealand Government to classify Destiny Church as a hate group and strip them of their tax free status," Smithson said on Change.org.
To view the petition go to:
https://www.change.org/p/john-key-strip-destiny-church-from-tax-free-status
-Â NZ Herald
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