Green Party challenges Religious Freedom

Media Release Monday 2nd January 2017

In defence of Bishop Brian Tamaki and freedom of speech Right to Life makes the following comments.

Metiria Turei, co- leader of the Greens and presumed spokesperson for the LGBTQI movement, used speaking time at Parliament to accuse the leader of the Destiny Church of undermining human rights and of hate speech.

In doing so she appears totally unaware of the total hypocrisy of her statements for this is a prime example of intolerance in the name of tolerance.

Brian Tamaki in a Sunday sermon the day before the Kaikoura earthquake, had preached that “certain human sin” was responsible for natural disasters. The issue is not whether he is correct in attributing the earthquakes to God, but rather does he have the right of free speech and religious freedom to preach. It would appear that Metiria Turei does not believe he does and her attitude here seem to suggest that she would like to see freedom of speech and religion in New Zealand curtailed.

Right to Life believes that that we must vigorously defend these freedoms that are important human rights upheld in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Right to Life is disappointed that the Green Party would use Parliament to attack the rights of free speech and religious freedom of Brian Tamaki.

Right to Life supports the intrinsic dignity of every human being and believes that those who are homosexual should be treated with respect and should not be discriminated against. However to suggest that Christians should modify biblical teaching to appease the ideas of liberal man is a whole different story. What next? Might biblical teaching that sex outside marriage be considered ‘hate speech’, or that “Jesus is the only way of salvation”.

Our right to free speech is upheld in the New Zealand Bill of Rights 1990 and in the Human Rights Act 1993. It should be a cause of concern that there is a petition signed by more than 124,840 citizens demanding that Parliament classify the Destiny Church as a hate group and be stripped of its tax exempt status. The LGBTQ movement internationally uses the charge of hate speech to silence those who state that sodomy and homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and are contrary to the dignity of the human individual.

Brian Tamaki’s alleged crime was that he had preached that “certain human sin was to blame for natural disasters.” Brian Tamaki is entitled to free speech, to preach the gospel, and to warn his congregation of the possible consequences of sin. All the churches in New Zealand should be concerned that their freedom to preach that homosexual acts are against nature and are sinful in accordance with Biblical teaching appears to be coming under attack. That these rights seem to be drawing fire simply because certain groups within the homosexual community regard such actions as homophobic and ‘hate speech’, should be of huge concern to us all. Do those who seek to crush freedom of speech by calling it hate speech also want the Bible banned as hate speech? For the triumph of evil all that is necessary is that the Churches remain silent.

Right to Life asks, when are the Churches going to wake up to the fact that we are in an age of increasing persecution?

Ken Orr

Spokesperson,

Right to Life

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