“Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience ... And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity,” the apostle Paul taught in the Book of Colossians.
Consider another Bible verse, Ephesians 4:2, which says: “Show tolerance for oneanother in love."
The melee, involving youngsters affiliated with the church groups, took place at the Te Atatū Community Centre and saw protesters punching, pushing and shoving their way inside to a children’s science show hosted by a drag artist.
About 30 toddlers, young children and adults had to be barricaded inside.
Destiny Church's Brian Tamaki.
Hours later, the same groups broke through police barricades at the Auckland Rainbow Parade and held up the festivities with a haka. As police dispersed them, they danced and swaggered away, smiling and waving at an unimpressed crowd.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown hit out at the Destiny groups, pulling no punches.
“While I respect freedom of speech and the right to peaceful protest, to enter a council library facility that is there for all our communities to use and intimidate council staff, volunteers and community members going about their business is completely out of line.”
“There is absolutely no place for thuggery,” he said.
He said Auckland was home to 1.7 million people from all walks of life, “and I value the diversity of the communities that make up our great city”.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, similarly, said the Destiny Church protesters went “too far”. Meanwhile, in a sermon on Sunday morning, Destiny leader Brian Tamaki told followers he gave instructions to the church elder in charge of the protest action.
“I want you to storm the library they’re in and shut it down,” Tamaki said.
It follows Destiny (with the approval of Tamaki) launching other attacks on the rainbow community.
A rainbow crossing on Karangahape Rd was painted over last year. Photo / Michael Craig
Tamaki last year instructed his followers to vandalise a rainbow pedestrian crossing in Gisborne.
Destiny, Tamaki and the church’s congregation are free to think what they wish.
But in a tolerant, liberal society, they should not be free to act on those views in a way that intimidates participants at events like those at the Te Atatū Community Centre.
Destiny Church – and the wider public – should be equally appalled if people were to storm the pulpit and disrupt one of Tamaki’s sermons.
Even if there are no legal consequences for what transpired on Saturday (which the police should investigate), the Destiny groups’ actions deserve widespread condemnation.
