Kerre Woodham: Tamaki destined for obscurity

Brian Tamaki and wife Hannah. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Let's get Destiny Church into perspective. When the Destiny Party campaigned in the 2005 election, it received less than 1 per cent of the vote - in the same company as the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party, and less than the Bill and Ben Party achieved in the 2008 election.

The political wing of the church was disbanded in 2007, leaving Brian Tamaki's empire-building plans in tatters.

Must have been a bummer, because Brian had prophesied that he and his church would be ruling the nation by 2008. Mercifully that didn't even look close to happening. Tamaki and his followers don't impact on my life and it's unlikely they ever will and that's true for most of us. But what was fascinating was how news of Tamaki's covenant ring ceremony last weekend got the talkback callers out in their droves.

It was wall-to-wall Tamaki on Thursday night when Garth George broke the story of the ceremony and you'd have to wonder why. Oh sure, with his grandiose statements and his testosterone-engorged form of Christianity and his Men in Black crossed with Miami Vice style of dressing, he's easy to poke fun at.

The photos of Brian and his wife Hannah and their consumerism dressed up as prosperity theology also allow for plenty of comment. But if individuals choose to believe in Brian and the cant he's peddling, where's the harm? And if young men, desperate for a male role model in their lives, are rescued from a life of addiction and crime by Destiny Church social workers, we can't condemn the church for that.

Better blind obedience to Brian than some smelly gang leader surely, although it does appear they are swapping one addiction for another by choosing to hand over their critical faculties and a portion of their pay packets.

If 700 delusional men want to swear a covenant oath of loyalty and obedience to Brian, that's their business. But having read the covenant promises made by 700 of Brian's merry men last weekend, it's no wonder people felt moved to comment.

Not many of us would give up the sorts of freedoms these men are willing to do.

They must speak favourably of Brian and his wife, Hannah, forever more. They've vowed to support what Brian promotes, endorse what he endorses and ensure his success. They've promised to shut their traps the minute Brian opens his and they've even agreed to dress like him. They've vowed that they will defend him forcefully against his critics. I think the promise I loved most was the one demanding that the ring wearers celebrate Brian's special occasions by springing surprises on birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions. Give gifts to him and Hannah, the covenant exhorts, and I'm presuming Brian doesn't mean undies and socks. His birthday's on February 2, by the way. I'd have thought he'd have taken over December 25.

What I've seen of the protocol reads like The Beginner's Guide to Megalomania and all critics are doing is pointing out to the faithful that no good has ever come of putting so much power into one man's hands.

It looks like Destiny Church will need its own Reformation, though, before Brian Tamaki's powerbase will be eroded.

* www.kerrewoodham.com

- HERALD ON SUNDAY