The millionaire founder of Celebration Centre church in Wainoni Murray Watkinson has come under fire for calling bisexuals "gutless" and calling George Floyd a "villain". Photo / Celebration Centre
A video of a Christchurch pastor's sermon that has recently gone viral on social media, with many slamming it for being racist and homophobic.
The millionaire founder of Celebration Centre church in Wainoni, Murray Watkinson, has come under fire for calling bisexuals "gutless" and calling George Floyd a "villain", among other comments in his June 9 sermon.
However, Watkinson claimed his sermon was taken out of context.
Almost 20 minutes in his 50-minute sermon, Watkinson talked about the death of African American man George Floyd, who died on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes.
"He has been lifted up as a hero around the world and suddenly became a saint – the same man when you go in and actually see his criminal record, he spent four or five stints in jail," he said.
"This ain't no saint, he's a villain."
Later on, he spoke about division and referred to people who "want" to be bisexual, and "whites that pretend to be black or brown".
"Yo man, their pants are down here. Not because they're well endowed, their pants are just down there. They've got the black clothes, the black hair, the black attitude going on bro. They've got it all going on and you look at them and you think, 'oh my goodness'. Talk about an identity crisis."
He added that white people supporting Māori issues are nuts and are more Māori than Māori people are.
He then said it's "so uncool" to be heterosexual, and said people who are bisexual "don't know who they are".
"I reckon they're gutless, they don't want to offend anybody, so they're going to go every which way. We're neither black, we're not white. We're neither righteous or ungodly, we're not this we're not that. We don't know who we are."
He then went on to say that the whites are villains, in the world of the riots, along with the rich, the employed, the educated, the invaders, the employers.
Speaking about the employed, he said workers most likely see their employer as the enemy.
"The employer is probably doing 80 – 100 hours a week and you're whining about your 40. You're hiding for half of the time in the toilet."
He then spoke about US President Donald Trump and how he makes him laugh.
"He entertains me. Not only is he entertaining he's standing for against abortion. Good on you Donald."
He praised him for him pulling funding for abortion clinics and also for taking funds off the World Health Organisation after the Covid-19 pandemic.
He then trailed off and revealed his anti-vaccination views.
Six former members of the church have contacted Newstalk ZB host Chris Lynch, revealing they left the church because there was too much of a focus on donating to the church.
Others said some of Watkinson's teachings were "far removed from the word of God, and more about his outdated opinion on life".
One Christchurch woman and ex-member, Trina Watkins, told Lynch she left the church when she felt the church was preaching a message, not of love and acceptance, but of homophobia and racism.
She said she found the recent sermon, sent to her by family and friends, racist and homophobic.
She said there was a lot of racial stereotyping in the speech and that she found it "disturbing" that churchgoers were laughing through the sermon.
"Being an ex-member and knowing that a huge proportion of the congregation is Pacific Island and Māori, I can't imagine how that felt for them.
"I have been through those internal battles and they are not nice."
Speaking about the LGBTQI+ community she said: "I'm privileged to have a whole range of friends and family and a lot of them include [the LGBTQI+ community]
"I can't speak for all of them, but they are already marginalised; they already go through internal battles many can't understand.
"So what are you trying to achieve by mocking people in their struggles? I don't understand."
She claims that the pastor has the view that people who don't agree with him are offended.
"I'm not offended by the church. I'm offended by [his] disregard and disrespect of all the parts of me.
"I have family and friends there of all different cultures and all of their cultures should be valued."
In an email obtained by Lynch, Watkinson urged church members "not to enter into the debate" and "keep sharing God's love and his word."
"It seems I may have caused some controversy and a lot of what I said is being taken out of context," the email reads.
"At this time I'm not planning to make a public statement or enter into a public debate.
"The message of the word is not racist so we welcome every tribe, every tongue, every race, and every people.
"When our views are challenged, it causes us to go back to the word and discover God's wisdom."
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