Letters: Preach love, not hate

Teach Brian Tamaki Love protest outside Destiny's Church in Rotorua. PHOTO/BEN FRASER

There are thousands of people who, like me, are appalled by what Brian Tamaki had to say in his sermon about the cause of earthquakes. One would not expect such hatred and bigotry to come from the mouth of someone describing himself as a Christian, much less the leader of a supposedly Christian church. If this is what Destiny Church promotes, shame.

Thankfully there are thousands of generous and caring people in our country, people who happily give of their time and resources to help those in need, no blame attached, and are happy to work under the radar.

This we have seen in the aftermath of the Kaikoura earthquake, neighbours helping neighbours and strangers helping strangers. A demonstration of caring, not of hatred. That is what Brian Tamaki shoud have been preaching.

PADDI HODGKISS
Rotorua

Last year, at Le Bataclan concert hall in Paris, I was fortunate enough to see the bluesman Seasick Steve sing one of his songs, 'You can't teach an old dog new tricks'. In the song, Steve questions the path he has taken and thinks about changing his style and that maybe there's a few things he ought to fix in his life. But in the end he decides "been this way for a long long while, there ain't nothing I got to fix".

Previously I would never have thought there were any parallels between a self confessed hillbilly bluesman and our own Reynold Macpherson, but these are strange times.

By withdrawing his petition to have the results of the election overturned, in my view he has ducked out a side door before having to truly back himself. In my opinion, we saw it when he blamed others for his election defeat, and we're seeing it again now.

The issue this time, is that just like a bear hibernating over winter, the issue has every chance of reappearing when the ground is fertile enough for its return. The better option, in my opinion, would have been for the petition to be seen through to the end, where the judge would have made the final ruling and the issue be put behind us.

By withdrawing the petition, I believe Macpherson has prevented this from taking place, and the opportunity for closure with it.

RYAN GRAY
Rotorua