The bishop delusion

OPINION: What is it about the sight of 700 men pledging unswerving loyalty to a high-school dropout from Te Awamutu, who anointed himself a bishop in a self-founded church, that causes such unease?

Is it the memories of his black-shirted protesters marching to Parliament in 2004 against the Clark-led government's decision to allow civil unions as an alternative to marriage? Is it the hint of menace that attends his strictures that his phalanx of oath-swearers never allow criticism of him in their hearing?

Is it the echo of seven suits, all male, members of the Exclusive Brethren sect, trying to covertly influence the 2005 election, even though they don't vote? Is it, perhaps, memories of Jim Jones, founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, who caused the deaths of more than 900 members of his cult in "Jonestown", Guyana?

Perhaps it is no more than knowing that, thanks to his "ministry", Brian Tamaki of the Destiny Church is now a very wealthy man, expects regular donations from his flock, insists "believers" show respect to him and wife Hannah, and seems more concerned about himself than the god his church was set up to venerate.

Religious freedom is guaranteed under the Bill of Rights Act. Mr Tamaki's followers are thus free to worship him as they choose. The very relaxed way in which most of New Zealand approaches religion can surprise migrants, especially if they hail from parts where theocracy is the norm and non-believers are apostates.

So why not dismiss Mr Tamaki's latest excursion into megalomania in the same way that people ignore the rants of the National Front, Anarchists Anonymous, and the cult-like eccentricities of the Exclusive Brethren? Perhaps we should. It can be argued, after all, that, despite the appearance of avarice, Mr Tamaki and his wife, who reportedly wed only because the apostolic church he then attended wouldn't let him carry out all the functions of a pastor while he was merely living with her, are doing God's work in retrieving lost souls with criminal records and converting them into good husbands and fathers.

His church also provides education for some in the flock and has talked not only of becoming an urban Maori authority so it can deliver other services to followers, but also of establishing a 20-hectare complex in central Manukau with three schools, a church and medical centre.

Overseas, similar, often self-sustaining religious communities have been set up: take the Mormon state of Utah, the Amish communities in at least 24 American states, and the group led by "prophet" David Koresh in Waco, Texas, where, in 1993, 75 people died. Destiny Church is, so far, miles away from these in distance and circumstance.

But Mr Tamaki's ambition to be at the heart of his congregation's lives seems limitless. So should the laid-back Kiwi be uncomfortable when a flash Harry on a Harley tells the dupes who follow him that they must make him spontaneous gifts – whether they can afford to or not – and be regularly tithed? Probably not. As with many cults, the Destiny Church and its rules are loopy but licit. The deluded are entitled to be deluded.

- © Fairfax NZ News