Up Front by Emma Hart

If Mr Tamaki's god is so powerful, why didn't he pop up a volcano in the middle of Auckland, where most of us licentious (hah, I don't have a Merc, much less a fleet of them) queers live. Why did he make an MoD building rocky in its foundations, but not Parliament?

These morons wouldn't understand the word "logic" if you smacked them in the face with it.

That said, I do get very tired of the constant broadcasting of Trump's latest mouthfarts over and over. I disabled my Facebook a couple of weeks ago because of my feed being filled up with constant negativity and no action plan.

We all know what he's like now: sure, share the word when he targets yet another group. But stop the incessant whinging and come up with something constructive. Donating to Rainbow Youth is a splendid idea - you can share the reason why AND provide a direct benefit.

And yes, place a church's charitable status on a par with any other business. They can still offset their CHARITABLE activities; everything else, hello tax auditor.

I took direct action and went onto the Density FB page and posted this in the comments:

Why can't you simply blame Rūaumoko for the earthquakes ?

It's been removed now, for some reason.

And yes, place a church’s charitable status on a par with any other business. They can still offset their CHARITABLE activities; everything else, hello tax auditor.

Yeah, this is exactly how I feel. To get religious-based tax-exempt status you MUST proselytise, and I cannot see any justification for that. Do actual charity work, like Presbyterian Support Services or the Anglican City Mission, go for it. If you don't, fuck right off.

How cereal manufacture advances religious purposes, I'll never know. Yet Sanitarium is tax-exempt. #grrr

Yeah, this is exactly how I feel. To get religious-based tax-exempt status you MUST proselytise, and I cannot see any justification for that. Do actual charity work, like Presbyterian Support Services or the Anglican City Mission, go for it. If you don't, fuck right off.

Indeed - though I'd like to add another small (off-topic) qualification there. If you're claiming tax benefits and other public support for your charitable activities, you can fuck right off about turning around and claiming you have the right to exemptions from civil laws because... religious freedom. As Samatha Bee noted with typical asperity on Full Frontal a few weeks back, this bullshit from Catholic hospitals in the US (which incidentally receive tens of billions in direct and indirect public funding every year) is a death sentence for women for whom being driven hundreds of miles to get the termination that will save them isn't really an option.

Also, I’m not saying this is something you should do, but apparently people are donating to Rainbow Youth in Brian Tamaki’s name, using the publicly-available office@destinychurch.org.nz email address. That’s a thing that’s happening. Just saying.

Not that I'm saying that I have just done this, but it is a very cool idea. And have signed the petition too, but this felt just a wee bit more satisfying. Just saying.

Bishop Tamaki blames gay people for the earthquakes, Michael Laws calls the parent of a child with a disability a 'monstrous zealot' for not doing the 'decent' thing and aborting her child.

Y'all really should read the exchange between Laws and the mother of a boy with Down's....makes Tamaki's little rant seem trivial. Tamaki was not advocating the killing of people because they are gay. Laws was advocating the killing of people because they are disabled.

Somehow, people with disabilities, and especially those born with disabilities, had to find a way of managing to occupy the same country, the same planet, as fuckwits like him.

So, we express our disgust. We don't give him the oxygen to grow his hate speech. And we make sure he knows that we wouldn't piss on him if he were on fire.

(I signed the petition yesterday.)

I want to say something intelligent but all that comes to mind is what a monstrous piece of scum that guy is.

Of course we should tax churches, in this society where the majority of people have no religion and the remainder is spread over a multitude of religions there is simply no justification for a tax free status - but it won't happen because we elect politicians not statesmen.

Meanwhile can someone organise some serious smiting of fuckwits who mouth of shit like Brian Tamaki.

It might be useful to have some non-hateful openly-Christian bloggers to suggest to anyone who’s in danger of taking Tamaki seriously (ie, seriously believing him, not seriously worrying about him). I’d recommend Fred Clark at Slacktivist. He was brought up American white evangelical and is still Baptist; he posts most days; he’s considerate thoughtful and understands the issues; and he writes… well, let me give you some examples:

After the Tohoku quakes:

And down in the hollow space where the soul is supposed to be, this seems to be how the “Bible prophecy” heresies condition their adherents to respond to earthquakes, hurricanes and all kinds of natural disasters. Such things should not be viewed with horror and empathy and a generosity proportionate to our gratitude. They should just be seen as exciting — as gleeful reminders that every moment we are closer to the day when we will be proved right and others will be proved wrong.

And on Pat Robertson, who has similar gay-baiting tendencies to Tamaki

But it’s not really that easy to ignore the substance of Robertson’s hateful post-tragedy statements. If you love God, or if you love GLBT people, or if you love both God and people, then it’s not easy to ignore Robertson’s habitual suggestion that every natural disaster is the product of a petty, reckless, sloppy god indiscriminately pouring out wrathful destruction due to some divine “gay panic” defense. That’s blasphemy. And the scapegoating of GLBT people as the alleged focus of this poorly aimed divine wrath invites Robertson’s many followers to imitate his churlish god by directing their own animus toward Those People as well.

Robertson’s post-disaster ritual thus isn’t just abstractly hateful, it’s tangibly hurtful.

He’s far from just negative. That second quote is from a post that also has two examples of Pat Robertson behaving like a human being.

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Also, however annoying Ken Ring's lunar lunacy is, he at least tries to warn people when he thinks there are going to be earthquakes. Brian Tamaki claims to have known Christchurch was at higher risk than anyone else thought, but didn't use this knowledge to try to help people. Assuming he's lying is the charitable interpretation.

You know the removal of church's tax exemption is just the sort of natural disaster that Tamaki woiuld blame on the gays ....

If this God burk goes around killing baby seals isn't he/she/it criminally liable for harming protected animals? In fact the shearwater chicks are an endangered species! Can we ping the brylcreamed bishop for association with criminals?

Y’all really should read the exchange between Laws and the mother of a boy with Down’s….makes Tamaki’s little rant seem trivial.

And now he (Laws) is on the Central Otago Regional Council…
But he must know a lot about medicine though, right? As he even uses the caduceus in the logo of his PR firm ‘The Message’ down there…
http://www.themessage.nz/
He fancies himself as a modern day Hermes or Mercury!
...he's more 'heel' than 'heal' methinks.

he has this to say about journalists:
http://www.themessage.nz/blog/Can-journalists-be-trusted-5.html
most of which flies in the face of his behaviour and tirade at Kirsten Moffitt.
it is his only blog-post since May this year – writer’s block perhaps?

If this God burk goes around killing baby seals isn’t he/she/it criminally liable for harming protected animals?

Uplifting stuff is fine but there has been a lot of disempauament on the coast as well...

Steve Braunias: The Secret Diary of Brian Tamaki

‘The Message’ down there…

Oh my fucking giddy Aunt Fanny.....the chutzpah of the .....thing...

Mission Statement
You have a voice, a viewpoint, an insight that is important and distinct.

Our mission is to deliver the clearest, most articulate and most effective representation of your unique voice.

We are your ally and your advocate. You have a message - we are your messenger.

No Sir Dalziel...you shall not drag me down this path...I am going to now return to my (carefully constructed for the sake of my mental equilibrium) default position of accepting we are a democracy, we all enjoy the right to free speech, and we are a society which embraces diversity.

(This mindset was developed after the 594th instance of the driver of a small vehicle pulling out in front of my 5 ton housebus travelling at 90km/hr on the open road, forcing me to brake suddenly and/or take evasive action. I remind myself how fortunate indeed we are in Aotearoa that the blind are free to drive motor vehicles.)

Before you consider donating to Rainbow Youth under Tamaki's name and email address, please note that they will get a partial refund on your donation under the tax-exemption laws.

Before you consider donating to Rainbow Youth under Tamaki’s name and email address, please note that they will get a partial refund on your donation under the tax-exemption laws.

I have heard many, many conflicting things about this. Someone I generally trust to Know Their Shit (but who is not a tax expert) said that if they do try to claim refunds for donations they didn't make, they will be committing tax fraud.

To be on the safe side, I would suggest using "Destiny Church" as the name rather than Tamaki's, as the church can't claim refunds because hey, it doesn't pay any fucking tax.

Mrs Bishop Bling seems to believe that they’ll get the tax refunds.

Just letting u knw. if u do this. Brian will get a 3rd of that money back. in tax return. so go ahead. make a donation towards us. Thk u

False profits have no shame.

Just letting u knw. if u do this. Brian will get a 3rd of that money back. in tax return. so go ahead. make a donation towards us. Thk u

FTW?

Timothy 6:9-10 But people who long to be rich soon begin to do all kinds of wrong things to get money, things that hurt them and make them evil-minded and finally send them to hell itself. For the love of money is the first step toward all kinds of sin. Some people have even turned away from God because of their love for it, and as a result have pierced themselves with many sorrows.

The Bible

We have an answer. The answer is no, Tamaki CANNOT claim a rebate on people’s donations to Rainbow Youth. Have at it.

Also

"IRD says it can't comment on specific cases, but anyone who knowingly makes a claim for tax credit they haven't made is liable for a $25,000 fine for providing false information. "

... a $25,000 fine for providing false information.

Wish this applied to cabinet ministers as well.