Thu 24 Oct 2013 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Enoch Adeboye says “gay marriage will lead to the end of the human race” There is serious concern about an upcoming New Zealand visit of a fiercely anti-gay Nigerian pastor, whose sermons have a history of leading to violence. Enoch Adeboye, who claims “gay marriage will lead to the end of the human race”, will visit New Zealand next month, on a Pacific tour which also includes Australia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the Solomon Islands. Pastor Adeboye is one of the pastors who openly used their sermons and preaching to rally public support for the anti-same sex marriage bill which was recently passed by lawmakers in Nigeria. Following these sermons and sermons like these by other homophobic clerics, advocates say there has been a trend of growing violence to the LGBTI community. He says same-sex unions are “evil”, a message he is likely to share at an Auckland conference Let The Wind Blow, on 15 November, where organisers claim anyone with cancer can be healed. He’s joining up with the anti-gay City Impact Church for the gathering. Rawa Karetai Rainbow Wellington Chair Rawa Karetai says given Adeboye’s history and his extremist anti-gay preaching, he can certainly be expected to vilify a segment of the New Zealand community, or incite discord and represent a danger to the New Zealand LGBTI community. “We are concerned that the visit of Pastor Adeboye, will have a similar impact of increased violence towards LGBTI here in New Zealand,” Karetai says. “We believe that many African churches are trying to re–evangelise the world by promoting literal biblical interpretations and religious messages that are incompatible with universal human rights and other civilized values. “We are also surprised the NZ Government, which has blocked the entry of Mike Tyson into the country because of his track record on violence, can nevertheless allow such a man entry, who is basically threatening violence against the whole LGBTI community come to New Zealand.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 24th October 2013 - 11:36am