It was a defining moment of the day for me. As I stood amongst thousands of fundamentalist Christians, dressed in their church-issued T-shirts and holding their church-issued placards (which you and I have ultimately paid for, considering the tax breaks given to Destiny and their ilk) who waited in breathless anticipation for their leaders to take the stage, the feeling of being surrounded by automatons was stronger than at any point during the whole rally. When the wannabe political holy trinity of Tamaki, Mortlock and de Jong finally took the stage, to music and cheering, it was like something out of a Bee Gees reunion tour. The hand-waving and blank looks of admiration from all surrounding me certainly matched what you're normally used to seeing at a rock concert, with the chief difference being that concertgoers know why they're there in the first place. Peter Mortlock of City Impact Church, the affluent North Shore version of Brian Tamaki, was first on the speakers list. He shouted his way through a rant which encompassed everything from the Ministry of Health's “Hubba Hubba” safe sex campaign to hate speech. And boy, did he have a lot to say about that. Whipping the panic levels up to 11, Mortlock told the religious crowd that hate speech legislation would make proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ illegal. That Jesus would no longer be special. That Jesus would “no longer be ‘the' saviour, but only ‘a' saviour”. And there was no way that he would allow that to happen. And by the way they're not homophobic. Paul de Jong of the equally not homophobic Christian Life Centre came next. The key moment of his speech was both scary and hilarious. In dulcet tones to rival that of Gael Ludlow, former host of Classic Hits' “Love Songs Til Midnight”, de Jong proclaimed how “awesome” it was that so many had turned out, and how “wonderful” we all looked. He urged pilgrims to turn to the person next to them, grasp their hands, look them in the eye and say “you're awesome”. Two middle-aged women standing near me grabbed me and did precisely this. The look in their eyes resembled uncannily the look of the brainwashed Robomen from a 1964 “Doctor Who” episode, “The Dalek Invasion of Earth”. But while the Robomen just wore dustbins on their heads, these women had embroidered polo-shirts reading “The Women Of Destiny”. And then Tamaki took the stage, introduced as “Bishop”, a title which he seems vaguely embarrassed about. The man who had proclaimed on television only a few days before that his march was not political then went on to give his most political speech to date, saying all but “vote for Destiny”. Oh hang on a minute – he did. He slagged off the leaders of both New Zealand's main political parties, incredulous that Helen Clark and Don Brash dared proclaim that they didn't believe in God. Neither National or Labour are good enough, and it was “moral suicide” for churches to remain politically neutral, he said. Believers must come outside the four walls of the church and get active – and on that note, he introduced Destiny New Zealand's sockpuppet, Richard Lewis. At that point, the crowd's attention wandered considerably. If they'd be listening, they might have seen the irony in the disgraced former policeman outlining his plans to clean up crime in New Zealand. In fact, the only reaction to his speech was from the small group of student protesters who were chanting “Bullshit” all the way through it, and cheering loudly when he made reference to the government “legitimising homosexuality”. Lewis reference to gays was one of only a handful in all of the speeches. Even Brian was keen to avoid using his favourite word, "perversion", when referring to gays and lesbians. It is election year after all, and it is important not to appear too bigoted. Besides, the gay and lesbian community, as has been noted on this site before, are merely to be collateral damage in the onslaught of the fundamentalist right's political steamroller. The real target on the day was secularism. Tamaki and his followers unequivocally widened their attack net on Saturday, and everyone in this country should sit up and take notice. All of the speeches were nothing short of a full-scale attack on anyone who doesn't subscribe to their particular Christian ideology. Nothing but contempt was shown for humanists. As far as they're concerned, secular interests are the true enemy. Legal rights for gays and lesbians, the issue that seems to spark off every march the Destiny Church instigates, are merely a symptom of this evil which must be stamped on. And Brian won't rest until it is – at the ballot box, with a tick next to Destiny New Zealand. Chris Banks - 7th March 2005