John Armstrong: Destiny catapults into public's consciousness

COMMENT

The Destiny Church's "Enough is Enough" rally at Parliament yesterday was supposed to be about persuading MPs to end the supposed heresy of the Civil Union Bill.

It was really about something else altogether.

The surreal, faintly ridiculous but slightly intimidating sight of male-dominated ranks of black T-shirts, one-armed salutes and mass haka on Parliament's forecourt understandably hypnotised the television cameras.

In the process, the church's political offshoot, Destiny New Zealand, has catapulted itself from obscurity onto the wider public's political radar screens.


Yesterday's belligerence, however, takes Destiny only a short step towards the Holy Grail of a Christian party bursting through the 5 per cent threshold and winning seats in Parliament.

That was nearly achieved at the first MMP election in 1996 by the Christian Coalition, an unholy alliance of Christian Heritage and the Christian Democrats, which secured 4.3 per cent of the vote.

Since then, however, the Christian vote has become fractured.

True, Peter Dunne's United Future broke through the threshold in 2002. But that was more down to the secular Dunne, than the Christian wing of his party.

Yesterday's rally showed Destiny NZ already has three vital political assets: organisation, leadership and an easily understood message.

The gathering fell short of its 10,000 target, but amassing 5000 or so supporters was still a triumph of organisation.

The head of the Destiny Church, television pastor Brian Tamaki, also cuts an arresting figure.


His message was simple - repeal the Prostitution Reform Act, axe the Civil Union Bill, curb the number of abortions, promote abstinence in sex education and raise the drinking age.

With support for Christian Heritage well under 1 per cent, Destiny must rate its chances of becoming the pre-eminent Christian party, especially if it can syphon votes from United Future by painting the party as allowing Labour to implement politically correct policies.

But it is going to be difficult. For starters, Mr Tamaki may be the powerful head of the Destiny Church, but he is not the leader of his party, at least not yet. That role has fallen to the less charismatic Richard Lewis.

Destiny NZ has positioned itself as the hard edge of anti-political correctness. In doing so, it risks being seen by moderate Christians as too militant.

The black shirts may be attention-grabbing, but they allow opponents to pigeonhole it as having fascist overtones.

However, Destiny's biggest obstacle may be the renaissance of National.

Minor parties do well when their respective major competitors, National or Labour, are suffering identity problems.

National's regaining of its ideological footing means centre-right voters are more likely to regard it as the antidote to Labour's political correctness, rather than cast a vote for the Christian fringe.