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© 2024 The Gisborne Herald

Preaching hate and fear

1 min read

Most Saturday mornings I head along to the local Farmers Market and lately there has been a preacher with a loud hailer shouting nonsense at the shoppers. It is hateful and divisive and has no place in public where children have to hear it. 
I think religious nonsense should stay in church and people who choose to go and listen can do so. I don’t appreciate listening to it in public. 
Last Saturday morning a group of Destiny supporters blocked the footpath outside McDonald’s. One silly woman with a loud hailer was shouting hate speech about our rainbow whānau members. I was really offended by her canting in public. If Jesus Christ could see the hate and rubbish being spoken in his name, I am sure he would be horrified.
There is nothing Christian about hate speech. There is nothing Christian or noble about sharing bigotry and stoking division. 
In fact, the bible these people say they believe states, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
If Destiny supporters want to parade around the streets in a big group, I guess that is their right. I wish they would stop hogging the footpath, though, and talking rubbish in the park by the Farmers Market. They shouldn’t have the right to use a loud hailer to spew their filthy speech, causing harm to others. Which is what their leaders are doing. 
If they really want to be taken seriously as a group, they should do some good in the world instead of being so nasty.
Lara Meyer