Brian Raymond Tamaki (born 2 February 1958), is a New Zealand fundamentalist Christian religious leader and far-right political activist and politician. He is the leader of Destiny Church, a pentecostal Christian organisation which advocates strict adherence to fundamentalist biblical morality. Tamaki has been involved with various fringe political parties and movements, and since 2022 he has led the Freedoms New Zealand party.
The Destiny Church under Tamaki is notable for its position against homosexuality, its patriarchal views, and for its calls for a return to biblical conservative family values and morals. Tamaki has also stated the COVID-19 pandemic is a sign the world has "strayed from God", which led to widespread condemnation, with one Anglican vicar describing Tamaki as "dangerous". This, alongside many comments he has made, and how he has amassed a large fortune by preaching the prosperity gospel to a mostly working-class audience, has made him a controversial figure in New Zealand.
Tamaki's church and his political involvements have pushed a strong campaign that opposes COVID-19 vaccination, lockdowns and mask mandates since the pandemic began in New Zealand, and engaged in protests against mandates at Parliament, including the 2022 Wellington protest. In 2022 Tamaki was briefly imprisoned for breaching bail conditions as he took part in an anti-mandate protest in Christchurch.
Biography
Early life
In his autobiography Bishop Brian Tamaki: More than meets the eye, Tamaki makes the following claims about his early life:
Born in Te Awamutu in the Waikato region as the eldest in a family of five, Tamaki spent his childhood years on the family farm, called "Te Manuka", in the rural area of Te Kopua. His mother was "devoutly religious", taking her sons to the Te Awamutu Methodist Church on Sundays. Tamaki describes his father as an alcoholic who showed no interest in fatherhood. Tamaki is a Tainui man from the Ngati Ngawaero and Ngāti Maniapoto tribes. During Tamaki's childhood the family moved from the farm to Te Awamutu and then on to Tokoroa in 1970. While in Tokoroa, Tamaki became interested in rugby union and a little later came to enjoy pig-hunting and participating in a rock band playing the pub circuit. Two of Tamaki's brothers, Doug and Mike, are tourism venture operators in Rotorua.
Tamaki dropped out of secondary school at fifteen, after, as he describes in his autobiography, dabbling in drugs, before completing the fourth form and took a labouring job in the forestry industry. In his teens Tamaki began a relationship with Hannah Lee and the unwed couple moved to Te Awamutu, where Tamaki worked on a dairy farm owned by his uncle and aunt. An incident occurred where Lee tried to stab Tamaki to death. It is reported that he had to lock himself in the bathroom but that the blade pierced through the door, nearly wounding him. Tamaki and Lee had their first child, Jasmine, in December 1978. Later at 21, Tamaki joined the Ngāruawāhia Apostolic Church. He lost his farm job and he and Lee returned to Tokoroa, where he attended the Tokoroa Apostolic Church. Tamaki became heavily involved with the church after pastor Manuel Renata baptised him in December 1979. Since Tamaki and his partner had not married, Renata would not allow him to carry out all the functions of the church. Tamaki and Lee then married at the Tokoroa Presbyterian Church on 22 March 1980. Fourteen months later they had their second child, a girl named Jamie.
Destiny Church
In 1982 the Tamakis attended the Apostolic Church's Te Nikau Bible College in Paraparaumu, and also had their third child, Samuel. Tamaki became an ordained elder, and then (in September 1984) a pastor in the Tokoroa Apostolic Church. Tamaki went on to establish the Rosetown Community Church in Te Awamutu, the Lake City Church in Rotorua, City Church and then Destiny Church in Auckland.
On 18 June 2005 kaumātua and Destiny Pastor Manuel Renata ordained Tamaki as bishop of the Destiny Church movement (which at the time totalled 15 churches throughout New Zealand and Australia).
Tamaki advocates prosperity theology, which has been criticised as immoral and potentially dangerous.
In 2017 Brian Tamaki and Hannah Tamaki moved into a 234 square metre house in Drury, South Auckland. While it is the residence of Brian Tamaki and his family they are not legally connected to the home and only reside there. In response to criticism that moving into a house of such size was an overreach of his wealth, Tamaki responded "Jealousy is part of the promotion of god".