A Canterbury pastor is being labelled "racist and homophobic" after a pastor's speech claiming being bisexual is the same as white people "pretending to be black" circulated online.
After a video of the speech was posted to social media there has been a widespread backlash against the church, with many expressing their disgust and horror at the "deeply disturbing" comments made.
The clip was shared by a Facebook user on Monday who claims the church - Christchurch's Celebration Centre - had since deleted the speech from its own Facebook page.
"I'm deeply disturbed that this whakaaro is being shared in our community," the Facebook user said.
"The fact anyone thinks it's ok to mock marginalised groups publicly is mind-blowing & extremely arrogant.
"Wanting equality does not make anyone a victim."
In his speech, the pastor starts by saying, "What if you are brown and you're internally divided? What you'll do is you'll choose a side, and then there are the ones who want to be bisexual - it's like the whites that pretend to be black or brown.
"You see them on TV - the whites that are supporting say New Zealand Māori issues - they're nuts. They're more Māori than the Māoris are.
"They've got the black clothes, the black hair, the black attitude going on bro."
The speech has emerged amid turbulent racial tensions throughout the world in the wake of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in the US after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes. The alleged murder on May 25 has since sparked worldwide protests for racial equality, with a re-emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In the speech, the pastor goes on to claim there's an "identity crisis".
"I reckon the bi[sexual] people, that swing both ways like the door and don't know who they are, I reckon they're gutless.
"They don't want to offend anybody so they're going to go whatever which way.
"The trouble is we don't think through these issues as to what's going on in the world.
Online, the pastor has been slammed.
"Disgusting.. I'm fuming," one Facebook user commented.
"This actually saddens me more than anything. That he can use a platform in the name of religion to spread hate and laugh about it like it's humorous," another wrote.
Others described the speech as "idiotic" and "dangerous".
"Sad this is acceptable korero in a house of God," another person said.
The church has been contacted for comment.
