Brian Raymond Tamaki (born 2 February 1958), is a New Zealand fundamentalist Christian religious leader and far-right political activist. A Tainui man from the Ngati Ngawaero and Ngati Maniapoto tribes, he is the leader of Destiny Church, a pentecostal Christian organisation in New Zealand which advocates strict adherence to fundamentalist biblical morality, and is notable for its position against homosexuality, its patriarchal views, and for its calls for a return to biblical conservative family values and morals. He 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. His church has led a strong campaign that opposes COVID-19 vaccination, lockdowns and mask mandates since the pandemic began in New Zealand, and are currently engaging in protests against mandates at Parliament. In 2022 Tamaki was being briefly imprisoned for breaching bail conditions as he took part in an anti-vaccination protest in Christchurch. In the same year, following its failure to file, Destiny Church's charity status was revoked. Personal 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. 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