An American preacher known for his hateful stance against LGBTQI people has been refused entry to New Zealand on character grounds.
Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church announced on his YouTube channel that New Zealand had become the 34th country worldwide to refuse him entry.
In the video, he displays a letter from Immigration New Zealand suggesting the refusal was based on character grounds due to the long list of countries he has already been banned from.
The letter indicates that he applied for a visa on August 7 and Mr Anderson said he received the refusal last week.
Mr Anderson said he had planned to spread his views in Auckland and Christchurch while in New Zealand.
He also railed against Kiwis during his video, saying "if I were you and I were living in New Zealand or Australia, I'd be on my knees praying to God that he will be merciful and that he would forgive your country for doing this.
"According to them, I guess preaching what the Bible actually says about Sodomites is 'a lack of character'," Mr Anderson said.
"Well, you know what? If that's what it means to have character then I don't want to have character.
"By the way, just a couple of days ago we just released a new documentary film ... so that will be something else for these heathen to rage about and ban the word of God - ban men of God - from their countries."
Mr Anderson's new documentary, San Fransicko, is titled after a slur used against gay men and centres heavily on demonising homeless people, those with mental health issues, people with substance abuse issues and members of the LGBTI community.
"I am a soul-winning Christian, a Bible-believing Christian that wanted to go to New Zealand to preach the gospel ... and they won't receive me," Mr Anderson said.
"God is not going to bless a country that is turning away a missionary - when somebody is coming to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they block that, they are going to be under the wrath of God and the punishment of God.
"Australia in New Zealand are in trouble with the Lord."
Mr Anderson has previously published video promoting Holocaust denial, and has said the Orlando gay nightclub shooting was a good thing.
After his church was designated as a hate group by the US Southern Poverty Law Centre, he freely confirmed his views.
"I do hate homosexuals and if hating homosexuals makes our church a hate group then that's what we are."
Immigration New Zealand's manager of operations support Michael Carley confirmed that Mr Anderson had been denied.
"He was declined because he is an 'excluded person' under the Immigration Act," Mr Carley said.
"This is because Mr Anderson has previously been deported or excluded from other countries.
"INZ outlined its concerns to Mr Anderson during the application process - but INZ did not receive any evidence that justified a special direction being made, which would have allowed a visa to have been granted."
The latest Census results, released in September, showed that the number of New Zealanders with 'no religion' has now officially surpassed the number of people who identify as Christian.
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