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{{short description|American pastor, televangelist, and writer (1930–2007)}}
{{COI|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox clergy {{Infobox clergy
| name = D. James Kennedy | name = D. James Kennedy
| image = D James Kennedy.jpg <!--Fair Use image, see http://en.wikipedia.org/Image:D_James_Kennedy.jpg--> | image = D James Kennedy.jpg <!--Fair Use image, see mm
http://en.wikipedia.org/Image:D_James_Kennedy.jpg-->
| caption = Kennedy at ]
| image_size = 200px
| caption = D. James Kennedy, at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church | birth_name = Dennis James Kennedy
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|11|3}} | birth_date = {{birth date|1930|11|03}}
| birth_place = ], ] | birth_place = ], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|9|5|1930|11|3}} | death_date = {{death date and age|2007|09|05|1930|11|03}}
| death_place = ], ] | death_place = ], U.S.
| church = ] | church = ]
| other_names = | other_names =
| education = ] | education = ] (])<br />] (])
| writings = | writings =
| congregations = Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, ] | congregations = ]
| offices_held = | offices_held =
| title = | title =
| spouse = Anne Lewis | spouse = Anne Lewis (m. 1956)
| children = Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy | children = 1
| parents = | parents =
| footnotes = | footnotes =
|honorific_prefix=]}}
}}
'''Dennis James Kennedy''', (] ]-] ]), better known as '''D. James Kennedy''', was an ] ] and founder of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in ], where he was senior ] from 1960 until his death in 2007. He began Coral Ridge Ministries in 1974, which produces the weekly ], ''The Coral Ridge Hour'', carried on various networks and syndicated on numerous other stations, and a daily radio program, ''Truths That Transform'', heard on radio stations in the United States and also available as a podcast on the program's website. During his lifetime, Coral Ridge Ministries grew to a ]37-million-a-year non-profit corporation with an audience of 3.5 million. '''Dennis James Kennedy''' (November 3, 1930&nbsp;– September 5, 2007) was an American ], evangelist, Christian broadcaster, and author. He was the senior pastor of ] in ], from 1960 until his death in 2007. Kennedy also founded ], Coral Ridge Ministries (now known as ]), the ] in Fort Lauderdale, the ], radio station ], and the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, a ] political group.


In 1974, he began Coral Ridge Ministries, which produced his weekly ], ''The Coral Ridge Hour'', carried on various networks and syndicated on numerous other stations with a peak audience of three million viewers in 200&nbsp;countries.<ref name="Herald">{{cite news |title=Coral Ridge Presbyterian votes to retain controversial new pastor |author=Robert Samuels |work=]|date=September 21, 2009|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-herald-pastor-survives-vote-to/158900436/ |access-date=2024-11-12}}</ref> He also had a daily radio program, ''Truths That Transform'', from 1984 on.<ref>Current and archived versions of both programs are available at the {{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} website.</ref> During his lifetime, Coral Ridge Ministries grew to a ]37-million-a-year non-profit corporation.
As a result of a heart attack from which he never fully recovered, Kennedy last preached at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church on ], ]. His retirement was officially announced at the church on ], ], and he died in his home ten days later.


In 2005, the ] association inducted Kennedy into its Hall of Fame.
==Biography==
===Early years and family life===
D. James Kennedy was born in ] but moved to ], and later ], in his youth, where he studied at the ]. On ], ], he married Anne Lewis, whom he met while working as an instructor at an ] in Tampa. They had one daughter, Jennifer.<ref name="death">{{cite news | title= Powerful pastor D. James Kennedy dead at 76. | date=] ] | publisher ='']''| url=http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-djkennedydead0905,0,4390768.story}}</ref>


===Education=== ==Early life==
Kennedy was born in ], and moved with his parents to ], ], during his childhood. His father was a glass salesman, and his parents were ].<ref name=Chandler>{{cite book |last=Chandler |first=E. Russell |title=The Kennedy Explosion |publisher=David C. Cook Publishing |location=Elgin, Ill. |year=1972 |isbn=0-912692-02-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/kennedyexplosion00chan }}</ref> Kennedy joined the ]. He later moved with his family to ], where in 1948 he graduated from ] and began studying music at the ]. After two years, he dropped out of college, began working as a dance instructor at the ] in Tampa, and later won a first prize in a nationwide dance contest.<ref name=Chandler /> On August 25, 1956, he married Anne Lewis, whom he had met while giving her dance lessons at Arthur Murray. They had one daughter, Jennifer, born in 1962.<ref name=Chandler />
Kennedy received a ] from the ] and a ] from ]. After his ] in ] he became the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, where he remained until his death. In the 1970s he earned a ] from the ], and in 1979 a ] in religious education from ].<ref name="death"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/la-me-kennedy6sep06,1,6628648.story?track=rss |title=Rev. D. James Kennedy, 76; pioneering Christian radio, TV broadcaster|publisher=Los Angeles Times|accessdate=2007-11-06}}</ref><ref name="NCSE"/> His doctoral dissertation was on the history of an ] program he founded.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Kennedy, D. James | title = THE GENESIS, DEVELOPMENT, AND EXPANSION OF EVANGELISM EXPLOSION INTERNATIONAL, 1960-1976 | journal = DAI | volume = 40 | issues = 03 | pages = 1381}}</ref>


==Education==
===Ministry and theology===
]
Kennedy was an ordained minister in the ], having transferred his membership there in the late ] from the ]. He was considered a ] ] minister who was often involved in political activities within the ] and has been identified as a leader of the ] movement.<ref name = Goldberg>{{cite book | last = Goldberg | first = Michelle | authorlink = Michelle Goldberg | title = Kingdom Come: The Rise of Christian Nationalism |date=2006 | publisher = ] | location = New York | language = | isbn = 978-0-393-32976 | chapter = | chapterurl = | quote = ] and ] are ]s, D. James Kennedy was a fundamentalist Presbyterian, and ] is a ]. All of them, however, have been shaped by ]..." <br> "As a multimedia empire, Coral Ridge Ministries is one of the country's most important popularizers of dominion theology }}</ref><ref name=TheocracyWatch> , ''TheocracyWatch'', Last updated: ]; URL accessed ], ].</ref><ref name = CSM>{{cite news | first = Jane | last = Lampman | authorlink = Jane Lampman | title = For evangelicals, a bid to 'reclaim America' | url = http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0316/p16s01-lire.html | work = ] | accessdate = 2007-04-28 | quote = ], author of "Eternal Hostility: the Struggle between Theocracy and Democracy," says that if Kennedy was not a ], "he is certainly a dominionist," one who supports taking over and dominating the political process. }}</ref><ref name = RollingStone>{{cite news | first = Bob | last = Moser | authorlink = Bob Moser | title = The Crusaders: Christian evangelicals are plotting to remake America in their own image | url = http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7235393/the_crusaders/ | format = | work = ] | accessdate = 2007-04-28 | language = | quote = The godfather of the Dominionists is D. James Kennedy, the most influential evangelical you've never heard of. }}</ref> He wrote and coauthored several political works such as ''What if America Were a Christian Nation Again?'' and ''The Rewriting of America's History'', arguing that the ] as a ] nation. Critics contend that he was excessively conservative on certain politically charged topics such as ] and ].{{Fact|October 25, 2007|date=October 2007}} Kennedy started the ''Center for Christian Statesmanship'', an evangelical ministry on ] in ] The Center awards a "Distinguished Christian Statesman Award" annually to high profile Christian political leaders. Past recipients include ], ] and ]. In ], the Center shut down and was reopened two weeks later as "Evangelism Explosion International."<ref> Allie Martin. OneNewsNow.com, ], ].</ref><ref></ref>
Kennedy became a Christian in 1953 after hearing a radio preacher present the Gospel, which Kennedy later said he had never heard up to that point. In December 1955, Kennedy decided to quit his Arthur Murray job to enter the ministry.<ref>Hedges, Chris, ''American Fascists – The Christian Right and the War on America'', New York, Free Press, 2006</ref> He resumed his studies at the University of Tampa (graduating with a ] in 1958) and began preaching at the small Bethel Presbyterian Church in nearby ].<ref name=Chandler /> Kennedy entered ] in 1956,<ref>{{Cite book|title=D. James Kennedy: The Man and His Ministry|last=Williams|first=Herbert Lee|publisher=Thomas Nelson Publishers (Coral Ridge Ministries edition)|year=1999|pages=73}}</ref> receiving a ] degree three years later.<ref name="death">{{cite news | title= Powerful pastor D. James Kennedy dead at 76. | date= September 5, 2007 | newspaper=] | url= http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-djkennedydead0905,0,4390768.story | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070907142437/http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-djkennedydead0905,0,4390768.story | archive-date= September 7, 2007 }}</ref> After his ] in 1959, Kennedy became the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, where he remained until his death. In the 1970s, he earned a ] '']'' from the ],<ref name=Chandler /> and in 1979 a ] in religious education from ].<ref name="death"/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/la-me-kennedy6sep06,1,6628648.story?track=rss |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120907132305/http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/la-me-kennedy6sep06,1,6628648.story?track=rss |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 7, 2012 |title=Rev. D. James Kennedy, 76; pioneering Christian radio, TV broadcaster|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2007-11-06|date=September 6, 2007}}</ref><ref name="NCSE"/> His doctoral dissertation was on the history of an ] program he founded.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Kennedy, D. James | title = The Genesis, Development, and Expansion of Evangelism Explosion International, 1960–1976 | journal = DAI | volume = 40 | page = 1381 | issue = 3}}</ref> Kennedy said that he earned the Ph.D. degree "to dispel the idea there is an inconsistency between evangelism and education ... evangelical ministers to be thoroughly educated and equipped to meet on equal terms anyone with whom they come in contact."<ref name=Chandler />


==Ministry and theology==
He espoused a traditional ] ]. His theological works include ''Why I Believe'', ''What If Jesus Had Never Been Born'', ''Skeptics Answered'', and ''Truths That Transform''.
Initially ordained in 1959 by the ], Kennedy later became an ordained minister in the ] after he and his church left the PCUS in 1978. Adhering to traditional ] ], Kennedy's theological works include ''Why I Believe'', ''What If Jesus Had Never Been Born'', ''Skeptics Answered'', and ''Truths That Transform''. In 1971, he founded the ] in Fort Lauderdale and in 1989, he founded ].


Kennedy was a conservative ] minister and an outspoken advocate for the moral and social values championed by the ]. He wrote, with Jerry Newcombe, ''What if America Were a Christian Nation Again?'' and frequently preached messages that argued that the ] as a ] nation. Kennedy started the ], an evangelical ministry on ] in ] The Center closed in 2007 by Coral Ridge Ministries but quickly reopened under the auspices of Evangelism Explosion International, as the ] Christian outreach to members of the ].
Kennedy developed the ''"Evangelism Explosion"'' ("EE") method of evangelism in the ], which emphasizes the training of church ] to share their faith.
In 2005, the ] association inducted Kennedy into its Hall of Fame.


==Founding of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church==
In ], he founded the '']'' in Ft. Lauderdale and, in 1989, '']''.
{{main|Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church}}
], Fort Lauderdale, Florida]]
Kennedy preached his first sermon at the ] in Fort Lauderdale in June 1959.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.crpc.org/1959-1966|title=History of Coral Ridge {{!}} 1959-1966|date=17 August 2020 }}</ref> Beginning with 45&nbsp;persons attending a typical Sunday service, it became the fastest-growing Presbyterian church in the U.S. in the 1960s and had 1,366 members by 1968.<ref name=Chandler /> Evangelist ] spoke at the dedication of the new Coral Ridge Presbyterian church building in 1974, attended by 15,000 people.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/broward-centennial/fl-coral-ridge-brow100-20150406-story.html|title=Crowds throng to new church's dedication|last=Nolin|first=Robert|date=March 18, 2015|access-date=March 19, 2018|archive-date=March 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180319151145/http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/broward-centennial/fl-coral-ridge-brow100-20150406-story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Kennedy expressed his entrepreneurial vision for outreach at the dedication, stating,


<blockquote>It is our prayer, that through this church, the Gospel of Jesus Christ might be radiated through television and radio, motion pictures and cassettes, books and clinics, and by ways yet undreamed of unto the entire world, that the command of Christ to go and proclaim the Gospel to every creature might be fulfilled in our generation.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>
In ], the ] association inducted Kennedy into its Hall of Fame.


Kennedy developed the ] ("EE") method of evangelism in the 1960s, which emphasizes the training of church ] to share their faith by home visitation and every-day encounters in the community.<ref name="Chandler" /> A film, ''Like a Mighty Army'', was produced in 1970 and starred actor ] as Kennedy, portraying the Evangelism Explosion story at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.<ref name="Chandler" />
===Founding of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church===
Kennedy founded the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in 1960. Its membership has since grown to almost 10,000.<ref name="retires"/> In February 1974, the church's present sanctuary was dedicated by ]. The large Fratelli Rufatti ] has 117 ranks of pipes and is regularly featured on the television programs of ].


In ], the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church began its radio and television ministry, which now has a weekly audience of 3.5 million people. ''The Coral Ridge Hour'' airs on more than 400 stations and four cable networks, including the ], ] and the ], and is broadcast to more than 150 countries on the ].<ref name="retires"/> In 1978, Kennedy began the weekly ''Coral Ridge Hour'' (now ''Truths That Transform'') on national television, which at its peak had a weekly audience of three million viewers in 200&nbsp;countries and was aired on more than 400&nbsp;stations and four cable networks, including the ], ] and the ], as well as broadcast to more than 150 countries on the ].<ref name="Herald" /><ref name="retires" /> Today, D. James Kennedy Ministries carries messages from Kennedy, along with news commentary and documentaries to a nationwide audience on NRBTV, ], ], and FETV. By the 1980s, the church's membership had grown to almost 10,000&nbsp;persons.<ref name="retires" /> As of 2009, at the time of the installation of its new pastor, the church had 2,200&nbsp;members and weekly attendance averaged 1,800&nbsp;persons.<ref name="Sun109">{{cite news|last=Davis|first=James D.|title=Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church chooses pastor|work=]|date=January 19, 2009|url=http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-coralridge0118,0,7957788.story|access-date=2009-01-30|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123172106/http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-coralridge0118,0,7957788.story|archive-date=January 23, 2009}}</ref>


==Later life==
The church is located at 5555 N. Federal Highway in Ft. Lauderdale.
On the evening of December 28, 2006, Kennedy experienced prolonged ] at his Fort Lauderdale home, leading to ] which deprived his brain of adequate oxygen for six to eight minutes. As a result, he sustained a loss of ] and speech impairment.<ref>{{cite news |title=D. James Kennedy Retires From Ministry |url=http://www.wdac.com/news.php |agency=Associated Press |date=August 27, 2007 |access-date=2007-08-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821085942/http://www.wdac.com/news.php |archive-date=August 21, 2007 }}</ref> Despite several months of rehabilitation and convalescence, he was unable to resume preaching and his retirement was announced on August 26, 2007, at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church by his daughter, Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy.<ref name="retires"/><ref>Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy statement, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida (August 26, 2007).</ref> Following the news of Kennedy's retirement, his church announced the development of the ''D. James Kennedy Legacy website'' in tribute to the life of the Christian evangelist.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.djameskennedy.org/media.aspx| title = Dr. D. James Kennedy Retires: Founder and Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church Steps Down from Pulpit with Rich Legacy of Faith| access-date = 2007-08-27| date = August 26, 2007| work = Coral Ridge Ministries Press Release| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080704181447/http://www.djameskennedy.org/media.aspx| archive-date = July 4, 2008}}</ref>


Kennedy died in his sleep at home in the early morning hours of September 5, 2007, aged 76.<ref name="death"/><ref name="retires">{{cite news | title= D. James Kennedy, influential Christian broadcaster, retires | date=August 26, 2007 | newspaper= ]|url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SOU_KENNEDY_RETIREMENT_FLOL-?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME }}</ref><ref> retrieved 2007-09-05 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070907172649/http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/09/dr_d_james_kennedy_dead_at_age.php |date=September 7, 2007 }}</ref><ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070907142437/http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-djkennedydead0905,0,4390768.story |date=2007-09-07 }} retrieved 2007-09-05</ref> The ] issued a statement the following day, saying that ] ] and ] ] were "deeply saddened" by Kennedy's death, calling him "a man of great vision, faith, and integrity&nbsp;... Dr. Kennedy's message of love and hope inspired millions through the institutions he founded".<ref>{{cite web| url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/09/20070906-7.html | title = President and Mrs. Bush Deeply Saddened by the Death of Dr. D. James Kennedy | access-date = 2007-09-19|date=September 6, 2007 | work = White House statement}}</ref> ] founder ] called Kennedy "a passionate defender of biblical truth in a culture that increasingly forgot it" and "a giant in the battle to restore traditional values in our nation."<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/us/06kennedy.html|title=Rev. D. James Kennedy, Broadcaster, Dies at 76|last=Banerjee|first=Neela|date=2007-09-06|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-03-20|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
===Retirement and death===
On the evening of ], ], Kennedy experienced prolonged ] at his Ft. Lauderdale home, leading to ] which deprived his brain of adequate oxygen for six to eight minutes. As a result, he sustained a loss of ] and speech impairment.<ref>{{cite news |title=D. James Kennedy Retires From Ministry |url=http://www.wdac.com/news.php |publisher=] |date=] |accessdate=2007-08-27}}</ref> Despite several months of rehabilitation and convalescence, he was unable to resume preaching and his retirement was announced on Sunday, ], ], at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church by his daughter, Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy.<ref name="retires"/><ref>Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy statement, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (], ]).</ref>


Shortly after Kennedy's heart attack, Coral Ridge Ministries reduced ''The Coral Ridge Hour'' syndication and shortened the program from an hour to 30 minutes.<ref>Brian Fisher, "Season of Change," ''Impact'', March 2008, Coral Ridge Ministries. At {{cite web |url=http://www.coralridge.org/_catalogs/impact/CRM_ImpactNWsltr03-08.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-08-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726093015/http://www.coralridge.org/_catalogs/impact/CRM_ImpactNWsltr03-08.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-26 }}.</ref><ref>Brian Fisher, "Accentuate the Positive," ''Impact,'' April 2008, Coral Ridge Ministries. At {{cite web |url=http://www.coralridge.org/_catalogs/impact/CRM_ImpactNWsltr04-08.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-08-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726093101/http://www.coralridge.org/_catalogs/impact/CRM_ImpactNWsltr04-08.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-26 }}.</ref> Kennedy's daughter, Jennifer, stated on the program in February 2008 that viewers' donations to the broadcast ministry had declined significantly in the wake of the founding pastor's death. (The show continues to air as ''Truths that Transform''.)<ref>See Coral Ridge Ministries "Station Finder" at {{cite web |url=http://www.coralridge.org/stationfinder/default.aspx |title=Find a Christian Radio or TV Station: Coral Ridge Ministries |access-date=2010-08-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100826052128/http://www.coralridge.org/stationfinder/default.aspx |archive-date=2010-08-26 }}.</ref> Coral Ridge Ministries closed its social action branch, The Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, shortly after Kennedy's heart attack.<ref name="death" />
In a statement following news of Kennedy's retirement, the church announced the development of the ''D. James Kennedy Legacy website'' in tribute to the life of the Christian evangelist.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.djameskennedy.org/media.aspx | title = Dr. D. James Kennedy Retires: Founder and Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church Steps Down from Pulpit with Rich Legacy of Faith | accessdate = 2007-08-27|date=], ]| work = Coral Ridge Ministries Press Release}}</ref>


In 2018, D. James Kennedy Ministries launched the D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Leadership in Washington, D.C., "to address the deficit of preparation for Biblical cultural engagement." It seeks to train 300 Leadership Fellows annually for the ensuing decade.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://statesman.org/|title=Home - Center for Christian Leadership|website=statesman.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-21}}</ref>
Kennedy died in his sleep at home in the early morning hours of ], ].<ref> retrieved ]</ref>
<ref> retrieved ]</ref><ref name="retires">{{cite news | title= D. James Kennedy, influential Christian broadcaster, retires | date=], ] | publisher= '']''|url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SOU_KENNEDY_RETIREMENT_FLOL-?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME }}</ref><ref name="death"/> The ] issued a statement the following day, saying that ] and ] ] were "deeply saddened" by Kennedy's death, calling the Florida-based televangelist and author "a man of great vision, faith, and integrity ... Dr. Kennedy's message of love and hope inspired millions through the institutions he founded...".<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/09/20070906-7.html | title = President and Mrs. Bush Deeply Saddened by the Death of Dr. D. James Kennedy | accessdate = 2007-09-19|date=], ] | work = White House statement}}</ref>


The D. James Kennedy Institute of Reformed Leadership was established in 2013. Kennedy's daughter, Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy, introduced ] as president of the legacy institute in proceedings at the ] Presidential Center and Ranch, ], in ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://byfaithonline.com/milton-named-president-of-d-james-kennedy-institute/ |title=Milton Named President of D. James Kennedy Institute &#124; byFaith |date=8 October 2013 }}</ref>
Kennedy is buried at Lauderdale Memorial Park Cemetery in Ft. Lauderdale<ref>]]</ref>


==Apologetics==
==Notable issues and views==
In ], Kennedy contended for Christianity as a reasonable and evidential faith (one supported by facts from history and science), and wrote several books (''Why I Believe'', ''Skeptics Answered'', and ''Solving Bible Mysteries'') to make the case for Christian faith from history, science, and logic. "Skeptics are welcome," he wrote in his book, ''Skeptics Answered'': "Christianity has answers that are not only satisfying for the soul but also satisfying for the mind ... Throughout the ages, many skeptics have looked at Christianity's historicity and have ended up coming to faith in ]. The evidence is there. It just needs to be looked at with an open mind."<ref>{{cite book |last= Kennedy|first= D. James|author-link= |date= 1997|title= Skeptics Answered|url= |location= Sisters, Oregon|publisher= Multnomah Books|page= 13, 14|isbn= 1-57673-148-0}}</ref> Kennedy also offered a "cultural apologetic" and argued for the earthly benefits brought by the influence of Christ and the Bible. His books with Jerry Newcombe, ''What If Jesus Had Never Been Born'' (1994, revised 2001) and ''What If the Bible Had Never Been Written'' (1998), seek to document the positive impact of Christianity and the Bible in education, law, civil liberty, science, economics, the family, medicine, and the arts.
* ]: Kennedy was strongly opposed to same-sex marriage and called for a constitutional "Firewall" to protect the nation from "counterfeit marriage."<ref name="firewall">{{cite web |url=http://www.reclaimamerica.org/PAGES/News/news.aspx?story=1460 |title=Dr. Kennedy Calls for Constitutional "Firewall" to Protect Marriage |date=] |accessdate=2007-04-28}}</ref>
* ]: Kennedy frequently claimed that if ] is not true then it is a massive ] and ] perpetrated by evil men bent on making the world a place where ]'s commandment to 'Love thy neighbor' reigns supreme, which is the antithesis of the criminal mind, and hence the theory that Christianity is a fraud is entirely incompatible with logic and human nature.<ref name="Obit in the Telegraph">{{cite web |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/15/db1502.xml |title=The Reverend James Kennedy |date=] |accessdate=2007-12-07}}</ref>
* ]: a bill promoted during the ] ''Confronting the Judicial War on Faith'' conference that sought to authorize Congress to impeach judges who fail to acknowledge "God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government" and to limit the power of the federal judiciary to rule in religious liberty cases.<ref name="The Nation">{{cite web |url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050425/blumenthal |title=In Contempt of Courts |date=] |accessdate=2007-12-07 | quote = The article discusses how the director of Kennedy's lobbying front was strongly advocating for the bill at the conference. Even though Kennedy was not present, it is ultimately his organization.}}</ref>
* ]: Kennedy was a ]<ref name="NCSE">, National Center for Science Education, September 5, 2007</ref><ref>, Rob Boston, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, April 1999 citing Kennedy's 1994 book <i>Character & Destiny: A Nation In Search of Its Soul</i></ref><ref>, D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, Crossway Books, 2005</ref><ref>, Institute for Creation Research</ref><ref>''Solving Bible Mysteries'', D. James Kennedy, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000</ref><ref> ''What If Jesus Had Never Been Born'', D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1994, revised 2001</ref><ref>Coral Ridge Ministries promotes and sells Creationism books and videos</ref> and supporter of ]<ref> ]. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Feb 2005.</ref><ref> ].</ref><ref>''From Darwin to Design'' C. L. Cagan and Robert Hymers. Foreword by D. James Kennedy.</ref><ref>, Sermon by D. James Kennedy. The Coral Ridge Hour, August 2003.</ref><ref>Coral Ridge Ministries promotes and sells creationism, antievolution, and intelligent design books and DVDs</ref> who rejected the ] and believed that it "led to the death of nine million people in ].... The greatest mass murderers of all time all compliments of evolution,"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.coralridge.org/imp/impact080513.aspx |title=Impact Newsletter |month=August |year=2005 |accessdate=2007-04-28}}</ref> an idea reflected in Coral Ridge's controversial documentary ''Darwin's Deadly Legacy'' in 2006. ''Darwin's Deadly Legacy'' is based on the 2004 book ''From Darwin to Hitler, Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics and Racism in Germany'' by ] Fellow ]. The Discovery Institute is the hub of the ],<ref> Chris Mooney. Seed Magazinem October 1, 2005.</ref> and the Institute's Fellows are frequent Coral Ridge Ministries guest speakers. ], considered the father of the movement,<ref> Kim Minugh. Sacramento Bee, May 11, 2006.</ref> was a featured speaker at Coral Ridge Ministries' 1999 ''Reclaiming America for Christ Conference''.<ref></ref> There he gave a speech called ''How the Evolution Debate Can Be Won'' which was widely promoted by the Ministries' ''Truths that Transform''.<ref name=debate_won> Phillip Johnson. Truths that Transform.</ref>
* Kennedy was a co-signer of the "]" sent to President ] in October 2002 which outlined a "]" rationale for the ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.wikisource.org/Land_letter |title=Land Letter |accessdate=2007-04-28 |work=]}}</ref>
* Kennedy sought to "reclaim America for Christ" in which government policies and laws would be consistent with evangelical Christianity.<ref name="Closing the Gap">{{cite web |url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4656600 |title=Closing the Gap Between Church and State |date=] |accessdate=2007-12-07}}</ref> Many of his public messages on this topic focused on his assertion that the ] were Christian and had intended to establish a Christian constitution.<ref name = RollingStone >{{cite news | first = Bob | last = Moser | authorlink = Bob Moser | title = The Crusaders: Christian evangelicals are plotting to remake America in their own image | url = http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7235393/the_crusaders/ | format = | work = ] | accessdate = 2007-12-07}}</ref>
* Kennedy was a notable member of the ] political movement in the ] and ].<ref name="Kennedy Obituary">{{cite web |url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-09-05-kennedy_N.htm |title=Megachurch pioneer D. James Kennedy dies at 76 |date=] |accessdate=2007-12-07}}</ref><ref name="Moral Majority Timeline">{{cite web |url=http://www.moralmajority.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=29 |title=Moral Majority Timeline |accessdate=2007-12-07}}</ref>


Kennedy produced ''Who Is This Jesus?'', a one-hour television special that aired on ] affiliates on ] of 2001. The program, co-hosted by Kennedy with actor ], reached a claimed{{by whom|date=May 2019}} 20 million viewers, with its ] follow-up, ''Who Is This Jesus: Is He Risen?'' The program offered scholarly viewpoints on the reliability of the ]s, especially the ] claim. ] religion writer ] contrasted the broadcast to the 2000 ]-hosted ] documentary, ''The Search for Jesus'', contending the program "achieved more journalistic success than Jennings at one point" by providing a broader cross-section of experts.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Conservatives Tackle New Testament Debate|last=Ostling|first=Richard N.|date=January 2, 2002|agency=Associated Press}}</ref>
==Criticism and controversy==
{{dominionism}}
] (AUSCS, "Americans United" or simply AU), a religious freedom advocacy group, has criticized Kennedy's founding of Center for Reclaiming America for being "just another Religious Right outfit obsessed with opposing legal abortion and gay rights and bashing public education."<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.au.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5936&abbr=cs_| title = D. James Kennedy: Who Is He And What Does He Want?| accessdate = 2007-04-29| last = Boston| first = Rob|date=April 1999| publisher = Americans United for Separation of Church and State}}</ref> AUSCS also says that "Kennedy's ministry has always promoted ]," and "it isn't uncommon to tune in to "The Coral Ridge Hour" and hear him preach against legal abortion, ] protections for gays or the teaching of evolution in public schools." AUSCS also criticized Kennedy and his ministry for that it "frequently sends out fund-raising appeals." such as, "One recent letter asked for funds to stop ] stations from airing a 'homosexual-propaganda program' called '']''."


==Views==
The ] (ADL) has strongly criticized<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.adl.org/PresRele/HolNa_52/4877_52.htm| title = ADL Blasts Christian Supremacist TV Special & Book Blaming Darwin For Hitler| accessdate = 2007-04-29 |date=], ]| work = ] Press Release}}</ref> the ] documentary produced by the Coral Ridge Ministries ''Darwin's Deadly Legacy'',<ref>{{cite news| title = Darwin's Deadly Legacy: The Chilling Impact of Darwin's Theory of Evolution| accessdate = 2007-04-29| publisher = Coral Ridge Ministries}}</ref> which attempts to link evolution to ]: "This is an outrageous and shoddy attempt by D. James Kennedy to trivialize the horrors of ]. Hitler did not need ] to devise his heinous plan to exterminate the Jewish people. Trivializing the Holocaust comes from either ignorance at best or, at worst, a mendacious attempt to score political points in the culture war on the backs of six million Jewish victims and others who died at the hands of the Nazis." The ADL further denounced Kennedy as "a leader among the distinct group of 'Christian Supremacists' who seek to 'reclaim America for Christ' and turn the U.S. into a Christian nation guided by their strange notions of biblical law." The ADL's response also quotes scientist ], who was cited in the show as supporting its views, repudiating it, saying he was "absolutely appalled by what Coral Ridge Ministries is doing. I had NO knowledge that Coral Ridge Ministries was planning a TV special on Darwin and Hitler, and I find the thesis of Dr. Kennedy's program utterly misguided and inflammatory,".<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.adl.org/PresRele/HolNa_52/4877_52.htm| title = ADL Blasts Christian Supremacist TV Special & Book Blaming Darwin For Hitler| accessdate = 2007-04-29 |date=August 22, 2006| work = ] Press Release}}</ref> Coral Ridge Ministries described the ADL's criticisms in a press release<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.reclaimamerica.org/Pages/News/news.aspx?story=3122| title = Coral Ridge Ministries Answers Anti-Defamation League Blast Against New Darwin-Hitler TV Special| accessdate = 2007-04-29|date=August 23, 2006| work = Coral Ridge Ministries Press Release}}</ref> as "harsh" and "unfounded" while reiterating points made in the documentary, along with citing Scottish ] and ] Sir ] who the center cites as saying in the 1940s, "The German Führer, as I have consistently maintained, is an evolutionist. He has consciously sought to make the practice of Germany conform to the theory of evolution". Coral Ridge Ministries released a statement<ref name=ChristianNewsWire>{{cite web| url = http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/76397825.html| title = Coral Ridge Ministries and Orthodox Rabbi Reject Anti-Defamation League Attack on TV Special Linking Darwin to Hitler| accessdate = 2007-04-29| publisher = ]}}</ref> responding to the ADL's quote of Francis Collins saying he was misled in the documentary. According to the Coral Ridge press release, Collins had signed a "Talent release," giving the center rights to use his statements.<ref name=ChristianNewsWire/> The ministry also denied the assertion made by the ADL that Collins had "NO knowledge that Coral Ridge Ministries was planning a TV special on Darwin and Hitler".<ref name=ChristianNewsWire/>
===Religion in public life===
Many of his public messages focused on American history and the faith of the ] in relation to a Christian worldview. For instance, Kennedy cited ]' claim that Christianity is "indissolubly linked" to the founding of America.<ref>D. James Kennedy, ''Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States'' (Fort Lauderdale, Fla: Coral Ridge Ministries, 2004), 2.</ref> Kennedy wrote the foreword to the 1987 book ''Christianity and the Constitution: The Faith of Our Founding Fathers'' authored by law professor ].<ref>{{cite book| last = Eidsmoe| first = John| author-link = John Eidsmoe | year = 1987 | title = Christianity and the Constitution: The Faith of Our Founding Fathers| publisher = Baker Academic | location = USA | isbn = 0801052319 }}</ref>


== Conservative Christian leader ==
Though Kennedy has hosted ]s ] and ] on his program<ref name=WallStreetJournal>{{cite news |author=] |title=Prophets of a Biblical America |publisher=] |page=A14 |date=]}}</ref> he has denounced any attempts to link him to Reconstructionist or ] movement as a ] technique of ], and that he does not approve of their theology.<ref name=WallStreetJournal/><ref>{{cite news |first=D. James |last=Kennedy |title=Letter to the Editor 3 |publisher=] |page=A19 |date=]}}</ref> ] represents the political theory which springs from Christian Reconstructionism.<ref>Goldberg, '']''</ref> ] argues that despite his denial, Kennedy meets the criteria for being a dominionist.<ref name = ClarksonPE>{{cite web| url = http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v19n3/clarkson_dominionism.html| title = The Rise of Dominionism: Remaking America as a Christian Nation| accessdate = 2007-04-28| last = Clarkson| first = Frederick| authorlink = Frederick Clarkson| date = Winter 2005 | format = | work = PublicEye.org| language = | quote = The Monitor story shows Kennedy manifesting all three characteristic of a dominionist: he is a Christian nationalist; he is a religious supremacist; and his politics are decidedly theocratic. But of the three characteristics, Kennedy would embrace the first, but deny the second and third.}}</ref>
Kennedy was a founding member of the board of ], a political movement in the late 1970s and 1980s.<ref name="Kennedy Obituary">{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-09-05-kennedy_N.htm |title=Megachurch pioneer D. James Kennedy dies at 76 |date=September 6, 2007 |access-date=2007-12-07 |work=USA Today}}</ref><ref>Jerry Falwell, ''Falwell: An Autobiography'' (Lynchburg: Liberty House Publishers, 1997), 383. Cited in John Barber, ''America Restored'' (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: Coral Ridge Ministries, 2002), 31.</ref> When GOP presidential candidates, including Ronald Reagan, sought the blessing of evangelical leaders, Kennedy sometimes asked spiritual, not policy questions. In one meeting, Kennedy asked Reagan what reason he would give as to why God should let him into heaven. According to one observer, "Reagan dropped his eyes, looked at his feet, and said, 'I wouldn't give God any reason for letting me in. I'd just ask for mercy, because of what Jesus Christ did for me at Calvary."<ref>{{Cite book|title=With God on our side : the rise of the religious right in America|last=Martin|first=William C.|date=2005|publisher=Broadway Books|isbn=0767922573|edition=Rev. trade paperback|location=New York|pages=|oclc=61355677|url=https://archive.org/details/withgodonourside00will/page/209}}</ref>


Kennedy later celebrated Reagan's election at a gathering of Christian leaders just days after Reagan's inauguration in 1981. "The sleeping giant that has lain prostrate across America is beginning to wake itself," Kennedy told the National Religious Broadcasters association in Washington, D.C. "Believers in a living God are beginning to assert their spiritual rights."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1981/01/30/evangelical-christians-meet-to-develop-strategy-for-1980s/3ee92602-35a7-413a-ae2a-bb786fb3b396/|title=Evangelical Christians Meet to Develop Strategy for 1980s|last=Hyer|first=Marjorie|date=1981-01-30|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=2018-03-21|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist|2}}


At the same time, he cautioned his own congregation about the limits of politics in a sermon titled, "Can Reagan Save America?" Reagan was likely to bring positive good to the nation, Kennedy said, but Christians should put their trust in God, not man. "any people feel that a man on a white horse has arrived and is going to take care of us," Kennedy preached. "This, according to the Scriptures, is a very dangerous attitude."<ref>{{Cite book|title=How would Jesus vote? : a Christian perspective on the issues|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|date=2008|publisher=WaterBrook Press|last2=Newcombe|first2=Jerry|isbn=9781400074068|edition=1st|location=Colorado Springs, Colo.|pages=|oclc=154799972|url=https://archive.org/details/howwouldjesusvot0000kenn/page/195}}</ref>
==External links==
{{sisterlinks|James Kennedy (televangelist)}}


Kennedy, in opposition to ], presented a two-part strategy to counter legislative and court initiatives to "redefine marriage". He called for a constitutional "Firewall" to protect the nation from "counterfeit marriage"<ref name="firewall">{{cite web |url=http://www.reclaimamerica.org/PAGES/News/news.aspx?story=1460 |title=Dr. Kennedy Calls for Constitutional "Firewall" to Protect Marriage |date=2003-11-19 |access-date=2007-04-28}}{{dl|date=November 2024}}</ref> and urged "conversion for homosexuals who want to change, through the power of ]".<ref>{{Cite book|title=What's wrong with same-sex marriage?|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|date=2004|publisher=Crossway Books|others=Newcombe, Jerry.|isbn=1581346638|location=Wheaton, Ill.|pages=|oclc=55665211|url=https://archive.org/details/whatswrongwithsa0000kenn/page/11}}</ref> Kennedy rejected ] and judicial supremacy. He endorsed the ], a bill promoted during the 2005 ''Confronting the Judicial War on Faith'' conference that sought to authorize Congress to impeach judges who fail to acknowledge "God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government" and to limit the power of the federal judiciary to rule in religious liberty cases.<ref name="The Nation">{{cite web |url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050425/blumenthal |title=In Contempt of Courts |date=2005-04-15 |access-date=2007-12-07 | quote = The article discusses how the director of Kennedy's lobbying front was strongly advocating for the bill at the conference. Even though Kennedy was not present, it is ultimately his organization.}}{{dl|date=November 2024}}</ref>
===Official===
Kennedy was a co-signer of the "]" sent to President ] in October 2002 which outlined a "]" rationale for the ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.wikisource.org/Land_letter |title=Land Letter |access-date=2007-04-28 |work=] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018052406/http://en.wikisource.org/Land_letter |archive-date=2007-10-18 }}</ref> Kennedy sought to "reclaim America for Christ", a project that he said was to "bring this nation back to God, back to decency, back to morality, back to those things that we wish America was like again."<ref>D. James Kennedy, "Why Reclaiming America?' Message delivered in 2000 to the Reclaiming America for Christ conference, Coral Ridge Ministries. Available at 14:25 at {{cite web |url=http://www.coralridge.org/medialibrary/default.aspx?mediaID=2505 |access-date=2010-08-24 |title=Media Library: Coral Ridge Ministries |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726093210/http://www.coralridge.org/medialibrary/default.aspx?mediaID=2505 |archive-date=2011-07-26 |url-status=dead }}.</ref>
*
*
*
* at the ]
*
* Kennedy's Political Action Center
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*{{Imdb|0447977}}
*


During his life, he was harshly criticized by ] and ]. The ] (AUSCS, "Americans United" or simply AU) criticized Kennedy's founding of the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ for being "just another Religious Right outfit obsessed with opposing legal abortion and gay rights and bashing public education."<ref name=AU /> AUSCS also says, "Kennedy's ministry has always promoted ] ... it isn't uncommon to tune in to ''The Coral Ridge Hour'' and hear him preach against legal ], ] protections for ]s or the teaching of ] in public schools." Then-AUSCS executive director ] said of Kennedy: "He was absolutely relentless in his criticism of everything on the left. He was a formidable creator of an opposition to what people like I believe."<ref name=":1" />
===Critical===
* from
* From the ]


In an interview with ]'s ], Kennedy was asked whether he wanted all public office holders to be Christians. Kennedy answered, "We have people who are ] and ] and unbelievers who are constantly supporting in every way possible other people who share those views. And I don't object to that. That's their privilege. And I think that Christians should be allowed the same privilege to vote for people whom they believe share their views about life and government. And that's all I'm talking about."<ref>"Closing the Gap Between Church and State," Terry Gross interview with D. James Kennedy, ''Fresh Air'', May 18, 2005. Accessed at https://www.npr.org/2005/05/18/4656600/closing-the-gap-between-church-and-state.</ref>
===Other===

* of links to tributes and more
==Creationist==
In ] debates, Kennedy was a proponent of the general tenets of a ] by God and the supernatural presumptions of ] and proponents of ]. He argued that the expression and promotion of such beliefs should be protected as free speech. He believed scientific truth is not determined by consensus but evidence and so, contrary to ], he asserted creationist beliefs were scientifically accurate.<ref name="NCSE"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071003095305/http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2007/US/528_d_james_kennedy_dies_9_5_2007.asp |date=2007-10-03 }}, National Center for Science Education, September 5, 2007</ref><ref name=AU> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070408050404/http://www.au.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5936&abbr=cs_ |date=April 8, 2007}}, Rob Boston, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, April 1999 citing Kennedy's 1994 book ''Character & Destiny: A Nation In Search of Its Soul''</ref><ref>, D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, Crossway Books, 2005</ref><ref>, Institute for Creation Research</ref><ref>''Solving Bible Mysteries'', D. James Kennedy, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000</ref><ref>''What If Jesus Had Never Been Born'', D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1994, revised 2001</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227121221/http://www.truthinaction.org/ |date=2011-12-27 }} (formerly Coral Ridge Ministries) promotes and sells Creationism books and videos {{cite web |url=http://www.truthinaction.org/index.php/resources |title=Resources &#124; Truth in Action Ministries |access-date=2011-12-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227061658/http://www.truthinaction.org/index.php/resources |archive-date=2011-12-27 }}</ref><ref>{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Sermon by D. James Kennedy. The Coral Ridge Hour, August 2003.</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Forrest | first = Barbara | author-link = Barbara Forrest | author2 = Gross, Paul R. | year = 2004 | title = Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = USA | isbn = 0-19-515742-7 | page = | url = https://archive.org/details/creationismstroj00forr/page/271 }}</ref><ref> ].</ref><ref>C. L. Cagan and Robert Hymers (2006). ''From Darwin to Design'', foreword by D. James Kennedy. Whitaker House, USA. {{ISBN|0-88368-122-6}}.</ref>

Kennedy disputed the ] by saying, "The two most notorious and blood-soaked political movements of the twentieth century, Nazism and Communism, both rejected God and were animated by the idea of evolution."<ref name="consequences_8">D. James Kennedy, "Ideas Have Consequences," ''Impact,'' August 2005, p. 8, Coral Ridge Ministries newsletter.</ref> According to Kennedy, "if one believes that evolution is true, then we are simply the product of time and chance and there is no morality and no intrinsic worth to human life."<ref name="consequences_8"/> That theme is reflected in Coral Ridge Ministries' 2006 documentary ''Darwin's Deadly Legacy''. The ] (ADL) issued a press release in 2006 strongly criticizing the movie's attempts to link evolution to ]:<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225927/http://archive.adl.org/nr/exeres/3e0340d2-b672-45c7-8ff1-10c9eed96f42,0b1623ca-d5a4-465d-a369-df6e8679cd9e,frameless.html "ADL Blasts Christian Supremacist TV Special & Book Blaming Darwin For Hitler" August 22, 2006. Retrieved May18, 2021.</ref>

{{blockquote|text=This is an outrageous and shoddy attempt by D. James Kennedy to trivialize the horrors of ]. Hitler did not need ] to devise his heinous plan to exterminate the Jewish people. Trivializing the Holocaust comes from either ignorance at best or, at worst, a mendacious attempt to score political points in the ] on the backs of six million Jewish victims and others who died at the hands of the ]s.}}

The ADL further denounced Kennedy as "a leader among the distinct group of 'Christian Supremacists' who seek to 'reclaim America for Christ' and turn the U.S. into a Christian nation guided by their strange notions of biblical law." The ADL's response also quotes Christian geneticist ], who was interviewed for the program, repudiating it, saying he was "absolutely appalled by what Coral Ridge Ministries is doing. I had NO knowledge that Coral Ridge Ministries was planning a TV special on Darwin and Hitler, and I find the thesis of Dr. Kennedy's program utterly misguided and inflammatory".<ref>{{cite web| url = http://archive.adl.org/nr/exeres/3e0340d2-b672-45c7-8ff1-10c9eed96f42,0b1623ca-d5a4-465d-a369-df6e8679cd9e,| title = ADL Blasts Christian Supremacist TV Special & Book Blaming Darwin For Hitler| access-date = 2007-04-29| date = 2006-08-22| work = ] Press Release}}{{Dead link|date=November 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In a release,<ref name="reject">"Coral Ridge Ministries and Orthodox Rabbi Reject Anti-Defamation League Attack on TV Special Linking Darwin to Hitler," Coral Ridge Ministries, August 24, 2006. Accessed 08-27-2010 at {{cite web |url=http://www.coralridge.org/partnercentral/ministrynewsdetail.aspx?id=215 |title=Breaking News from Coral Ridge Ministries |access-date=2010-08-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726093416/http://www.coralridge.org/partnercentral/ministrynewsdetail.aspx?id=215 |archive-date=2011-07-26 }}.</ref> Coral Ridge Ministries rejected the statement attributed to Francis Collins that he was misled:

{{blockquote|text=A producer told Dr. Collins in person before the interview began that he was being interviewed for a program that would address the adverse social consequences of Darwin. In addition, he was asked specifically, during the interview, about the Darwin-Hitler connection and responded on tape that he did not agree with that view.}}

According to the Coral Ridge press release, Collins had signed a "talent release", giving "Coral Ridge Ministries the right to use his interview 'without limitation in all perpetuity.'" The Ministry said they would delete his interview for all future airings of the program.<ref name="reject"/>

Coral Ridge Ministries answered other parts of the ADL's criticisms in an August 22, 2006 press release,<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.coralridge.org/partnercentral/ministrynewsdetail.aspx?id=216| title = Coral Ridge Ministries Answers Anti-Defamation League Blast Against New Darwin-Hitler TV Special| access-date = 2010-08-27| date = 2006-08-22| work = Coral Ridge Ministries Press Release| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110726093344/http://www.coralridge.org/partnercentral/ministrynewsdetail.aspx?id=216| archive-date = 2011-07-26}}</ref> stating that the ADL "ignores the ''historical fact'' that Adolf Hitler was an evolutionist." The release cited historian ], Scottish ] and ] Sir ], and evolutionist ] for the assertion of a Darwin-Hitler connection.

==Books==
Kennedy wrote 65 books,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.djameskennedy.org/about|title=Celebrating Over Forty Years of Broadcasting}}</ref> including ''Evangelism Explosion'' (a primer on communicating the Christian salvation message with 1.5 million copies in print),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://waterbrookmultnomah.com/authors/2005489/dr-james-kennedy/|title=About Dr. James Kennedy}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=April 2019|reason=publisher's website is not a third-person source, and the sales figures are a boastful claim}} ''What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?'', ''The Da Vinci Myth versus The Gospel Truth'', and ''Cross Purposes: Discovering the Great Love of God for You''.

Kennedy is the author or coauthor of the following books:
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* {{Cite book|title=Cross Purposes: Discovering the Great Love of God for You|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|last2=Newcombe|first2=Jerry|publisher=Multnomah|year=2007|isbn=978-1593283049}}
* {{Cite book|title=Delighting God: How to Live at the Center of God's Will|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Vine Books|year=1993|isbn=9780892838318}}
* {{Cite book|title=Evangelism Explosion|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Tyndale|year=1996|isbn=0842307648|url=https://archive.org/details/evangelismexplo000kenn}}
* {{Cite book|title=God's absolute best for you: Unlocking your God-given potential by following his ten commands|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Coral Ridge Ministries|year=2001}}
* {{Cite book|title=How Do I Get to Know God?|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Fleming H. Revell Co.|year=1995|isbn=9780800755577}}
* {{Cite book|title=How Do I Live for God?|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Fleming H. Revell Co.|year=1995|isbn=9780800755591}}
* {{Cite book|title=Led by the Carpenter: Finding God's Purpose for Your Life|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Thomas Nelson|year=1999|isbn=9780785270393}}
* {{Cite book|title=Lord of All: Developing a Christian World-and-Life View|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|last2=Newcombe|first2=Jerry|publisher=Crossway|year=2005|isbn=9781581346770|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/lordofalldevelop0000kenn}}
* {{Cite book|title=New Every Morning: A Daily Devotional|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Multnomah|year=1996|isbn=9781576730683}}
* {{Cite book|title=The Secret to a Happy Home|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Whitaker House|year=1997|isbn=9780883683354}}
* {{Cite book|title=Skeptics Answered|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Multnomah|year=2005|isbn=9781590526590}}
* {{Cite book|title=Solving Bible Mysteries: Unraveling the Perplexing and Troubling Passages of Scripture|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Thomas Nelson|year=2000|isbn=9780785270416|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/solvingbiblemyst0000kenn}}
* {{Cite book|title=The Gates Of Hell Shall Not Prevail: The Attack on Christianity and What You Need To Know To Combat It|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|last2=Newcombe|first2=Jerry|publisher=Thomas Nelson|year=1997|isbn=9780785271772}}
* {{Cite book|title=Truths That Transform: Christian Doctrines for Your Life Today|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Fleming H. Revell Co.|year=1996|isbn=9780800756093}}
* {{Cite book|title=Turn It to Gold|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Vine Books|year=1991|isbn=9780892836505|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/turnittogold00kenn}}
* {{Cite book|title=What If America Were a Christian Nation Again?|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|last2=Newcombe|first2=Jerry|publisher=Thomas Nelson|year=2005|isbn=9780785269724}}
* {{Cite book|title=What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|last2=Newcombe|first2=Jerry|publisher=Thomas Nelson|year=1994|isbn=9780849920790}}
* {{Cite book|title=What If the Bible Had Never Been Written?|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|last2=Newcombe|first2=Jerry|publisher=Thomas Nelson|year=1998|isbn=9780785271543|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780785271543}}
* {{Cite book|title=What Is God Like?|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Fleming H. Revell Co.|year=1995|isbn=978-0800755584}}
* {{Cite book|title=What's Wrong with Same Sex Marriage?|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|last2=Newcombe|last3=Jerry|publisher=Crossway|year=2004|isbn=9781581346633|url=https://archive.org/details/whatswrongwithsa0000kenn}}
* {{Cite book|title=Who is This Jesus? Is He Risen?|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|last2=Newcombe|first2=Jerry|publisher=Coral Ridge Ministries|year=2002|isbn=9781929626380|url=https://archive.org/details/whoisthisjesusis00kenn}}
* {{Cite book|title=Why I Believe, rev. ed.|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Thomas Nelson|year=2005|isbn=9780849901539}}
* {{Cite book|title=The Da Vinci Myth Versus the Gospel Truth|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|last2=Newcombe|first2=Jerry|publisher=Crossway|year=2006|isbn=9781581348255}}
* {{Cite book|title=Save a marriage Save our nation: A guide to domestic Tranquility|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Coral Ridge Ministries|year=2005|isbn=9781929626182}}
* {{Cite book|title=Why the Ten Commandments Matter|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=FaithWords|year=2005|isbn=9780446577274|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/whytencommandmen0000kenn}}
* {{Cite book|title=The Presence of a Hidden God: Evidence for the God of the Bible|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|last2=Newcombe|first2=Jerry|publisher=Multnomah|year=2008|isbn=9781601420770|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/presenceofhidden0000kenn}}
* {{Cite book|title=The Real Messiah: Prophecies Fulfilled|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|last2=Newcombe|first2=Jerry|publisher=D. James Kennedy Foundation|year=2008|isbn=9780615227283}}
* {{Cite book|title=Learning to Live With the People You Love|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Whitaker House|year=1987|isbn=9780883681909|url=https://archive.org/details/learningtolivewi00djam}}
* {{Cite book|title=Knowing the Whole Truth: Basic Christianity and What It Means in Your Life|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Fleming H. Revell Co.|year=1985|isbn=0800714075|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/knowingwholetrut0000kenn}}
* {{Cite book|title=How Would Jesus Vote?: A Christian Perspective on the Issues|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|last2=Newcombe|first2=Jerry|publisher=WaterBrook Press|year=2008|isbn=9781400074068|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/howwouldjesusvot0000kenn}}
* {{Cite book|title=Why Was America Attacked?: Answers for a Nation at War|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Broadman & Holman|year=2001|isbn=9780805425789}}
* {{Cite book|title=Your Prodigal Child|last=Kennedy|first=D. James|publisher=Thomas Nelson|year=1988|isbn=9780840776198|url=https://archive.org/details/yourprodigalchil0000kenn}}
* {{Cite book|title=Well Done|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|last2=Sorensen|first2=John B.|publisher=Greentree Press|year=2010|isbn=9780982872109}}
* {{Cite book|title=Character & Destiny: A Nation in Search of Its Soul|last1=Kennedy|first1=D. James|last2=Black|first2=Jim Nelson|publisher=Thomas Nelson|year=1994|isbn=9780310443803|url=https://archive.org/details/characterdestiny00kenn}}
{{Div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote|James Kennedy (televangelist)}}
*
*
*
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227121221/http://www.truthinaction.org/ |date=2011-12-27 }}
*
* Kennedy's Political Action Center
*
* {{IMDb name|0447977}}
*

{{Portalbar|Biography|Georgia (U.S. state)|Florida}}
{{Alliance Defending Freedom}}
{{Authority control}}


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Latest revision as of 18:24, 7 December 2024

American pastor, televangelist, and writer (1930–2007)
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The ReverendD. James Kennedy
Kennedy at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church
BornDennis James Kennedy
(1930-11-03)November 3, 1930
Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
DiedSeptember 5, 2007(2007-09-05) (aged 76)
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.
EducationColumbia Theological Seminary (MDiv)
New York University (PhD)
SpouseAnne Lewis (m. 1956)
Children1
ChurchPresbyterian Church in America
Congregations servedCoral Ridge Presbyterian Church

Dennis James Kennedy (November 3, 1930 – September 5, 2007) was an American Presbyterian pastor, evangelist, Christian broadcaster, and author. He was the senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from 1960 until his death in 2007. Kennedy also founded Evangelism Explosion International, Coral Ridge Ministries (now known as D. James Kennedy Ministries), the Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale, the Knox Theological Seminary, radio station WAFG-FM, and the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, a socially conservative political group.

In 1974, he began Coral Ridge Ministries, which produced his weekly religious television program, The Coral Ridge Hour, carried on various networks and syndicated on numerous other stations with a peak audience of three million viewers in 200 countries. He also had a daily radio program, Truths That Transform, from 1984 on. During his lifetime, Coral Ridge Ministries grew to a US$37-million-a-year non-profit corporation.

In 2005, the National Religious Broadcasters association inducted Kennedy into its Hall of Fame.

Early life

Kennedy was born in Augusta, Georgia, and moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois, during his childhood. His father was a glass salesman, and his parents were Methodists. Kennedy joined the Boy Scouts. He later moved with his family to Tampa, Florida, where in 1948 he graduated from Henry B. Plant High School and began studying music at the University of Tampa. After two years, he dropped out of college, began working as a dance instructor at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Tampa, and later won a first prize in a nationwide dance contest. On August 25, 1956, he married Anne Lewis, whom he had met while giving her dance lessons at Arthur Murray. They had one daughter, Jennifer, born in 1962.

Education

Bethel Presbyterian Church, where Kennedy began preaching in 1956

Kennedy became a Christian in 1953 after hearing a radio preacher present the Gospel, which Kennedy later said he had never heard up to that point. In December 1955, Kennedy decided to quit his Arthur Murray job to enter the ministry. He resumed his studies at the University of Tampa (graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1958) and began preaching at the small Bethel Presbyterian Church in nearby Clearwater, Florida. Kennedy entered Columbia Theological Seminary in 1956, receiving a Master of Divinity degree three years later. After his ordination in 1959, Kennedy became the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, where he remained until his death. In the 1970s, he earned a Master of Theology summa cum laude from the Chicago Graduate School of Theology, and in 1979 a doctorate in religious education from New York University. His doctoral dissertation was on the history of an evangelism program he founded. Kennedy said that he earned the Ph.D. degree "to dispel the idea there is an inconsistency between evangelism and education ... evangelical ministers to be thoroughly educated and equipped to meet on equal terms anyone with whom they come in contact."

Ministry and theology

Initially ordained in 1959 by the Presbyterian Church in the United States, Kennedy later became an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America after he and his church left the PCUS in 1978. Adhering to traditional Calvinist theology, Kennedy's theological works include Why I Believe, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born, Skeptics Answered, and Truths That Transform. In 1971, he founded the Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale and in 1989, he founded Knox Theological Seminary.

Kennedy was a conservative evangelical minister and an outspoken advocate for the moral and social values championed by the Christian right. He wrote, with Jerry Newcombe, What if America Were a Christian Nation Again? and frequently preached messages that argued that the United States was founded as a Christian nation. Kennedy started the Center for Christian Statesmanship, an evangelical ministry on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The Center closed in 2007 by Coral Ridge Ministries but quickly reopened under the auspices of Evangelism Explosion International, as the non-partisan Christian outreach to members of the United States Congress. In 2005, the National Religious Broadcasters association inducted Kennedy into its Hall of Fame.

Founding of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church

Main article: Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church
Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Kennedy preached his first sermon at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale in June 1959. Beginning with 45 persons attending a typical Sunday service, it became the fastest-growing Presbyterian church in the U.S. in the 1960s and had 1,366 members by 1968. Evangelist Billy Graham spoke at the dedication of the new Coral Ridge Presbyterian church building in 1974, attended by 15,000 people. Kennedy expressed his entrepreneurial vision for outreach at the dedication, stating,

It is our prayer, that through this church, the Gospel of Jesus Christ might be radiated through television and radio, motion pictures and cassettes, books and clinics, and by ways yet undreamed of unto the entire world, that the command of Christ to go and proclaim the Gospel to every creature might be fulfilled in our generation.

Kennedy developed the Evangelism Explosion ("EE") method of evangelism in the 1960s, which emphasizes the training of church laypeople to share their faith by home visitation and every-day encounters in the community. A film, Like a Mighty Army, was produced in 1970 and starred actor Chris Robinson as Kennedy, portraying the Evangelism Explosion story at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.

In 1978, Kennedy began the weekly Coral Ridge Hour (now Truths That Transform) on national television, which at its peak had a weekly audience of three million viewers in 200 countries and was aired on more than 400 stations and four cable networks, including the Trinity Broadcasting Network, The Inspiration Network (INSP) and the NRB Network, as well as broadcast to more than 150 countries on the Armed Forces Network. Today, D. James Kennedy Ministries carries messages from Kennedy, along with news commentary and documentaries to a nationwide audience on NRBTV, Daystar, TCT, and FETV. By the 1980s, the church's membership had grown to almost 10,000 persons. As of 2009, at the time of the installation of its new pastor, the church had 2,200 members and weekly attendance averaged 1,800 persons.

Later life

On the evening of December 28, 2006, Kennedy experienced prolonged ventricular tachycardia at his Fort Lauderdale home, leading to cardiac arrest which deprived his brain of adequate oxygen for six to eight minutes. As a result, he sustained a loss of short-term memory and speech impairment. Despite several months of rehabilitation and convalescence, he was unable to resume preaching and his retirement was announced on August 26, 2007, at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church by his daughter, Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy. Following the news of Kennedy's retirement, his church announced the development of the D. James Kennedy Legacy website in tribute to the life of the Christian evangelist.

Kennedy died in his sleep at home in the early morning hours of September 5, 2007, aged 76. The White House issued a statement the following day, saying that President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush were "deeply saddened" by Kennedy's death, calling him "a man of great vision, faith, and integrity ... Dr. Kennedy's message of love and hope inspired millions through the institutions he founded". Focus on the Family founder James Dobson called Kennedy "a passionate defender of biblical truth in a culture that increasingly forgot it" and "a giant in the battle to restore traditional values in our nation."

Shortly after Kennedy's heart attack, Coral Ridge Ministries reduced The Coral Ridge Hour syndication and shortened the program from an hour to 30 minutes. Kennedy's daughter, Jennifer, stated on the program in February 2008 that viewers' donations to the broadcast ministry had declined significantly in the wake of the founding pastor's death. (The show continues to air as Truths that Transform.) Coral Ridge Ministries closed its social action branch, The Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, shortly after Kennedy's heart attack.

In 2018, D. James Kennedy Ministries launched the D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Leadership in Washington, D.C., "to address the deficit of preparation for Biblical cultural engagement." It seeks to train 300 Leadership Fellows annually for the ensuing decade.

The D. James Kennedy Institute of Reformed Leadership was established in 2013. Kennedy's daughter, Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy, introduced Michael A. Milton as president of the legacy institute in proceedings at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Center and Ranch, Rancho del Cielo, in Santa Barbara, California.

Apologetics

In Christian apologetics, Kennedy contended for Christianity as a reasonable and evidential faith (one supported by facts from history and science), and wrote several books (Why I Believe, Skeptics Answered, and Solving Bible Mysteries) to make the case for Christian faith from history, science, and logic. "Skeptics are welcome," he wrote in his book, Skeptics Answered: "Christianity has answers that are not only satisfying for the soul but also satisfying for the mind ... Throughout the ages, many skeptics have looked at Christianity's historicity and have ended up coming to faith in Christ. The evidence is there. It just needs to be looked at with an open mind." Kennedy also offered a "cultural apologetic" and argued for the earthly benefits brought by the influence of Christ and the Bible. His books with Jerry Newcombe, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born (1994, revised 2001) and What If the Bible Had Never Been Written (1998), seek to document the positive impact of Christianity and the Bible in education, law, civil liberty, science, economics, the family, medicine, and the arts.

Kennedy produced Who Is This Jesus?, a one-hour television special that aired on CBS affiliates on Christmas of 2001. The program, co-hosted by Kennedy with actor Dean Jones, reached a claimed 20 million viewers, with its Easter follow-up, Who Is This Jesus: Is He Risen? The program offered scholarly viewpoints on the reliability of the Gospels, especially the resurrection claim. Associated Press religion writer Richard Ostling contrasted the broadcast to the 2000 Peter Jennings-hosted ABC News documentary, The Search for Jesus, contending the program "achieved more journalistic success than Jennings at one point" by providing a broader cross-section of experts.

Views

Religion in public life

Many of his public messages focused on American history and the faith of the Founding Fathers of the United States in relation to a Christian worldview. For instance, Kennedy cited John Quincy Adams' claim that Christianity is "indissolubly linked" to the founding of America. Kennedy wrote the foreword to the 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution: The Faith of Our Founding Fathers authored by law professor John Eidsmoe.

Conservative Christian leader

Kennedy was a founding member of the board of Moral Majority, a political movement in the late 1970s and 1980s. When GOP presidential candidates, including Ronald Reagan, sought the blessing of evangelical leaders, Kennedy sometimes asked spiritual, not policy questions. In one meeting, Kennedy asked Reagan what reason he would give as to why God should let him into heaven. According to one observer, "Reagan dropped his eyes, looked at his feet, and said, 'I wouldn't give God any reason for letting me in. I'd just ask for mercy, because of what Jesus Christ did for me at Calvary."

Kennedy later celebrated Reagan's election at a gathering of Christian leaders just days after Reagan's inauguration in 1981. "The sleeping giant that has lain prostrate across America is beginning to wake itself," Kennedy told the National Religious Broadcasters association in Washington, D.C. "Believers in a living God are beginning to assert their spiritual rights."

At the same time, he cautioned his own congregation about the limits of politics in a sermon titled, "Can Reagan Save America?" Reagan was likely to bring positive good to the nation, Kennedy said, but Christians should put their trust in God, not man. "any people feel that a man on a white horse has arrived and is going to take care of us," Kennedy preached. "This, according to the Scriptures, is a very dangerous attitude."

Kennedy, in opposition to same-sex marriage, presented a two-part strategy to counter legislative and court initiatives to "redefine marriage". He called for a constitutional "Firewall" to protect the nation from "counterfeit marriage" and urged "conversion for homosexuals who want to change, through the power of Jesus Christ". Kennedy rejected judicial activism and judicial supremacy. He endorsed the Constitution Restoration Act, a bill promoted during the 2005 Confronting the Judicial War on Faith conference that sought to authorize Congress to impeach judges who fail to acknowledge "God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government" and to limit the power of the federal judiciary to rule in religious liberty cases. Kennedy was a co-signer of the "Land Letter" sent to President George W. Bush in October 2002 which outlined a "just war" rationale for the military invasion of Iraq. Kennedy sought to "reclaim America for Christ", a project that he said was to "bring this nation back to God, back to decency, back to morality, back to those things that we wish America was like again."

During his life, he was harshly criticized by secularists and progressives. The Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AUSCS, "Americans United" or simply AU) criticized Kennedy's founding of the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ for being "just another Religious Right outfit obsessed with opposing legal abortion and gay rights and bashing public education." AUSCS also says, "Kennedy's ministry has always promoted right-wing politics ... it isn't uncommon to tune in to The Coral Ridge Hour and hear him preach against legal abortion, anti-discrimination protections for gays or the teaching of evolution in public schools." Then-AUSCS executive director Barry Lynn said of Kennedy: "He was absolutely relentless in his criticism of everything on the left. He was a formidable creator of an opposition to what people like I believe."

In an interview with NPR's Terry Gross, Kennedy was asked whether he wanted all public office holders to be Christians. Kennedy answered, "We have people who are secular and humanist and unbelievers who are constantly supporting in every way possible other people who share those views. And I don't object to that. That's their privilege. And I think that Christians should be allowed the same privilege to vote for people whom they believe share their views about life and government. And that's all I'm talking about."

Creationist

In creation–evolution debates, Kennedy was a proponent of the general tenets of a special creation by God and the supernatural presumptions of young earth creationists and proponents of intelligent design. He argued that the expression and promotion of such beliefs should be protected as free speech. He believed scientific truth is not determined by consensus but evidence and so, contrary to scientific consensus, he asserted creationist beliefs were scientifically accurate.

Kennedy disputed the facts and theory of evolution by saying, "The two most notorious and blood-soaked political movements of the twentieth century, Nazism and Communism, both rejected God and were animated by the idea of evolution." According to Kennedy, "if one believes that evolution is true, then we are simply the product of time and chance and there is no morality and no intrinsic worth to human life." That theme is reflected in Coral Ridge Ministries' 2006 documentary Darwin's Deadly Legacy. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a press release in 2006 strongly criticizing the movie's attempts to link evolution to Adolf Hitler:

This is an outrageous and shoddy attempt by D. James Kennedy to trivialize the horrors of the Holocaust. Hitler did not need Darwin to devise his heinous plan to exterminate the Jewish people. Trivializing the Holocaust comes from either ignorance at best or, at worst, a mendacious attempt to score political points in the culture war on the backs of six million Jewish victims and others who died at the hands of the Nazis.

The ADL further denounced Kennedy as "a leader among the distinct group of 'Christian Supremacists' who seek to 'reclaim America for Christ' and turn the U.S. into a Christian nation guided by their strange notions of biblical law." The ADL's response also quotes Christian geneticist Francis Collins, who was interviewed for the program, repudiating it, saying he was "absolutely appalled by what Coral Ridge Ministries is doing. I had NO knowledge that Coral Ridge Ministries was planning a TV special on Darwin and Hitler, and I find the thesis of Dr. Kennedy's program utterly misguided and inflammatory". In a release, Coral Ridge Ministries rejected the statement attributed to Francis Collins that he was misled:

A producer told Dr. Collins in person before the interview began that he was being interviewed for a program that would address the adverse social consequences of Darwin. In addition, he was asked specifically, during the interview, about the Darwin-Hitler connection and responded on tape that he did not agree with that view.

According to the Coral Ridge press release, Collins had signed a "talent release", giving "Coral Ridge Ministries the right to use his interview 'without limitation in all perpetuity.'" The Ministry said they would delete his interview for all future airings of the program.

Coral Ridge Ministries answered other parts of the ADL's criticisms in an August 22, 2006 press release, stating that the ADL "ignores the historical fact that Adolf Hitler was an evolutionist." The release cited historian Richard Weikart, Scottish anatomist and anthropologist Sir Arthur Keith, and evolutionist Niles Eldredge for the assertion of a Darwin-Hitler connection.

Books

Kennedy wrote 65 books, including Evangelism Explosion (a primer on communicating the Christian salvation message with 1.5 million copies in print), What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?, The Da Vinci Myth versus The Gospel Truth, and Cross Purposes: Discovering the Great Love of God for You.

Kennedy is the author or coauthor of the following books:

References

  1. ^ Robert Samuels (September 21, 2009). "Coral Ridge Presbyterian votes to retain controversial new pastor". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  2. Current and archived versions of both programs are available at the Truth in Action website.
  3. ^ Chandler, E. Russell (1972). The Kennedy Explosion. Elgin, Ill.: David C. Cook Publishing. ISBN 0-912692-02-2.
  4. Hedges, Chris, American Fascists – The Christian Right and the War on America, New York, Free Press, 2006
  5. Williams, Herbert Lee (1999). D. James Kennedy: The Man and His Ministry. Thomas Nelson Publishers (Coral Ridge Ministries edition). p. 73.
  6. ^ "Powerful pastor D. James Kennedy dead at 76". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. September 5, 2007. Archived from the original on September 7, 2007.
  7. "Rev. D. James Kennedy, 76; pioneering Christian radio, TV broadcaster". Los Angeles Times. September 6, 2007. Archived from the original on September 7, 2012. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
  8. ^ D. James Kennedy dies Archived 2007-10-03 at the Wayback Machine, National Center for Science Education, September 5, 2007
  9. Kennedy, D. James. "The Genesis, Development, and Expansion of Evangelism Explosion International, 1960–1976". DAI. 40 (3): 1381.
  10. "History of Coral Ridge | 1959-1966". 17 August 2020.
  11. Nolin, Robert (March 18, 2015). "Crowds throng to new church's dedication". Archived from the original on March 19, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  12. ^ "Celebrating Over Forty Years of Broadcasting".
  13. ^ "D. James Kennedy, influential Christian broadcaster, retires". St. Petersburg Times. August 26, 2007.
  14. Davis, James D. (January 19, 2009). "Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church chooses pastor". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on January 23, 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  15. "D. James Kennedy Retires From Ministry". Associated Press. August 27, 2007. Archived from the original on August 21, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
  16. Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy statement, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida (August 26, 2007).
  17. "Dr. D. James Kennedy Retires: Founder and Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church Steps Down from Pulpit with Rich Legacy of Faith". Coral Ridge Ministries Press Release. August 26, 2007. Archived from the original on July 4, 2008. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
  18. Dr. D. James Kennedy dead at age 76 retrieved 2007-09-05 Archived September 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  19. Powerful pastor D. James Kennedy dead at 76 Archived 2007-09-07 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 2007-09-05
  20. "President and Mrs. Bush Deeply Saddened by the Death of Dr. D. James Kennedy". White House statement. September 6, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
  21. ^ Banerjee, Neela (2007-09-06). "Rev. D. James Kennedy, Broadcaster, Dies at 76". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  22. Brian Fisher, "Season of Change," Impact, March 2008, Coral Ridge Ministries. At "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2010-08-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link).
  23. Brian Fisher, "Accentuate the Positive," Impact, April 2008, Coral Ridge Ministries. At "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2010-08-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link).
  24. See Coral Ridge Ministries "Station Finder" at "Find a Christian Radio or TV Station: Coral Ridge Ministries". Archived from the original on 2010-08-26. Retrieved 2010-08-24..
  25. "Home - Center for Christian Leadership". statesman.org. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  26. "Milton Named President of D. James Kennedy Institute | byFaith". 8 October 2013.
  27. Kennedy, D. James (1997). Skeptics Answered. Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Books. p. 13, 14. ISBN 1-57673-148-0.
  28. Ostling, Richard N. (January 2, 2002). "Conservatives Tackle New Testament Debate". Associated Press.
  29. D. James Kennedy, Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States (Fort Lauderdale, Fla: Coral Ridge Ministries, 2004), 2.
  30. Eidsmoe, John (1987). Christianity and the Constitution: The Faith of Our Founding Fathers. USA: Baker Academic. ISBN 0801052319.
  31. "Megachurch pioneer D. James Kennedy dies at 76". USA Today. September 6, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
  32. Jerry Falwell, Falwell: An Autobiography (Lynchburg: Liberty House Publishers, 1997), 383. Cited in John Barber, America Restored (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: Coral Ridge Ministries, 2002), 31.
  33. Martin, William C. (2005). With God on our side : the rise of the religious right in America (Rev. trade paperback ed.). New York: Broadway Books. pp. 209. ISBN 0767922573. OCLC 61355677.
  34. Hyer, Marjorie (1981-01-30). "Evangelical Christians Meet to Develop Strategy for 1980s". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  35. Kennedy, D. James; Newcombe, Jerry (2008). How would Jesus vote? : a Christian perspective on the issues (1st ed.). Colorado Springs, Colo.: WaterBrook Press. pp. 195–96. ISBN 9781400074068. OCLC 154799972.
  36. "Dr. Kennedy Calls for Constitutional "Firewall" to Protect Marriage". 2003-11-19. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  37. Kennedy, D. James (2004). What's wrong with same-sex marriage?. Newcombe, Jerry. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books. pp. 11. ISBN 1581346638. OCLC 55665211.
  38. "In Contempt of Courts". 2005-04-15. Retrieved 2007-12-07. The article discusses how the director of Kennedy's lobbying front was strongly advocating for the bill at the conference. Even though Kennedy was not present, it is ultimately his organization.
  39. "Land Letter". Wikisource. Archived from the original on 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  40. D. James Kennedy, "Why Reclaiming America?' Message delivered in 2000 to the Reclaiming America for Christ conference, Coral Ridge Ministries. Available at 14:25 at "Media Library: Coral Ridge Ministries". Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2010-08-24..
  41. ^ D. James Kennedy: Who Is He And What Does He Want? Archived April 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Rob Boston, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, April 1999 citing Kennedy's 1994 book Character & Destiny: A Nation In Search of Its Soul
  42. "Closing the Gap Between Church and State," Terry Gross interview with D. James Kennedy, Fresh Air, May 18, 2005. Accessed at https://www.npr.org/2005/05/18/4656600/closing-the-gap-between-church-and-state.
  43. Excerpts from Lord of All, D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, Crossway Books, 2005
  44. Creation Defender D. James Kennedy Goes Home, Institute for Creation Research
  45. Solving Bible Mysteries, D. James Kennedy, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000
  46. What If Jesus Had Never Been Born, D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1994, revised 2001
  47. Truth In Action Ministries Archived 2011-12-27 at the Wayback Machine (formerly Coral Ridge Ministries) promotes and sells Creationism books and videos "Resources | Truth in Action Ministries". Archived from the original on 2011-12-27. Retrieved 2011-12-28.
  48. Fearfully And Wonderfully Made, Sermon by D. James Kennedy. The Coral Ridge Hour, August 2003.
  49. Forrest, Barbara; Gross, Paul R. (2004). Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design. USA: Oxford University Press. p. 271. ISBN 0-19-515742-7.
  50. The Republican War on Science Chris Mooney.
  51. C. L. Cagan and Robert Hymers (2006). From Darwin to Design, foreword by D. James Kennedy. Whitaker House, USA. ISBN 0-88368-122-6.
  52. ^ D. James Kennedy, "Ideas Have Consequences," Impact, August 2005, p. 8, Coral Ridge Ministries newsletter.
  53. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225927/http://archive.adl.org/nr/exeres/3e0340d2-b672-45c7-8ff1-10c9eed96f42,0b1623ca-d5a4-465d-a369-df6e8679cd9e,frameless.html "ADL Blasts Christian Supremacist TV Special & Book Blaming Darwin For Hitler" August 22, 2006. Retrieved May18, 2021.
  54. "ADL Blasts Christian Supremacist TV Special & Book Blaming Darwin For Hitler". Anti-Defamation League Press Release. 2006-08-22. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
  55. ^ "Coral Ridge Ministries and Orthodox Rabbi Reject Anti-Defamation League Attack on TV Special Linking Darwin to Hitler," Coral Ridge Ministries, August 24, 2006. Accessed 08-27-2010 at "Breaking News from Coral Ridge Ministries". Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2010-08-27..
  56. "Coral Ridge Ministries Answers Anti-Defamation League Blast Against New Darwin-Hitler TV Special". Coral Ridge Ministries Press Release. 2006-08-22. Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  57. "About Dr. James Kennedy".

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