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* Kennedy seeks to "reclaim America for Christ" in which government policies and laws would be consistent with evangelical Christianity. Many of his public messages on this topic focus on his assertion that the Founding Fathers of America were Christian and had intended to establish a Christian constitution. * Kennedy seeks to "reclaim America for Christ" in which government policies and laws would be consistent with evangelical Christianity. Many of his public messages on this topic focus on his assertion that the Founding Fathers of America were Christian and had intended to establish a Christian constitution.
* Kennedy was a notable member of the ] polical movement in the 1970s and '80s. * Kennedy was a notable member of the ] polical movement in the 1970s and '80s.
* Kennedy is critical of groups such as the ] and the ], working with such people as Sproul and ] against Catholicism and Ron Carlson against Freemasonry. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}


==Criticism and controversy== ==Criticism and controversy==

Revision as of 12:27, 28 August 2007

Dennis James Kennedy
BornNovember 3, 1930
Augusta, Georgia
SpouseAnne
ChildrenJennifer Kennedy Cassidy
ChurchPresbyterian Church in America
Congregations servedCoral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Dennis James Kennedy, Ph.D., born (1930-11-03) November 3, 1930 (age 94), in Augusta, Georgia, is the founder and former head pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, and founder of Coral Ridge Ministries, a US$37-million-a-year non-profit corporation with an audience of 3.5 million that he founded in 1974. His weekly television program, The Coral Ridge Hour, is carried on various networks and syndicated on numerous other stations. His daily radio program, Truths That Transform, is heard across radio stations in the United States and is available as a podcast on the program's website.

His retirement due to health issues was announced on August 26, 2007.

Biography

Template:Dominionism Kennedy is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, having transferred his membership there in the late 1970s from the Presbyterian Church in the United States. He is considered a conservative evangelical minister who is often involved in political activities within the Christian right and has been identified as a leader of the Dominionism movement. He has written 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 United States was founded as a Christian nation. Critics contend that he is excessively conservative on certain politically charged topics such as abortion and homosexuality. Kennedy ran The D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Statesmanship, an evangelical ministry on Capitol Hill. The Center awards a "Distinguished Christian Statesman Award" annually to high profile Christian political leaders. Past recipients include Tom DeLay, Sam Brownback and John Ashcroft. In April 2007 the Center shut down and was reopened two weeks later as "Evangelism Explosion International."

According to his official biography he earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Tampa, a Master of Divinity from Columbia Theological Seminary, a Master of Theology from Chicago Graduate School of Theology (an unaccredited institution), and a Ph.D. from New York University. His Ph.D. was in religious education, with a dissertation on the history of an evangelism program he founded.

His theological works include Why I Believe, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born, Skeptics Answered, and Truths That Transform. He also developed the Evangelism Explosion (EE) method of evangelism and holds to a traditional Calvinist theology. He has also worked with other Christian ministers such as R.C. Sproul, a faculty member at the Knox Theological Seminary which Kennedy founded.

In 2006, the National Religious Broadcasters association inducted Kennedy into their Hall of Fame.

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. In February, 1974, the church's present sanctuary was dedicated by Billy Graham. The large Fratelli Rufatti pipe organ has 117 ranks of pipes and is regularly featured on the television programs of Diane Bish.

In 1974, 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 Trinity Broadcasting Network and the NRB Network, and is broadcast to more than 150 countries on the Armed Forces Network.

The church's address is 5555 N. Federal Hwy, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33308.

Retirement

Kennedy suffered a heart attack at his Ft. Lauderdale home on December 28, 2006, depriving his brain of oxygen for eight minutes, resulting in loss of short-term memory. Despite several months of rehabilitation and convalescence, he was unable to resume preaching and his retirement was announced on Sunday, August 26, 2007, at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church by his daughter, Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

Notable issues and views

  • Same-sex marriage: Kennedy is strongly opposed to same-sex marriage and calls for a constitutional "Firewall" to protect the nation from "counterfeit marriage."
  • Apologetics: Kennedy has frequently claimed that if Christianity is not true then it is a massive fraud and hoax perpetrated by evil men bent on making the world a place where Christ'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.
  • 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.
  • Creation-evolution controversy: Kennedy is a Young Earth Creationist and supporter of intelligent design who rejects the theory of evolution and believes that it "led to the death of nine million people in Nazi Germany.... The greatest mass murderers of all time all compliments of evolution." , 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 Discovery Institute Fellow Richard Weikart. The Discovery Institute is the hub of the intelligent design movement, and the Institute's Fellows are frequent Coral Ridge Ministries guest speakers. Phillip E. Johnson, considered the father of the movement was a featured speaker at Coral Ridge Ministries' 1999 Reclaiming America for Christ Conference. There he gave a speech called How the Evolution Debate Can Be Won which was widely promoted by the Ministries' Truths that Transform.
  • Kennedy was a co-signer of the "Land Letter" sent to President Bush in October 2002 which outlined a "just war" rationale for the military invasion of Iraq.
  • Kennedy seeks to "reclaim America for Christ" in which government policies and laws would be consistent with evangelical Christianity. Many of his public messages on this topic focus on his assertion that the Founding Fathers of America were Christian and had intended to establish a Christian constitution.
  • Kennedy was a notable member of the Moral Majority polical movement in the 1970s and '80s.

Criticism and controversy

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AUSCS), 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." AUSCS also says that "Kennedy's ministry has always promoted right-wing politics," and "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." 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 PBS stations from airing a 'homosexual-propaganda program' called It's Elementary."

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has strongly criticized the neo-creationist documentary produced by the Coral Ridge Ministries "Darwin's Deadly Legacy," which attempts to link evolution to 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 scientist Francis Collins, 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,". Coral Ridge Ministries described the ADL's criticisms in a press release as "harsh" and "unfounded" while reiterating points made in the documentary, along with citing Scottish anatomist and anthropologist Sir Arthur Keith who the center cites as saying in the 1940's, "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". Furthermore, Daniel Lapin, a Jewish Orthodox rabbi, issued a statement criticizing the ADL for what he claims was a miscategorization of Jewish opinion, and said "...the ADL, though filled with good intent, is utterly, completely clueless." Also, the center released a statement concerning the ADL's quote of Dr. Francis Collins saying he was misled in the documentary, saying that he signed a "Talent release," giving the center rights to use his statements, and denying that Collins had "NO knowledge that Coral Ridge Ministries was planning a TV special on Darwin and Hitler" as the ADL put it.

Kennedy has also hosted Christian Reconstructionists Rousas John Rushdoony and Gary North on his program. However, he denounced any attempts to link him to Reconstructionist movement as a McCarthyist technique of guilt by association, and that he does not approve of their theology. Dominionism represents the political theory which springs from Christian Reconstructionism. Frederick Clarkson argues that despite his denial, Kennedy meets the criteria for being a dominionist.

References

  1. ^ "D. James Kennedy, influential Christian broadcaster, retires". St. Petersburg Times. August 26, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. Goldberg, Michelle (2006). Kingdom Come: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-32976. Roy Moore and Rick Scarborough are Baptists, D. James Kennedy is a fundamentalist Presbyterian, and John Edismoe is a Lutheran. All of them, however, have been shaped by dominion theology..."
    "As a multimedia empire, Coral Ridge Ministries is one of the country's most important popularizers of dominion theology     {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |chapterurl= (help)
  3. "The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party", TheocracyWatch, Last updated: December 2005; URL accessed May 25, 2006.
  4. Lampman, Jane. "For evangelicals, a bid to 'reclaim America'". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2007-04-28. Frederick Clarkson, author of "Eternal Hostility: the Struggle between Theocracy and Democracy," says that if Kennedy is not a theocrat, "he is certainly a dominionist," one who supports taking over and dominating the political process.
  5. Moser, Bob. "The Crusaders: Christian evangelicals are plotting to remake America in their own image". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-04-28. The godfather of the Dominionists is D. James Kennedy, the most influential evangelical you've never heard of.
  6. Center for Christian Statesmanship reopens on Capitol Hill Allie Martin. OneNewsNow.com, May 16, 2007.
  7. Evangelism Explosion International
  8. Council on Higher Education Accreditation
  9. "About Dr. D. James Kennedy". Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  10. Kennedy, D. James. "THE GENESIS, DEVELOPMENT, AND EXPANSION OF EVANGELISM EXPLOSION INTERNATIONAL, 1960-1976". DAI. 40: 1381. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |issues= ignored (help)
  11. "D. James Kennedy Retires From Ministry". Associated Press. 2007-08-27. Retrieved 2007-08-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. "Dr. Kennedy Calls for Constitutional "Firewall" to Protect Marriage". 2003-11-19. Retrieved 2007-04-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. Intelligent Design: Creationism's Trojan Horse Barbara Forrest. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Feb 2005.
  14. The Republican War on Science Chris Mooney.
  15. From Darwin to Design C. L. Cagan and Robert Hymers. Foreward by D. James Kennedy.
  16. Fearfully And Wonderfully Made D. James Kennedy. The Coral Ridge Hour, August 2003.
  17. Coral Ridge Ministries promotes and sells intelligent design books and DVDsCoral Ridge Ministries Media Resources
  18. "Impact Newsletter". 2005. Retrieved 2007-04-28. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  19. The Dover Monkey Trial Chris Mooney. Seed Magazinem October 1, 2005.
  20. Father of Intelligent Design Kim Minugh. Sacramento Bee, May 11, 2006.
  21. Reclaim America .org
  22. How the Evolution Debate Can Be Won Phillip Johnson. Truths that Transform.
  23. "Land Letter". Wikisource. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  24. Boston, Rob (April 1999). "D. James Kennedy: Who Is He And What Does He Want?". Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
  25. "ADL Blasts Christian Supremacist TV Special & Book Blaming Darwin For Hitler". Anti-Defamation League Press Release. August 22, 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
  26. "Darwin's Deadly Legacy: The Chilling Impact of Darwin's Theory of Evolution". Coral Ridge Ministries. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
  27. "ADL Blasts Christian Supremacist TV Special & Book Blaming Darwin For Hitler". Anti-Defamation League Press Release. August 22, 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
  28. "Coral Ridge Ministries Answers Anti-Defamation League Blast Against New Darwin-Hitler TV Special". Coral Ridge Ministries Press Release. August 23, 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
  29. Lapin, Daniel (August 25, 2006). "Which Jews does the ADL really represent?". WorldNetDaily. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
  30. "Coral Ridge Ministries and Orthodox Rabbi Reject Anti-Defamation League Attack on TV Special Linking Darwin to Hitler". ChristianNewsWire. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
  31. Shupe, Anson (1989-04-12). "Prophets of a Biblical America". Wall Street Journal. p. A14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  32. Kennedy, D. James (1989-05-03). "Letter to the Editor 3". Wall Street Journal. p. A19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  33. Goldberg, op cit
  34. Clarkson, Frederick (Winter 2005). "The Rise of Dominionism: Remaking America as a Christian Nation". PublicEye.org. Retrieved 2007-04-28. 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.

External links

Official

Critical

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