Another dead Kennedy, but it’s not who you think
D. James Kennedy, a Florida-based televangelist Dominionist wingnut who is of no relation to our beloved Kennedy family, has died at the age of 76. I expected this, as he suffered a heart attack late last December. Kennedy is the founder of Religious Right organizations Center For Christian Statesmanship and the Reclaiming America For Christ Conference, both of which have disbanded since his heart attack. He was the pastor of Coral Ridge Ministries in Florida.
I don’t really wish death on anyone, even Kennedy, but it’s worth noting that if there is a god, hopefully he or she will treat Kennedy with the same respect he showed others; which is really none. Kennedy, like all Religious Right wingnuts, has made a living off of spreading homophobia, Dominionism, historical revisionism and, most of all, claims that the Holocaust was caused by the theory of evolution.
Here are some of his quotes, as documented in the Hall of Shame and in an article about him by Americans United For Separation of Church and State.
“Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors — in short, over every aspect and institution of human society.”
“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. It was Darwin’s theory — carried to its logical conclusion — that led to the death of nine million people in Nazi Germany.”
“Christians did not start the culture war but…we are going to end it. That is a fact, and the Bible assures us of victory.”
“Not all the educators in our public schools and universities are deliberately deceitful, not all of them want to destroy this nation, but many do. The major teachers’ unions certainly do.”
“But the fact is, the United States of America was conceived and brought forth by Christians, and history tells us that story in no uncertain terms….Anyone who reads about the values upon which this nation was founded understands perfectly well that this was, from the start, a Christian nation.”
“Just a few years ago, there were as many as ten thousand Communist professors in American universities. The average person never saw any of them, and many would doubt the truth of that statistic. But I can assure you it is true.”
“Modern secularists and agnostics do not want to admit that the Christian religion is true, because that would mean that they are sinners; and they have no intention of giving up their right to sin.”
“Teachers in many of our public schools have acceded to the policies of the liberal teachers’ unions to make sure that students from kindergarten through high school will be stripped of any sense of moral or ethical absolutes. Right and wrong are non-issues in our public schools.”
“Every new advance and every step taken by science confirm not evolution but the Genesis account of creation. Yet evolution still continues to be taught as fact….Thus, the honorable place that had been given to human beings by God is surreptitiously aborted, and they are dragged down into the slime.”
“If we are committed and involved in taking back the nation for Christian moral values, and if we are willing to risk the scorn of the secular media and the bureaucracy that stand against us, there is no doubt we can witness the dismantling of not just the Berlin Wall but the even more diabolical ‘wall of separation’ that has led to increasing secularization, godlessness, immorality, and corruption in our country.”
“God forbid that we who were born into the blessings of a Christian America should let our patrimony slip like sand through our fingers and leave to our children the bleached bones of a godless secular society. But whatever the outcome, one thing is certain: God has called us to engage the enemy in this culture war. That is our challenge today.”
“This is our land. This is our world. This is our heritage, and with God’s help, we shall reclaim this nation for Jesus Christ. And no power on earth can stop us.”
“How much more forcefully can I say it? The time has come, and it is long overdue, when Christians and conservatives and all men and women who believe in the birthright of freedom must rise up and reclaim America for Jesus Christ.”
Oh, and the Religious Right is still not dead. Jerry Falwell, Rousas John Rushdoony, Bill Bright and now D. James Kennedy may all be deceased, but leaders and organizations come and go. The Religious Right will be around for a long time, and they must be fought and stopped every step of the way.
Is it just me or does it seem there’s a whole lot of evangelists dying recently? Or should I say, a whole lot of evangelists being smote by the Flying Spaghetti Monster for their blasphemy.