Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AUSCS, "Americans United" or simply AU) 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."
Though Kennedy has hosted Christian Reconstructionists Rousas John Rushdoony and Gary North on his program in the 1980s he has rejected attempts to link him to Reconstructionist or Dominionism movements. “I am not advocating a theocracy,” Kennedy states in
How Would Jesus Vote: A Christian Perspective on the Issues. “I would not have America reinstitute the Old Testament civil and legal systems to replace our governmental legislation.” He denounced in the late 1980s any attempts to link him to Reconstructionist or Dominionism movement as a McCarthyist technique of guilt by association, and said he does not approve of their theology. Critic Frederick Clarkson argues that despite his denial, Kennedy meets Clarkson's criteria for being a dominionist. In an interview with NPR's Terry Gross, host of the program "Fresh Air," Kennedy cast his objectives within a democratic framework. 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."
Darwin's Deadly Legacy
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a press release in 2006 strongly criticizing
Darwin's Deadly Legacy, a neo-creationist documentary produced by the Coral Ridge Ministries, which attempts to link evolution to Adolf Hitler:
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,".
Coral Ridge Ministries answered the ADL's criticisms in an August 22, 2006 press release stating that “ADL National Director Abe Foxman, who has not viewed our television program ignores the historical fact that Adolf Hitler was an evolutionist.” The release cited three sources for the assertion of a Darwin-Hitler connection. First, historian Richard Weikart, who said,
The release also cited a Hitler contemporary, Scottish anatomist and anthropologist Sir Arthur Keith, who wrote in the 1940s,
Finally, the release claimed that evolutionist Niles Eldredge “freely admits the link between Darwin and Hitler.” The release quoted Eldredge, a curator at the American Museum of Natural History, who wrote:
In a second release, Coral Ridge Ministries rejected the statement attributed to Francis Collins that he was misled and had "NO knowledge that Coral Ridge Ministries was planning a TV special on Darwin and Hitler":
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.'"
Official
- Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church website
- Coral Ridge Ministries website
- D. James Kennedy's Memorial Tribute website
- Center for Reclaiming America for Christ Kennedy's Political Action Center
- Truths That Transform daily radio broadcast on OnePlace.com
- D. James Kennedy legacy website
Critical
- D. James Kennedy: General Teachings/Activities from Biblical Discernment Ministries
- D. James Kennedy: Who is He? From the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State
Other
- PastorBlog compilation of links to tributes and more
James KennedyD. James Kennedy