:en:D. James Kennedy

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.{{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 }} 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.

File:Bethel Presbyterian Church.jpg

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.Hedges, Chris, American Fascists – The Christian Right and the War on America, New York, Free Press, 2006 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,{{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}} receiving a Master of Divinity degree three years later.{{cite news | title= Powerful pastor D. James Kennedy dead at 76. | date= September 5, 2007 | newspaper=South Florida Sun-Sentinel | 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 }} 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.{{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}} His doctoral dissertation was on the history of an evangelism program he founded.{{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}} Kennedy said that he earned the Ph.D. degree "to dispel the idea there is an inconsistency between evangelism and education ... evangelical ministers [need] to be thoroughly educated and equipped to meet on equal terms anyone with whom they come in contact."

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.

{{main|Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church}}

File:Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States.jpg, Fort Lauderdale, Florida]]

Kennedy preached his first sermon at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale in June 1959.{{Cite web|url=http://www.crpc.org/1959-1966|title=History of Coral Ridge {{!}} 1959-1966|date=17 August 2020 }} 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.{{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}} 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.{{cite news|last=Davis|first=James D.|title=Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church chooses pastor|work=South Florida Sun-Sentinel|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}}

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.{{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 }} 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.Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy statement, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida (August 26, 2007). 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.{{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}}

Kennedy died in his sleep at home in the early morning hours of September 5, 2007, aged 76.{{cite news | title= D. James Kennedy, influential Christian broadcaster, retires | date=August 26, 2007 | newspaper= St. Petersburg Times|url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SOU_KENNEDY_RETIREMENT_FLOL-?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME }}[http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/09/dr_d_james_kennedy_dead_at_age.php Dr. D. James Kennedy dead at age 76] 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 }}[http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-djkennedydead0905,0,4390768.story Powerful pastor D. James Kennedy dead at 76] {{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 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".{{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}} 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."{{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}}

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.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 }}.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 }}. 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.)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 }}. 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.{{Cite web|url=http://statesman.org/|title=Home - Center for Christian Leadership|website=statesman.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-21}}

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.{{cite web |url=http://byfaithonline.com/milton-named-president-of-d-james-kennedy-institute/ |title=Milton Named President of D. James Kennedy Institute | byFaith |date=8 October 2013 }}

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."{{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}} 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{{by whom|date=May 2019}} 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.{{Cite news|title=Conservatives Tackle New Testament Debate|last=Ostling|first=Richard N.|date=January 2, 2002|agency=Associated Press}}

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.D. James Kennedy, Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States (Fort Lauderdale, Fla: Coral Ridge Ministries, 2004), 2. Kennedy wrote the foreword to the 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution: The Faith of Our Founding Fathers authored by law professor John Eidsmoe.{{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 }}

Kennedy was a founding member of the board of Moral Majority, a political movement in the late 1970s and 1980s.{{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}}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. 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."{{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=[https://archive.org/details/withgodonourside00will/page/209 209]|oclc=61355677|url=https://archive.org/details/withgodonourside00will/page/209}}

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."{{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}}

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. "[M]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."{{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=[https://archive.org/details/howwouldjesusvot0000kenn/page/195 195–96]|oclc=154799972|url=https://archive.org/details/howwouldjesusvot0000kenn/page/195}}

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"{{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}} and urged "conversion for homosexuals who want to change, through the power of Jesus Christ".{{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=[https://archive.org/details/whatswrongwithsa0000kenn/page/11 11]|oclc=55665211|url=https://archive.org/details/whatswrongwithsa0000kenn/page/11}} 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.{{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}}

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.{{cite web |url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Land_letter |title=Land Letter |access-date=2007-04-28 |work=Wikisource |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018052406/http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Land_letter |archive-date=2007-10-18 }} 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."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 }}.

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.""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.

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.[http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2007/US/528_d_james_kennedy_dies_9_5_2007.asp D. James Kennedy dies] {{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[http://www.au.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5936&abbr=cs_ D. James Kennedy: Who Is He And What Does He Want?] {{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[http://www.gnpcb.org/assets/products/excerpts/1581346778.1.pdf Excerpts from Lord of All], D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, Crossway Books, 2005[http://www.icr.org/article/3468/ Creation Defender D. James Kennedy Goes Home], Institute for Creation ResearchSolving Bible Mysteries, D. James Kennedy, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000What If Jesus Had Never Been Born, D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1994, revised 2001[http://www.truthinaction.org Truth In Action Ministries] {{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 | 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 }}[http://www.coralridge.org/medialibrary.asp?mediaId=2144 Fearfully And Wonderfully Made]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Sermon by D. James Kennedy. The Coral Ridge Hour, August 2003.{{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 = [https://archive.org/details/creationismstroj00forr/page/271 271] | url = https://archive.org/details/creationismstroj00forr/page/271 }}[http://www.waronscience.com/excerpt.php?p=4 The Republican War on Science] Chris Mooney.C. L. Cagan and Robert Hymers (2006). From Darwin to Design, foreword by D. James Kennedy. Whitaker House, USA. {{ISBN|0-88368-122-6}}.

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."D. James Kennedy, "Ideas Have Consequences," Impact, August 2005, p. 8, Coral Ridge Ministries newsletter. 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: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.

{{blockquote|text=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".{{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 = Anti-Defamation League Press Release}}{{Dead link|date=November 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} In a release,"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 }}. 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.

Coral Ridge Ministries answered other parts of the ADL's criticisms in an August 22, 2006 press release,{{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}} 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.

Kennedy wrote 65 books,{{Cite web|url=https://www.djameskennedy.org/about|title=Celebrating Over Forty Years of Broadcasting}} including Evangelism Explosion (a primer on communicating the Christian salvation message with 1.5 million copies in print),{{Cite web|url=https://waterbrookmultnomah.com/authors/2005489/dr-james-kennedy/|title=About Dr. James Kennedy}}{{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}}

{{Reflist}}

{{wikiquote|James Kennedy (televangelist)}}

• [http://www.crpc.org Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church website]
• [http://www.evangelismexplosion.org Evangelism Explosion International website]
• [http://www.truthinaction.org/ Truth in Action Ministries (formerly Coral Ridge Ministries) website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227121221/http://www.truthinaction.org/ |date=2011-12-27 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060213175143/http://www.reclaimamerica.org/ Center for Reclaiming America for Christ] Kennedy's political action center (archived from 2006)
• {{IMDb name|0447977}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080704181447/http://www.djameskennedy.org/media.aspx D. James Kennedy legacy website]

{{Portalbar|Biography|Georgia (U.S. state)|Florida}}

{{Alliance Defending Freedom}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, D. James}}

Category:1930 births

Category:2007 deaths

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers

Category:20th-century American Presbyterian ministers

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers

Category:Alliance Defending Freedom people

Category:American anti-abortion activists

Category:American anti-same-sex-marriage activists

Category:American Calvinist and Reformed theologians

Category:American Christian creationists

Category:American evangelicals

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:American sermon writers

Category:American television evangelists

Category:Christian apologists

Category:Christian fundamentalists

Category:Columbia Theological Seminary alumni

Category:Dominion theology

Category:Intelligent design advocates

Category:New York University alumni

Category:People from Augusta, Georgia

Category:Presbyterian Church in America ministers

Category:Presbyterian Church in the United States members

Category:Presbyterian Church in the United States ministers

Category:Presbyterians from Florida

category:Presbyterian writers

Category:Writers from Florida