Statement On the Death of The Rev. Dr. James Kennedy

[dude]

Statement On the Death of

The Rev. Dr. James Kennedy

by the Moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches

"Any fair analysis of Dr. Kennedy's legacy must

consider his vision of radical separation based on

gender, sexual orientation, creed and custom in light of the

Gospel and Jesus' own practices of radical inclusion," says MCC leader.

Remarks by

Rev. Elder Nancy L. Wilson

MCC Moderator

September 5, 2007

The passing of any life is worthy of reflection. So it is with The Rev. Dr. D. James Kennedy, a leading opponent of legal equality for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, who died peacefully today with his wife and daughter at his side.

One of the founders of the "Religious Right" movement in the United States, Rev. Kennedy served as senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for 48 years, and was founder of the recently closed Center for Reclaiming America, a Christian supremacist institute that offered leadership training to members of the U.S. Congress, promoted creationism and a narrow view of religious liberty and opposed choice and equal civil rights for LGBT people.

I am grateful he had a peaceful death, and I join my voice with those who will be offering condolences to his family, his friends and his more than 10,000 congregants. I call upon the friends and members of Metropolitan Community Churches across the globe to pray that each one might find some peace of heart in their time of grief and loss.

I also call on people of conscience and goodwill everywhere to remember that peace of heart and peace among peoples were two things Rev. Kennedy regularly, and sadly, denied to many of our fellow citizens and global neighbors. As an originating author of the Land Letter to President Bush in October of 2002, Rev. Kennedy helped craft the rationale behind the invasion of Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Americans alike have endured anything but peace as a result.

As a leading proponent of the so-called "ex-gay" movement and an outspoken critic of legislation that would outlaw discrimination, Rev. Kennedy's weekly television and radio broadcasts, spread a message of animosity to more than three million households in the United States and to people in 165 nations. "Christians did not start the culture war," he said, "but...we are going to fight it. That is a fact, and the Bible assures us of victory."

This particular fight for "victory" will be a sad legacy of Rev. Kennedy's ministry. His work demonized countless thousands of our brothers and sisters who believe in the separation of church and state, the value of cultivating and celebrating diversity, the right of public schools to present curriculum that is scientifically sustainable, the equality of women, and the human rights of God's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children.

"God forbid that we who were born into the blessings of a Christian America should let our patrimony slip through our fingers and leave to our children the bleached bones of a godless, secular society," he wrote. Gay people, he said, were orchestrating "the most dangerous attack on marriage the world has ever seen."

Many will hail James Kennedy as a visionary for his use of mass media in spreading his message, but any fair analysis of his legacy must also consider his vision of radical separation based on gender, sexual orientation, creed and custom in light of the Gospel and Jesus' own practices of radical inclusion.

Though it is tempting in death to remember only the good things people have done, it is a dangerous temptation. As The Rev. Durrell Watkins, Senior Pastor-elect of Sunshine Cathedral Metropolitan Community Church in Fort Lauderdale, the closest MCC congregation to Dr. Kennedy's Coral Ridge church -- and perhaps among those who suffered most directly from his anti-gay pronouncements -- reflected, "That Dr. Kennedy was a strong leader cannot be questioned; yet we must also recognize that his vitriolic rhetoric against same-gender loving people caused needless suffering in our society. While we wish comfort to those who mourn, we also wish for a day when religion doesn't promote division, hatred and prejudice."

In short, we wish and work for peace.

May this moment serve as our common call to prayer that the Holy Spirit will raise up a new generation of spiritual leaders -- leaders who will repudiate the needless scapegoating that only divides us from one another. Let us pray that we, as a community of faith, may have the integrity necessary to avoid demonizing those with whom we disagree, preferring instead, as Jesus before us, to sit at table together, where understanding takes place.

The world is changing. Pray that the Church Universal will be in the vanguard of that movement for change and for peace.

/signed/

+Nancy

The Reverend Nancy L. Wilson

Moderator

Metropolitan Community Churches

www.MCCchurch.org

NOTE: This statement prepared in conjunction with the Moderator's Global Justice Team of Metropolitan Community Churches, Rev. Pat Bumgardner, Chair, and Rev. Durrell Watkins, Senior Pastor-elect of Sunshine Cathedral Metropolitan Community Church.

___________________________________________

James N. Birkitt, MCC Communications Director

Los Angeles, California (USA)

Tel. (310) 625-4177

E-Mail: info@MCCchurch.net

Web: www.MCCchurch.org

[EleCivil]

Wow. I didn't know Dr. D. James Kennedy had died. Along with Jerry Falwell, D. James Kennedy was one of my Dad's heroes.

Good article.

[Trab]

Good article, and mostly good news. However, one sentence bugs me, but maybe I'm reading more negativism into it than is justified. "Let us pray that we, as a community of faith, may have the integrity necessary to avoid demonizing those with whom we disagree, preferring instead, as Jesus before us, to sit at table together, where understanding takes place." I read this as there still being disagreement, only frowning on the excessiveness of Kennedy.

[Graeme]

Good article, and mostly good news. However, one sentence bugs me, but maybe I'm reading more negativism into it than is justified. "Let us pray that we, as a community of faith, may have the integrity necessary to avoid demonizing those with whom we disagree, preferring instead, as Jesus before us, to sit at table together, where understanding takes place." I read this as there still being disagreement, only frowning on the excessiveness of Kennedy.

There will always be disagreements. Just think of our own community here at AD. There are things we disagree about, but it's done amicably and with the knowledge that just because someone disagrees with us, that doesn't make their opinion any less worthwhile.

Disagreements don't have to promote division.

[JamesSavik]

1. There is a culture war.

2. A-holes like this declared it.

3. One of their stated strategies, in a memo leaked in 1987, for winning was to allow AIDS to run its course and wipe them out.

4. If you don't wear the scars of this war, then you are fortunate.

5. No one gets to pick their war. You either do what it takes to win it or die. Don't blame me, I don't make the rules.

It's f-ing war, one of the enemies most effective leaders is dead. I'm glad that he's dead and I hope that he roasts in hell. To me there is no difference between this asshole and Goring, Himmler, Hess or Eichmann...

I come not to softball the enemy but to bury him. Least you think that I am an extremist, they have tried to bury you.

[colinian]

Good article, and mostly good news. However, one sentence bugs me, but maybe I'm reading more negativism into it than is justified. "Let us pray that we, as a community of faith, may have the integrity necessary to avoid demonizing those with whom we disagree, preferring instead, as Jesus before us, to sit at table together, where understanding takes place." I read this as there still being disagreement, only frowning on the excessiveness of Kennedy.

There will always be disagreements. Just think of our own community here at AD. There are things we disagree about, but it's done amicably and with the knowledge that just because someone disagrees with us, that doesn't make their opinion any less worthwhile.

Disagreements don't have to promote division.

The problem is that Dr. Kennedy wasn't willing to sit at any table together with anyone who disagreed with him and his homophobic messages of hate. May he burn in hell. (Sorry James, but "roast in hell" is just to soft and pleasant sounding for the likes of Dr. Kennedy.)

Colin