Rev. D. James Kennedy Dies

Rev. D. James Kennedy, head of the Fort Lauderdale-based massive evangelical church, Coral Ridge Ministries, died in his sleep this morning at 76. He had retired as head pastor of Coral Ridge Ministries just last week.

Kennedy was one of the most notorious rabidly anti-gay fundamentalists in the nation, regularly ranting against gay rights in his weekly tv and radio shows, which reached millions. In 2004, he co-wrote a book called, What's Wrong With Same-Sex Marriage? Kennedy also produced a television documentary which claimed that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution influenced Adolf Hitler and caused the Holocaust. Two months ago, Kennedy sent 33,000 petitions to Congress to fight the Matthew Shepard Act.

Some choice quotes from Kennedy:

"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."

"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."

"Tolerance is the last virtue of a depraved society. When you have an immoral society that has blatantly, proudly, violated all of the commandments of God, there is one last virtue they insist upon: tolerance for their immorality."

"If you discuss atheism with an atheist, you are finding fault with that man and criticizing his views. You can’t separate the two. If you find fault with a thief and criticize his stealing, you are finding fault with him, not merely what he does. The same thing is true of a homosexual. You cannot have a rational discussion of the rightness or wrongness of homosexuality."

I have always found it interesting that before Kennedy became a fundie, he was a dance instructor. Ahem.