I have pretty much agreed with most of what I have ever read of D. James Kennedy’s writings, and even made a concerted effort to attend one of his Sunday morning services in Fort Lauderdale when I was in Florida about ten years ago. It was quite an experience.
If nothing else (although there is much ‘else’), the man is a treasure because he is one Christian pastor who is not afraid to speak his mind from the pulpit as regards the world situation/politics. He is incomparably knowledgeable about the state of the world (especially the importance that Israel’s survival plays in both the past, and future, of mankind in general).
Too many modern American Christian pastors believe that it is outside of their sphere of influence to speak to their congregations about the (strong and immutable) connection between scripture and the current (sorry) state of the world. Such pastors are shirking one of their most sacred responsibilities. James Kennedy accepts that responsibility and runs with it.
At the same time, I bristle slightly at his comment, ‘Jefferson was not, in my opinion, a genuine Christian.’ I do not believe that anyone is capable of evaluating anyone else’s commitment to his or her religious beliefs. We may see someone else exhibiting behaviors which fly in the face of our own definition of Christianity (or whatever religion we are considering). But we all, no matter our profession of faith, many times behave outside of that profession (It’s the nature of the human animal.) Religion is a personal thing that should be displayed by our outward demeanor, but often is not. And classifying anyone else’s devotion to his religion as ‘existent’ or ‘not’ based on our own subjective view of his behaviors bespeaks a type of spiritual arrogance. Criticize the behavior; do not evaluate the source from which it springs. Christians are not required to fall into neat little classifications which have been concocted by other men.
Jefferson's 1802 letter to the Baptists in Danbury, Conn....
I wish Tom had never seen fit to write the infamous Danbury letter. That short, three-paragraph note simply provided the church/state separatists with convenient and powerful revisionist history fodder. They have somehow succeeded in broadening the Constitution to include the crummy letter (as if to intimate that it were obviously a natural extension of Constitutional ‘philosophy’).
BTW, in that very letter, Jefferson states: Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God; that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship makes me wonder why Dr. Kennedy would question Jefferson’s Christianity. It would appear that, since he relies on Jefferson’s broad wisdom to support the balance of his essay, he ought also to rely on Jefferson’s contention that a man’s religion is a matter which lies solely between the man and his God and refrain from commenting on the authenticity of Jefferson’s Christian faith. Even a man as devoted as Dr. Kennedy to advancing understanding of scripture, and applying its truths to the world around us, can’t expect to have it both ways.
I don't know whether Jefferson was a Christian or not. Only he knew that. I know he championed the free expression of religion. And his own words have been used to suppress that for which he fought.