The loss of another leading Christian in the conservative movement poses concerns for the older generation of evangelicals, at least for one who sees the US tipping at any moment either to the right or to the left.
"We're in a very critical time in our nation where the pendulum ... could swing in one of two directions," said Dr James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family and one of the most influential conservative evangelicals, this past week. "And so many of the things that we believe and have fought to defend are in question today."
Dobson made his comments last Thursday at the public funeral service honouring the life of Dr D James Kennedy, founder of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and Coral Ridge Ministries, who died last week age 76.
"What I will miss most from Jim Kennedy is his courage, his willingness to stand for the things that he believed," said Dobson, who said it was curious to him why God had chosen to take Kennedy when He did.
Kennedy's death follows that of many prominent, older evangelicals that have stood out as leaders defending biblical values and resonating the Word of God as absolute and inerrant. Widely respected Dr Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, and Dr Jerry Falwell, who rallied conservatives to the political arena, are a few of those who have recently passed away.
Other leaders who remain from that generation, including Chuck Colson, Pat Robertson and Billy Graham, are now at the point of having to pass the mantle down to the next generation.
"Many giants of the church are coming to the end of their journeys and are leaving this earth one by one," said Dobson, 71.
And now "the passing of Dr Kennedy "poses serious concerns about the future of the conservative Christian movement", he said, reading from what he had written last week when he heard news of Kennedy's death. "Its senior leadership is undergoing a dramatic and inevitable change at this time."
Kennedy has been described as a man of his time who came on to the scene as an evangelical after World War II and viewed the US as "a light on the hill", as Richard DeVos, co-founder of Amway Corporation and member of Coral Ridge Church, stated. Kennedy broadcast messages nationwide defending traditional family values, condemning abortion and rejecting evolution. His messages currently reach 3.5 million people through radio, television, the internet and print.
