Just Apologize, Dr. Dobson, and Move On

It may be too late, but if James Dobson would ask me what he should do (I’m actually in the business of giving this kind of advice to Christian leaders), I would recommend that he issue an apology now and not do any interviews on the judiciary for some time. He needs to let someone else take up that particular fight. He’s been disqualified for playing dirty.

I agree with Matt,who writes with me at Stones Cry Out. Despite the fact that Dobson is angry at the judiciary, his statement comparing robed judges to the Klu Klux Klan is unbefitting an evangelical leader and anyone who is seeking change, not colorful headlines.

Since I’ve been in the Focus on the Family broadcast booth, I know how the program is taped and repeatedly edited. This was not a slip on live radio. He or someone working with him should have recognized how repulsive it is to equate judges and racist murderers. It could have easily been edited from the program, without diminishing its effectiveness.

It is absurd to suggest that it is beneficial for religious spokesmen to resort to over-the-top rhetoric to communicate passion and gain visibility.

As I said in a post earlier this year when Dobson played hardball:

Evangelicals are dissatisfied and impatient with the spiritual direction of
the nation, as they should be. As Christians, we are called to preach, and bear
witness, and pray, and work for change. But we must guard against the error of
Abraham, who when impatient with progress on God’s promise of an heir, slept
with Hagar, the handmaiden. We struggle with the sons of Ishmael today.

As Christians, we have responsibility to remain active in the political
process. But cultural change will come from the inside, by the truth being
spoken in love, by the transformation of hearts and minds. Our Christian leaders
must resist the handmaiden of political seduction.

We gain not as Christians playing politics, but as politically engaged citizens living as Christians

Apologize, Dr. Dobson, and get back to focusing on the. . .well, on the family.

--James Jewell