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I am not a Reverend. I’m not a minister. I’m not a theologian. I’m not an evangelist. I’m a psychologist. I have a PhD in Child Development from the University of Southern California...
[James Dobson, radio broadcast, 2008.06.24, transcribed by Pondering Pastor].
No kidding, Jim.
Oh, why stop there. Dobson has this exchange with his co-host [emphasis mine]:
Co-Host: “And you remember more recently that he quoted the Sermon on the Mount, cited the Sermon on the Mount as justifying same-sex marriage. So it seems that he is vastly confused about details of Biblical exposition, yet he’s painting himself in this highly religious aura.”
Dr. Dobson: “And then says, go read the Bible. Go read the Bible, I mean as though he is some kind of Biblical authority."
Pot, meet Kettle.
Interestingly, Dobson says he only just found out about Obama's 2006 speech to Jim Wallis's "Call to Renewal" group. Really? A potential Democratic nominee delivers a seminal speech on religion and progressive politics to an audience of key opponents of Dobson's right-wingery. The religion of the speaker becomes fodder for all sorts of questions and controversy as the primary season gets going, offering great motivation for interested individuals to dig up what the speaker has previously said about religion. Yet it takes two years for that speech to ping on the Focus on the Family radar? Wow -- maybe the Colorado Springs Caliphate really isn't ready to counter an inspired and surging Religious Left.
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Update 2008.06.25 08:25CDT: Jim Wallis was in the seats for Obama's speech two years ago. Wallis calls Dobson on his own deliberate distoritions and speculates on the real reason Dobson has launched this barely coherent deceptive attack on Obama:
Older Religious Right leaders are now being passed by a new generation of young evangelicals who believe that poverty, “creation care” of the environment, human trafficking, human rights, pandemic diseases like HIV/AIDS, and the fundamental issues of war and peace are also “religious” and “moral” issues and now a part of a much wider and deeper agenda. That new evangelical agenda is a deep threat to James Dobson and the power wielded by the Religious Right for so long.
Dobson needs to get back to focusing on the family, since American politics is about to leave him behind.
I have never had a lot of respect for Dr. Dobson. I have never read any of his works, and have only heard his radio program on and off. However, a friend from college went to the Focus on the Family Institute for the program they had there, and when she returned she told me an interesting story. One day, as the students were witnessing a recording of one of the Doctor's shows, the guest was talking and made an interesting point/revelation. At that point, Doctor Dobson stopped tape, and they re-recorded the segment with Dr. Dobson making the interesting point....all in front of these college kids! Well, once I heard this story, I decided that Doctor Dobson, who probably does love the Lord, didn't seem too much like a man of honor or worth respecting.
ReplyDeleteI am not calling the guy fake, but...... he does seem rather duplicitous.
"Religious Left?" Uh-oh.
ReplyDelete