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April 11, 2005

Dobson Needs a Timeout

I take a backseat to no one in my crticism of the erratic Andrew Sullivan, but he has zeroed in on a quote by James Dobson that is simply inexcusable. I reiterate that I find Sullivan to be quite nauseating these days, but these are Dobson's own words:

I heard a minister the other day talking about the great injustice and evil of the men in white robes, the Ku Klux Klan, that roamed the country in the South and they did great wrong to civil rights to and to morality and now we have black-robed men.

This is absurd. I fully believe the judiciary to be out of control, but to compare it to the Ku Klux Klan is rhetorical nonsense. I might not be surprised if a Republican said this, though I would be disappointed. No serious intellectual conservative would say this. And lastly, for a Christian to make such an accusation is really low. This is where I have a problem with Dr. Dobson. He knows full well that he is speaking for millions of evangelicals, including those (like myself) who never fully agreed to his position of leadership. Nevertheless he has that authority, and I would argue that he is making very, very poor use of it. Until a wiser, more sane leader is willing to lovingly yet firmly criticize Dobson's rhetoric, evangelicals will be deserving of every overblown media stereotype.

I recieved an e-mail from a reader a few weeks ago questioning why I included Dobson as an evangelical leader in the vein of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. I never replied to the reader, and my apologies for that, but my reasoning is clear: In the public's eye, Dobson is a Christian leader the same as Falwell or Robertson. That he is not a minister or televangelist is beside the point.

As I said above, I have no use for this sort of rhetoric coming from a Republican or a movement conservative. But to come from a Christian is even worse. Dobson needs to make up his mind; either he speaks as man of faith or a Republican. Christians can be Republicans, no dobut, but to use political rhetoric while speaking as a leader of Christians is over the top. Calling Patrick Leahy, a sorry Senator, to be sure, a "God's people-hater" was bad enough. This new business is strike two. Here's hoping Dr. Dobson calls a timeout before we reach strike three.

And finally, if the judiciary is so evil, Dr. Dobson, where were you while Terri Schiavo was starving to death and only Jesse Jackson would stand by her side?

Posted by Matt at April 11, 2005 06:27 PM

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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Dobson Needs a Timeout:

» Re: when you may have gone too far(2)... from The Unalienable Right
...when you compare the courts to the Ku Klux Klan: Matt at the Stones Cry Out blog says "Dobson Needs a Timeout" Evidently (via Andrew Sullivan) Dr. James Dobson said, I heard a minister the other day talking about the great injustice and e... [Read More]

Tracked on April 11, 2005 11:20 PM

» White Robes vs. Black Robes from Notes & Musings
Matt at Stones Cry Out criticizes this quote by Dr. James Dobson: >I heard a minister the other day talking about the great injustice and evil of the men in white robes, the Ku Klux Klan, that roamed the country in the South and they did great wrong... [Read More]

Tracked on April 12, 2005 09:20 AM

» Thirty Three Things From This Fool's Paradise from the evangelical outpost
1. "The information age is strewn with verbal (not to mention visual) litter. I'm thinking about the proliferation of words that computers and other media allow us to generate and disseminate so easily that words become cheap and the wonder... [Read More]

Tracked on April 13, 2005 02:30 AM

» Don't speak for me Dr. Dobson from Dignan's 75 Year Plan
I am horrified that he would make such an intemperate comment. I'm rather disturbed about some of the decisions that our courts have made, but to equate our judiciary with the Klan is a blatant scare tactic. How is this any different that comparisons... [Read More]

Tracked on April 13, 2005 09:40 AM

» Thirty Three Things From This Fool's Paradise from the evangelical outpost
1. "The information age is strewn with verbal (not to mention visual) litter. I'm thinking about the proliferation of words that computers and other media allow us to generate and disseminate so easily that words become cheap and the wonder... [Read More]

Tracked on April 20, 2005 02:16 AM

Comments

You wrote:
"And finally, if the judiciary is so evil, Dr. Dobson, where were you while Terri Schiavo was starving to death and only Jesse Jackson would stand by her side?"

If I recall correctly, Dr. Dobson was on the Focus on the Family radio program and on several TV programs, such as Larry King Live!, shouting from the housetops about the judicial homicide going down in Woodside Hospice.

Or would you rather he have been in St. Pete talking to the reporters for the mainstream media that were so thoroughly misrepresenting everything about Terri's execution for the crime of being unable to feed herself?

Posted by: gospelmidi at April 12, 2005 02:28 AM

Posted by: Rev. Thomas Scott Painter R-FL sov. at April 12, 2005 10:27 AM

Was Dobson's statement ill advised? Perhaps. However, I will tell you plainly that Constitution raping judicial activists could lay the groundwork for persecution that would rival the Klan's any day.

Posted by: tgharris at April 12, 2005 01:18 PM