James Dobson | |
|---|---|
 Dobson in 2013 | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | James Clayton Dobson Jr. (1936-04-21)April 21, 1936 Shreveport, Louisiana, United States |
| Died | August 21, 2025(2025-08-21) (aged 89) Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Notable work(s) | Marriage Under Fire |
| Education | Point Loma Nazarene University (BA) University of Southern California (MA,PhD) |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Evangelical Christian |
| Founder of | |
| Website | www |
James Clayton Dobson Jr.[a] (April 21, 1936 – August 21, 2025) was an Americanevangelical Christian author, psychologist and founder ofFocus on the Family (FotF), which he led from 1977 until 2010. In the 1980s, he was ranked as one of the most influential spokesmen forconservative social positions in American public life.[1] Although never anordained minister, he was called "the nation's most influential evangelical leader" byThe New York Times whileSlate portrayed him as being a successor to evangelical leadersJerry Falwell andPat Robertson.[2][3][4]
As part of his former role in the organization he produced the daily radio programFocus on the Family, which the organization has said was broadcast in more than a dozen languages and on over 7,000 stations worldwide, and reportedly heard daily by more than 220 million people in 164 countries.Focus on the Family was also carried by about 60 U.S. television stations daily.[5] In 2010, he launched the radio broadcastFamily Talk with Dr. James Dobson.[6][7]
Dobson advocated for "family values"—the instruction of children inheterosexuality and traditionalgender roles, which he believed are mandated by theBible. The goal of this was to promote heterosexual marriage, which he viewed as a cornerstone of civilization that was to be protected from his perceived dangers offeminism and theLGBTQ rights movement. Dobson sought to equip his audience to fight in the Americanculture war, which he called the "Civil War of Values".
His writing career began as an assistant toPaul Popenoe. After Dobson's rise to prominence through promotingcorporal punishment of disobedient children in the 1970s, he became a founder ofpurity culture in the 1990s. He promoted his ideas via his various Focus on the Family affiliated organizations, theFamily Research Council which he founded in 1981,Family Policy Alliance which he founded in 2004, the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute which he founded in 2010, and a network of US state-based lobbying organizations calledFamily Policy Councils.
James Clayton Dobson Jr. was born to Myrtle Georgia (née Dillingham) and James C. Dobson Sr. on April 21, 1936, inShreveport, Louisiana.[8][9][10] From his earliest childhood, religion played a central part in his life. He once told a reporter that he learned to pray before he learned to talk, and says he gave his life toJesus at the age of three, in response to an altar call by his father.[11] He was the son, grandson, and great-grandson ofChurch of the Nazarene ministers.[12]
His parents were traveling evangelists; as a child, Dobson often stayed with family members while his parents were out traveling.[13] Like most Nazarenes, they forbade dancing and going to movies. Young Jimmie Lee, as he was called, concentrated on his studies.[14] As a teenager, he was rebellious, though he eventually found a close relationship with his father.[13]
Dobson's mother was intolerant of "sassiness" and would strike her child with whatever object came to hand, including a shoe or belt; she once gave Dobson a "massive blow" with agirdle outfitted with straps and buckles.[15][16] Dobson studied academic psychology and came to believe that he was being called to become a Christian counselor or perhaps a Christian psychologist.[11] He attended Pasadena College (nowPoint Loma Nazarene University) as an undergraduate, where he met his wife, Shirley, and served as captain of the school's tennis team. Dobson graduated in 1958, served in the National Guard for six months, and began working atChildren's Hospital Los Angeles.[17][18][19] In 1967, Dobson received his doctorate in psychology from theUniversity of Southern California inLos Angeles.[20]
In 1967, he became an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at theUniversity of Southern California School of Medicine for 14 years.[20] At USC he was exposed to troubled youth and thecounterculture of the 1960s. He found it "a distressing time to be so young" because society offered him no moral absolutes he felt he could rely upon.Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War was blossoming into a widespread rejection of authority, which Dobson viewed as "a sudden disintegration of moral and ethical principles" among Americans his age and the younger people he saw in clinical practice. This convinced him that "the institution of the family was disintegrating."[21]
Based on these experiences, in 1970 Dobson publishedDare to Discipline. The book encouraged parents to assert their authority over their children, particularly by corporal punishment. Dobson saw children as rebellious and inherently sinful and believed a rejection of authority to be the source of societal problems.[13] He wrote that "Respect for leadership is the glue that holds social organization together. Without it there is chaos, violence, and insecurity for everyone."[22]
He spent 17 years on the staff of the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles in the Division of Child Development and Medical Genetics. For a time, Dobson worked as an assistant toPaul Popenoe and counselor at Popenoe's Institute of Family Relations, amarriage-counseling center, inLos Angeles.[23][24] Popenoe counseled couples on the importance of same-race marriage and adherence to gender norms for the purpose ofeugenics. Under Popenoe, Dobson published about male-female differences and the dangers of feminism.[25] When theAmerican Psychological Association de-pathologized homosexuality by removing it from their list ofmental disorders in 1973, Dobson resigned from the organization in protest.[26] In 1976, he took a sabbatical from USC and Children's Hospital; he never returned.
With funding from a Christian publisher, he began to broadcast his ideas on the radio and in public lectures. Saying that he feared to repeat the mistakes of his own absentee father by being away on the lecture circuit, Dobson video recorded and distributed his lectures. He sent a representative around the country to solicit funding from evangelical businessmen and distribute the videos. A video about absent fathers titledWhere's Dad? had 100 million views by the early 1980s.[27]
In 1977, he foundedFocus on the Family.[28] He grew the organization into a multimedia empire by the mid-1990s, including 10 radio programs, 11 magazines, numerous videos, and basketball camps, and program offaxing suggested sermon topics and bulletin fillers to thousands of churches every week.[29] In 1995, the organization's budget was more than $100 million annually.[30]
Before becoming famous for the radio ministry, he created the "Focus on the Family Film Series" released in 1978[31] based on his Family Life seminars.
Jimmy Carter organized a White House Conference on Families in 1979–1980 that explicitly included a "diversity of families" with various structures.[32] Dobson objected to this, believing that only his preferred notion of the traditional family—one headed by a male breadwinner married to a female caregiver—should be endorsed by the conference. He also objected to the fact that he was not invited to the planning for the event. At Dobson's urging, his listeners wrote 80,000 letters to the White House asking for Dobson to be invited, which he eventually was. This demonstrated to Dobson his power to rally his followers for political ends.[33]
Beginning in 1980, Dobson built networks of political activists and founded lobbying organizations that advocated against LGBTQ rights and opposed legal abortion, among other socially conservative policy goals. He nurtured relationships with conservative politicians, such asRonald Reagan. He was among the founders ofFamily Research Council in 1981, a federal lobbying organization classified as a hate group, andFamily Policy Councils that lobby at the level of state government. When Focus on the Family moved toColorado Springs in 1991, the city started to be called "theVatican of theReligious Right" with Dobson imagined as an evangelical pope.[34]
Focus on the Family established anex-gay program calledLove Won Out in 1998. The program promotedconversion therapy, the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to make gay people straight. Dobson increased his promotion of Love Won Out in 2000 upon discovering that opposition to gay marriage was helping the Christian Right gain members and voters.[35] State-level affiliates of FotF drafted gay marriage bans in several states, starting withNebraska Initiative 416 in 2000.[36] Dobson broadcast that gay marriage was turning children from faithful Christian homes against God. His arguments caused large evangelical turnouts in support of the gay marriage prohibitions, resulting in defense of marriage amendments to thirty U.S. state constitutions.[37]
Dobson stepped down as president and CEO of Focus on the Family in 2003, and resigned from the position of chairman of the board in February 2009.[38] Dobson explained his departure as twofold: firstly, to allow a smooth transfer of leadership to the next generation, and in this case, toJim Daly whom he directly appointed as his replacement. And secondly, because he and Daly had divergent views on policy, "especially when it comes to confronting those who would weaken the family and undermine our faith."[39] After he stepped down, Focus on the Family hired an orthodoxy expert to maintain Dobson's message.[40] Free to become more explicitly political without imperiling Focus on the Family's tax exemptions, Dobson rededicated himself primarily to lobbying instead of advice to families. While Daly attempted to appeal to a new generation of evangelicals with softened messages on abortion and homosexuality, Dobson remained hard-line. Focus on the Family removed archives of Dobson's writing from their headquarters and website.[41]
Dobson interviewedserial killerTed Bundy on-camera the day before Bundy's execution on January 24, 1989. The interview became controversial because Bundy was given an opportunity to attempt to explain his actions (therape andmurder of 30 young women). Bundy claimed in the interview (in a reversal of his previous stance) that violentpornography played a significant role in molding and crystallizing his fantasies. In May 1989, during an interview with John Tanner, a RepublicanFlorida prosecutor, Dobson called for Bundy to be forgiven. The Bundy tapes gave Focus on the Family revenues of over $1 million, $600,000 of which it donated toanti-pornography groups and to anti-abortion groups.[42][43]
In 2004, Dobson foundedFamily Policy Alliance, a lobbying arm of his media empire. With a more permissive tax status than Focus on the Family, it was allowed to directly fundraise for political campaigns.[44] The Alliance also coordinates the action of Dobson's network of state-based Family Policy Councils. Together, these organizations seek to encode traditionalgender roles into public policy and law.[45] They considerLGBTQ rights to be a threatening "agenda".[46]
Throughout its existence, Dobson has attacked thePresident's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a US government program to fight AIDS worldwide. In 2006, he said that "80 percent of this money is going toward terrible programs that are immoral as well as ineffective. For example, to promote condom distribution, people associated with these government programs have dressed up like condoms and created ceramic sculptures of male genitalia."[47] He renewed his attack in 2023, falsely claiming that PEPFAR funds abortions.[48] Focus on the Family received a grant of $49,505 through PEPFAR in 2017 to operate anabstinence-only purity pledge program.[49]
In 2010, Dobson founded the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute,[50] a non-profit organization that produces his radio program,Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk. He stepped away from leadership of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute in 2022, naming Joe Waresak the new president. He continued to broadcast his radio show.[51]
Dobson frequently appeared as a guest on theFox News Channel.[52]
Dobson and Shirley Deere were married on August 26, 1960. The couple had two children.[53] Dobson turned control of some of Focus on the Family's youth-oriented magazine titles over to his son Ryan Dobson in 2009.[54] He gave his daughter a golden key necklace as a gift when she voiced her commitment to sexual purity at age ten. He encouraged other parents to give similar gifts.[55]
Dobson died at his home inColorado Springs, Colorado, on August 21, 2025, at the age of 89.[10][56]
At the invitation of Presidents and Attorneys General,[57] Dobson has also served on government advisory panels and testified at several government hearings. He was given the "Layman of the Year" award by theNational Association of Evangelicals in 1982, "The Children's Friend" honor by Childhelp USA (an advocate agency againstchild abuse) in 1987, and the Humanitarian Award by the California Psychological Association in 1988. In 2005, Dobson received an honorary doctorate fromIndiana Wesleyan University and was inducted into IWU'sSociety of World Changers, while speaking at the university's Academic Convocation.[58][5]
In 2008, Dobson'sFocus on the Family program was inducted into theNational Radio Hall of Fame to controversy from secular listeners opposed to Dobson's views, along with those supporting LGBTQ rights.[59][60][61][62][63][64]
James Dobson was a strong proponent of marriage defined as "one where husband and wife are lawfully married, are committed to each other for life", and have ahomemaker mother andbreadwinner father.[65] According to his view, women are not deemed inferior to men because both are created in God's image, but each gender has biblically mandated roles.[66][non-primary source needed] He recommended that married women with children under the age of 18 focus on mothering, rather than work outside the home.[67]
Dobson could be said to have viewed marriage as a transaction in which women exchange sex for protection:[68]
The natural sex appeal of girls serves as their primary source of bargaining power in the game of life. In exchange for feminine affection and love, a man accepts a girl as his lifetime responsibility—supplying her needs and caring for her welfare. This sexual aspect of the marital agreement can hardly be denied.[68]
— James Dobson,Dare to Discipline (1970)
He advised wives to use their social and sexual skills to coerce their husbands into becoming good partners. By doing this, according to Dobson, women would transform male lust into love, and male destructive impulses into useful accomplishments. He regarded heterosexual marriage as the cornerstone of civilization, as women fulfilled their role of civilizing their husbands.[68][69]
In his 2004 bookMarriage Under Fire, Dobson suggested that heterosexual marriage rates in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden was falling due to the recognition ofsame-sex relationships by those countries during the 1990s. He remarked that the "institution of marriage in those countries is rapidly dying" as a result, with most young peoplecohabiting or choosing to remain single (living alone) and illegitimacy rates rising in some Norwegian counties up to 80%.[70]
Dobson wrote that "every civilization in the world" had been built upon marriage.[71] He also believed that homosexuality was neither a choice nor genetic, but was caused by external factors during early childhood.[72] He anecdotally cited as evidence the life of actressAnne Heche,[73][74] who was previously in a relationship withEllen DeGeneres. Criticizing "the realities of judicial tyranny", Dobson wrote that "[t]here is no issue today that is more significant to our culture than the defense of the family. Not even the war on terror eclipses it."[75]
Focus on the Family supports[76]private schoolvouchers andtax credits for religious schools. According to the Focus on the Family website, Dobson believed that parents were ultimately responsible for their children's education, and encourages parents to visit their children's schools to ask questions and to join thePTA so that they may voice their opinions.[77] Dobson opposedsex education curricula that are notabstinence-only.[78][79]
According toPeople for the American Way, Focus on the Family material has been used to challenge a book or curriculum taught in public schools.[57] Critics, such as People for the American Way, allege that Focus on the Family encourages Christian teachers to establish prayer groups in public schools.[57][80] Dobson supportedstudent-led prayer inpublic schools,[57] and believed that allowing student-led Christian prayer in schools did not violate theFirst Amendment to the United States Constitution.[81]
In his bookDare to Discipline, Dobson advocated thespanking of children as young as fifteen months and up to eight years old when they misbehave, using switches or belts kept on the child's dresser as a reminder of authority.[82] In Dobson's opinion, parents must uphold their authority and do so consistently.[83] Dobson said corporal punishment should end with the child asking for forgiveness and receiving a hug.[84] After the spanking, he believed in having a "heart to heart" talk with a child, which provided an opportunity to re-bond and express love to the child.[85] ThoughDare to Discipline was not overtly political, Dobson considered his parenting techniques to be the solution to the social unrest of the 1960s. The book was a rebuttal toBenjamin Spock, whose parenting ideas were more permissive.[82][86] By returning to the authoritarian parenting style popular in prior eras, Dobson hoped to preserve order, obedience, and social hierarchy. The book quickly sold over two million copies, establishing Dobson as a trusted authority among parents bewildered by the rapid changes of the era.[87][88][25]
InThe Strong-Willed Child, Dobson drew an analogy between the defiance of a family pet and that of a small child, and concludes that "just as surely as a dog will occasionally challenge the authority of his leaders, so will a little child—only more so."[89]The Strong-Willed Child says that if authority is portrayed correctly to a child, the child will understand how to interact with other authority figures:
By learning to yield to the loving authority... of his parents, a child learns to submit to other forms of authority which will confront him later in his life—his teachers, school principal, police, neighbors and employers.[90]
If allowed to challenge parental authority, Dobson says, children would challenge God's authority when they grew older. Hence, rebellion must be punished to protect the child'ssalvation. Believing that "pain is a marvelous purifier", Dobson recommended corporal punishment as the most effective way to keep the child subordinate to adults. He believed the parent should model bothdivine mercy andwrath to prepare theinherently sinful child for a relationship with God.[91] Dobson warned of the dire consequences of failing to discipline one's children: "Eli, the priest, permitted his sons to desecrate the temple. All three were put to death."[92]
He warned against "harsh spanking", as he found it unnecessary to beat a child into submission.[83] In a 1997 book, he warns that "discipline must not be harsh and destructive to the child's spirit."[93] Dobson considers disciplining children to be a necessary but unpleasant part of raising children which should only be carried out by qualified parents:
Anyone who has everabused a child—or has ever felt himself losing control during a spanking—should not expose the child to that tragedy. Anyone who has a violent temper that at times becomes unmanageable should not use that approach. Anyone who secretly 'enjoys' the administration of corporal punishment should not be the one to implement it.[94]
When asked "How long do you think a child should be allowed to cry after being punished? Is there a limit?" Dobson responded:
Yes, I believe there should be a limit. As long as the tears represent a genuine release of emotion, they should be permitted to fall. But crying quickly changes from inner sobbing to an expression of protest... Real crying usually lasts two minutes or less but may continue for five. After that point, the child is merely complaining, and the change can be recognized in the tone and intensity of his voice. I would require him to stop the protest crying, usually by offering him a little more of whatever caused the original tears. In younger children, crying can easily be stopped by getting them interested in something else.[95]
Sociologists John Bartkowski and Christopher Ellison have stated that Dobson's views "diverge sharply from those recommended by contemporary mainstream experts" and are not based on any sort ofempirical testing, but rather are nothing more than expressions of his religious doctrines of "biblical literalism and 'authority-mindedness.'"[96] In the 1980s,Penelope Leach wrote that Dobson's approach was ineffective because, rather than establishing parental authority, spanking only communicates parental frustration and weakness.[97]
Although childrearing experts have discredited corporal punishment, Dobson did not change his views. In 2015, he wrote that, when spanking fails to make a child obey, the problem may be that the parent is not hitting hard enough or frequently enough.[98]
In the winter of 2004–2005, theWe Are Family Foundation sent American elementary schools approximately 60,000 copies of a freeDVD using popular cartoon characters (especiallySpongeBob SquarePants) to "promote tolerance and diversity".[99] Dobson contended thattolerance anddiversity were "buzzwords" that the We Are Family Foundation misused as part of a"hidden agenda" to promote homosexuality.[100] Kate Zernik pointed out Dobson asserting: "tolerance and its first cousin, diversity, 'are almost always buzzwords for homosexual advocacy.'"[101] He said on the Focus on the Family website that "childhood symbols are apparently being hijacked to promote an agenda that involves teaching homosexualpropaganda to children."[102] He offered as evidence the association of many leading LGBTQ rights organizations, includingGLAAD,GLSEN,HRC, andPFLAG, with the We Are Family Foundation as shown by links which he claims once existed on their website.[103][104]
The We Are Family Foundation countered that Dobson had mistaken their organization with "an unrelated Web site belonging to another group called 'We Are Family', which supports gay youth."[105] Dobson countered:
I want to be clear: the We Are Family Foundation—the organization that sponsored the video featuring SpongeBob and the other characters was, until this flap occurred, making available a variety of explicitly pro-homosexual materials on its Web site. It has since endeavored to hide that fact, but my concerns are as legitimate today as they were when I first expressed them in January.[103]
In September 2005, Tolerance.org published a follow-up message advertising the DVD's continued availability, including We Are Family Foundation president Nancy Hunt's speculation that many of the DVDs may be "still sitting in boxes, unused, because of Dobson's vitriolic attack".[100]
In Dobson's view, homosexuality results from influences in a child'senvironment rather than an inborn trait. He said that homosexual behavior, specifically "unwanted same-sex attraction", has been and can be "overcome" through understanding developmental models for homosexuality and choosing to heal the complex developmental issues which led to same-sex attraction.[74]
Focus on the Family ministry sponsored[76] the monthly conferenceLove Won Out, where participants hear "powerful stories ofex-gay men and women".[72]Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG) protested against the conference in Orlando, questioning both itsmethodology and supposed success.[106] In regards to the conference, Dobson stated that
Gay activists come with preconceived notions about who we are and what we believe and about the hate that boils from within, which is simply not true. Regardless of what the media might say, Focus on the Family has no interest in promoting hatred toward homosexuals or anyone else. We also don't wish to deprive them of their basic constitutional rights. The Constitution applies to all of us.[107]
Dobson strongly opposed the movement to legitimize same-sex marriages.[108] In his bookBringing Up Boys, Dobson stated,
[T]he disorder is not typically 'chosen.' Homosexuals deeply resent being told that they selected this same-sex inclination in pursuit of sexual excitement or some other motive. It is unfair, and I don't blame them for being irritated by that assumption. Who among us would knowingly choose a path that would result in alienation from family, rejection by friends, disdain from the heterosexual world, exposure to sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis, and even a shorter lifespan?[109]
Critics have stated that Dobson's views on homosexuality do not represent themainstream views of the mental health community, with Dan Gilgoff referring to the positions of theAmerican Psychiatric Association and theAmerican Psychological Association on homosexuality.[110][111] SociologistJudith Stacey criticized Dobson for claiming that sociological studies show that gay couples do not make good parents. She stated that Dobson's claim "is a direct misrepresentation of my research".[112]
Dobson objected to a bill expanding the prohibition ofsexual orientation-based discrimination in the areas of "public accommodation, housing practices,family planning services and twenty other areas". He said that, were such a bill passed, public businesses could no longer separate locker rooms and bathrooms by gender, which he claimed would lead to a situation where "every woman and little girl will have to fear that apredator,bisexual,cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence".[113][114]
In 2017, Dobson was among the first to sign theNashville Statement, written by theCouncil on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.[115] The statement specifies conservative evangelical views on gender roles and sexuality, condemningLGBTQ-affirming Christians: "We affirm that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness."[116]
In 2012, in a broadcast titled "A Nation Shaken by theSandy Hook Tragedy", Dobson said that the mass shooting was a judgment by God because of American acceptance of gay marriage and legal abortion.[117] Similarly, Dobson said the2019 El Paso shooting and mass shootings in general happen because "the LGBTQ movement is closing in on the God-inspired and established institution of the family."[118]
Early in his career, Dobson appeared to accept abortion. He wrote a forward for a 1973 book,Sex is a Parent Affair, that takes a nonjudgmental stance toward abortion because "the Bible is silent on the subject" except for some interpretations ofExodus 21:22–23 which "may indicate a developing embryo or fetus was not regarded as a full human being". In general, the evangelical movement did not speak much about abortion until the 1980s.[119]
Starting in the 1980s, Dobson became a major force in theanti-abortion movement.[120] His message centered upon biblically moral mothers who sacrificed for their children; he chastised unmarried mothers or "rebellious", believing pregnancy to be a sacred duty. He broadcast interviews with women who kept pregnancies because their trust in God overcame their own emotions and desires.[121] Dobson contended that abortion invites women to reject God, diverts women from their natural role as mothers, and prevents more Christians from coming into the world. Ending abortion, in his view, would redeem society by binding women to their divine role.[122] Focus on the Family and its allied lobbying organizations are among the US's most powerful advocates for restrictions on abortion access.
Dobson viewed thegender binary as fundamental to humanity; he believed God created men and women to differ "in every cell of their bodies".[123] Thecomplementary differences make them well-suited totraditional gender roles.[124] "Males and females differ biochemically, anatomically, and emotionally", according to Dobson. Men like to "hunt and fish and hike in the wilderness" while women prefer to "stay at home and wait for them". Because men have a fragile ego and women are emotionally vulnerable, "men derive self-esteem by being respected; women feel worthy when they are loved." Men and women are obligated to adhere to the "time-honored roles of protector and protected".[125] The effects of hormonal differences, he argues, make women more suited for the home.[126]
Dobson argued that confused gender relationships in a household result in homosexuality if a child displaces their sexual feelings onto the same-sex parent. Hence, parents should model a romance-like relationship with their opposite-sex child, according to Dobson, with the ultimate goal of steering the child toward heterosexual marriage as an adult.[124]
Dobson encouraged "daddy–daughter dating" in which fathers and daughters set aside time for special activities together. Because he believed heterosexuality must be cultivated, Dobson intended these romanticized attachments to model proper heterosexual partnership to girls age six or younger.[127] An employee of Dobson's created the firstpurity ball—a father-daughter dance event promoting female chastity—in 1998. Dobson promoted the purity balls on his radio show.[128] Along with other fundamentalist figures such asBilly Graham, Dobson is considered a founder ofpurity culture, a Christian subculture in which sexual immorality by women or LGBTQ people is considered a national threat.[129]
Dobson consideredtransgender people a threat, writing in 2016 that "a married man with any gumption" would defend his wife's privacy in the bathroom from "a strange-looking man, dressed like a woman".[130] He also considered feminists a threat because they question the natural leadership of men. In his 1975 bookWhat Wives Wish Their Husbands Knew About Women he denounces the "feminist propaganda" ofstrong female characters in movies, complaining when men are shown as inferior to a "confident superchick".[131][132]
In response to a 1997 article inWorld magazine claiming that theNew International Version of the Bible was going to be printed withgender-neutral language, Dobson called a meeting at Focus on the Family headquarters of influential men in the religious publishing business. The group drafted theColorado Springs Guidelines, which require Bible translations to usemale-default language such asthe wordman to designate the human race.[133][134][135][unreliable source?] As a result, plans for the gender-neutral Bible version were halted. When Dobson discovered his ownOdyssey Bible used gender-neutral language, he discontinued it and offered refunds.[134] According toWorld, Dobson's 1997 meeting eventually led to the publication of theEnglish Standard Version in 2001, which avoids gender-neutral language.[136] Along with over a hundred other evangelical figures, in 2002 Dobson opposed publication ofToday's New International Version because of the "political correctness" of the translation and the publisher's rejection of the Colorado Springs Guidelines.[137][135]
Dobson's social and political opinions were widely read among many evangelical church congregations in the United States, and he accrued substantial influence in theRepublican Party.[138] Among other conservative causes, his lobbying significantly contributed to numerous state-level bans on same-sex marriage.[139]
Dobson's books oncorporal punishment helped to legitimize the practice, providing it with theological grounding for Christian readers. When opposition to physical discipline became widespread in the 1980s and 1990s in American society, conservative Protestants emerged as perhaps the most ardent remaining supporters of corporal punishment. This support was bolstered by "authority-centered" parenting techniques advised in Dobson's books.[15]
Dobson frequently cautioned parents to use corporal punishment in a limited way. TheologianDonald Eric Capps and psychologist Adah Maurer argued in the 1990s that, in practice, parents frequently use indiscriminate violence against children. They argue Dobson's work provides parents with self-serving theological rationalizations for their violent outbursts. Capps and Maurer conclude that the popularity of corporal punishment in this era damaged children in ways that may last into adulthood.[15]
Throughout his career at Focus on the Family, Dobson argued forgender role instruction. He believed that gender and sexuality were not fixed from birth, but required careful cultivation. He sought to provide boys with outlets for their natural aggression, and to teach girls how to develop romantic partnerships, which they use to channel and refine male destructive impulses into civilized behavior. Thus thefeminist andLGBTQ rights movements, because they seek to disturb gender roles, are a threat not only to family harmony but to national strength.[140] To preserve pious gender roles, Dobson distributed Christian-targeted psychological advice. His daily radio programFocus on the Family was (according to his organization) broadcast in more than a dozen languages and on over 7,000 stations worldwide, and reportedly heard daily by more than 220 million people in 164 countries.[5][57]
During the 1960s and 1970s effort to legalize abortion, journalism often reported the plight of women in need of abortion, such asSherri Finkbine. Dobson, together withFrancis Schaeffer and others, shifted the public conversation away from the suffering of women, toward the suffering of the fetus and the selfishness of women who seek abortion.[120]
Through his books and broadcasts, Dobson sought to prepare parents to fight in the Americanculture wars, a conflict in which Dobson described that "parents of faith are at war with culture"[141] and which he labeled a "Civil War of Values".[142] Dobson wielded significant influence over parents and politically conservative Christians, and, in the 1990s, a reportedly significant segment of this dedicated following were women who worked inside the home.[141]
Around two thousand radio stations aired Dobson's program to an audience of six to ten million by the early 2000s. With over two million addresses on his mailing list, his organization launched a publishing house.Richard Land called him "the most influential evangelical leader in America" at that time, saying his influence was comparable toBilly Graham in the 1960s and 1970s.[143]
He was a founder ofpurity culture, a nationwide chastity movement through which he significantly shaped American attitudes about sex and gender,[144] andAlliance Defending Freedom.[145][146] Dobson was a member of theCouncil on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. He supported the evangelical men's parachurch organizationPromise Keepers and contributed to their 1994 bookThe Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper.[68]
Dobson chose to exercise political influence behind the scenes, as a "political fixer".[147] It may have helped him maintain his credibility with his audience. He never ran for office or acted as the public head of a primarily political organization.[148]
Starting in 1980, Dobson built a network of conservative activists.[34] In 1981, he founded theFamily Research Council as a political arm through which "social conservative causes" could achieve greater political influence.[149] Dobson was appointed byU.S. President Ronald Reagan to theNational Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in 1982, where he served for two years.[150][151] Through the 1980s, he coordinated the creation ofFamily Policy Councils in most US states, lobbying organizations that act on the level of state politics.[152]
By the 1990s, Dobson had amassed a sizable network of conservative politicians, many of whom he met with regularly.[141] Beginning in the same decade, Dobson and his vast activist organization helped pass state-level bans on gay marriage across the US.[152] His top legislative goal was prohibiting gay marriage at the federal level, with a constitutional amendment. In 2005, he told his biographer "my greatest concern is for the relentless attack by homosexual activists who are determined to destroy the institution of marriage."[153]
Dobson was an ally of JudgeRoy Moore starting in the early 1990s.[154] He rallied his audience in support of the judge in 1997[26] and again in 2003[155] because of the Moore's refusal to remove aTen Commandments display from theAlabama Judicial Building. Viewing Moore as "a man of proven character and integrity" Dobson endorsed Moore's political campaigns until 2017,[154] when allegations came to light of Moore's sexual misconduct toward teen girls.
In late 2004, Dobson led a campaign to block the appointment ofArlen Specter to head of theSenate Judiciary Committee because of Specter'spro-abortion rights stance.[156] Responding to a question byFox News personalityAlan Colmes on whether he wanted theRepublican Party to be known as a "big-tent party", he replied, "I don't want to be in the big tent ... I think the party ought to stand for something."[52] In 2006, Focus on the Family spent more than a half million dollars to promote aconstitutional amendment to bansame-sex marriage in its home state ofColorado.[157]
Dobson founded a fundraising and lobbying arm of FotF called Focus on the Family Action, now calledFamily Policy Alliance. As a501(c)(4) organization, it faces fewer IRS restrictions on political activity than FotF. In the organization's first six months of existence, it raised nearly nine million dollars in support of six Republican candidates for competitiveUS Senate seats. All six won their races.[44] A May 2005 article byChris Hedges inHarper's Magazine described Dobson as "perhaps the most powerful figure in theDominionist movement" and "a crucial player in getting out the Christian vote forGeorge W. Bush".[158]
In November 2004, Dobson was described by the online magazineSlate as "America's most influential evangelical leader".[4] The article stated "ForgetJerry Falwell andPat Robertson, who in their dotage have marginalized themselves with gaffes ... Dobson is now America's most influential evangelical leader, with a following reportedly greater than that of either Falwell or Robertson at his peak ... Dobson may have delivered Bush his victories inOhio andFlorida."[4] Further, "He's already leveraging his new power. When a thank-you call came from theWhite House, Dobson issued the staffer a blunt warning that Bush "needs to be more aggressive" about pressing thereligious right'santi-abortion, anti-gay rights agenda, or it would "pay a price in four years". Dobson sometimes complained that the Republican Party may take the votes ofsocial conservatives for granted, and has suggested that evangelicals may withhold support from the GOP if the party does not more strongly support conservative family issues.[57]
However, in 2006, Dobson said that, while "there is disillusionment out there with Republicans" and "that worries me greatly", he nonetheless suggested voters turn out and vote Republican in 2006.[159] "My first inclination was to sit this one out", but according toThe New York Times, Dobson then added that "he had changed his mind when he looked at who would become the leaders ofCongressional committees if theDemocrats took over."[149]
Dobson garnered national media attention once again in February 2008 after releasing a statement in the wake of SenatorJohn McCain's expected success in the so-called "Super Tuesday" Republicanprimary elections. In his statement, Dobson said: "I cannot, and will not, vote for Senator John McCain, as a matter of conscience", and indicated that he would refrain from voting altogether if McCain were to become the Republican candidate, echoing other conservative commentators' concerns about the Senator's conservatism.[160] He endorsedMike Huckabee for president.[161] After McCain selected an anti-abortion candidate,Sarah Palin, as his running mate, Dobson said that he was more enthusiastic in his support for the Republican ticket.[162] When Palin's17-year-old daughter's pregnancy was revealed, Dobson issued a press release commending Palin's stance, saying,
We have always encouraged the parents to love and support their children and always advised the girls to see their pregnancies through, even though there will of course be challenges along the way. That is what the Palins are doing, and they should be commended once again for not just talking about their pro-life and pro-family values, but living them out even in the midst of trying circumstances.[163]
On June 24, 2008, Dobson criticized statements made by U.S. presidential candidateBarack Obama in Obama's 2006 "Call to Renewal" address. Dobson said that Obama was "distorting the traditional understanding of theBible to fit his own world view".[164][165] On October 23, 2008, Dobson published a "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America" that proposed that an Obama presidency could lead to: mandated homosexual teachings across all schools; the banning of firearms in entire states; the end of theBoy Scouts,home schooling, Christian school groups, Christian adoption agencies, andtalk radio;pornography on prime-time and daytime television; mandatory bonuses for gay soldiers;terrorist attacks across America; thenuclear bombing ofTel Aviv; the conquering of most ofEastern Europe byRussia; the end ofhealth care for Americans over 80; out-of-controlgasoline prices; and complete economic disaster in the United States, among other catastrophes.[166] In the days after the2008 presidential election, Dobson stated on his radio program that he was mourning the Obama election, claiming that Obama supportedinfanticide, would be responsible for the deaths of millions of unborn children, and was "going to appoint the mostliberal justices to theSupreme Court, perhaps, that we've ever had".[167][168]
Dobson supportedintelligent design and spoke at conferences on the subject frequently criticizingevolution.[169] In 2007, he was one of 25 evangelicals who called for the ouster ofRichard Cizik from his position at theNational Association of Evangelicals because Cizik had taken a stance urging evangelicals to takeglobal warming seriously.[170]
On June 13, 2007, theNational Right to Life Committee oustedColorado Right to Life after the latter ran a full-page ad criticizing Dobson.[171][172] On May 30, 2010, Dobson delivered the pre-race invocation at theNASCARCoca-Cola 600 automobile race, raising criticism about his association with a sport associated with sponsors and activities which would not meet his definition offamily-friendly.[173][174]
At aNational Day of Prayer event in theU.S. Capitol, Dobson calledBarack Obama "the abortion president". He said, "President Obama, before he was elected, made it very clear that he wanted to be the abortion president. He didn't make any bones about it. This is something that he really was going to promote and support, and he has done that, and in a sense he is the abortion president." Among others, Rep.Janice Hahn complained because Dobson used the National Day of Prayer for partisan purposes. She said, "Dobson just blew a hole into this idea of being a nonpartisan National Day of Prayer. It was very disturbing to me ... and really a shame. James Dobson hijacked the National Day of Prayer—this nonpartisan, nonpolitical National Day of Prayer—to promote his own distorted political agenda."[175]
Dobson endorsedTed Cruz in the2016 Republican primaries[176] as well as Trump in thegeneral election againstHillary Clinton.[177] In 2016, Dobson was one of theTrump Administration's evangelical faith advisors.[178] In 2020, Dobson worked alongside other conservative evangelicals and evangelical organizations, includingJim Daly andFocus on the Family, to support thereelection of President Donald Trump.[179] He echoed his support of Trump throughout theimpeachment proceedings earlier that year.[180]
Dobson praised the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court caseDobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overruledRoe v. Wade andPlanned Parenthood v. Casey, saying, "Praise God! We have just received the news for which we have been praying and working!"[181]
Dobson andCharles Colson participated in a 2000 conference at theVatican on the global economy's impact on families. During the conference, the twoProtestants met withPope John Paul II. Dobson later told theCatholic News Service that although he had theological differences withRoman Catholicism, "when it comes to the family, there is far more agreement than disagreement, and with regard to moral issues from abortion to premarital sex, safe-sex ideology and homosexuality, I find more in common with Catholics than with some of my evangelical brothers and sisters."[182]
In November 2009, Dobson signed an ecumenical statement known as theManhattan Declaration calling on evangelicals, Catholics andEastern Orthodox Christians not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters that go against their religious consciences.[183]
U.S. Surgeon GeneralC. Everett Koop, a fellow evangelical Christian who wanted Dobson as an ally in his battle to stem theAIDS crisis, was deeply disappointed when Dobson embraced pseudoscientific and homophobic claims about AIDS. "The Christian activity in reference to AIDS of bothD. James Kennedy and Jim Dobson is reprehensible", Koop said in 1989. He viewed the AIDS crisis as "an opportunity for Christian service" which Dobson was squandering.[184]
In her 2020 bookJesus and John Wayne,Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a professor atCalvin University inGrand Rapids, Michigan criticizes the ideal of Christian masculinity created by Dobson,Mark Driscoll and others: "It was a vision that promised protection for women but left women without defense, one that worshiped power and turned a blind eye to justice, and one that transformed theJesus of theGospels into an image of their own making."[185]
Gil Alexander-Moegerle, a former Focus on the Family executive and radio show co-host, wrote the highly critical bookJames Dobson's War on America in 1997. In it, he says that Dobson's loving, caring public persona is a sham; the real Dobson is racist, sexist, homophobic, materialistic, power-hungry, and shameless. He says that theNazarene religious concept ofentire sanctification is key to understanding Dobson's views: "James Dobson believes that he has been entirely sanctified, morally perfected, that he does not and cannot sin. Now you know why he and moralists like him make a life of condemning what he believes to be the sins of others. He is perfect."[186]
Some fundamentalist Christians consider Dobson aheretic for presenting secular concepts from psychology and self-help literature as though they are justified by theBible.[68]
TheologianDonald Eric Capps contends that Dobson's corporal punishment techniques exploit children by turning their natural need to be loved against them. Dobson's advice to "break the will" of the child is a recipe for child abuse, according to Capps, and is antithetical to loving one's child. Capps also argues that corporal punishment may sexualize children. For evidence of this, he points to Dobson's vivid childhood recollection of being beaten with his mother's girdle. Capps believed that using physical pain to heighten a child's relationship to God is "perverted".[68]
Dobson has been criticized for recommending conversion therapy advocateJoseph Nicolosi's methods of preventing homosexuality in children, including quoting Nicolosi's suggestion that "[a] boy's father ... to mirror and affirm his son's maleness ... can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger."[187][188][189]
Dobson authored or co-authored 36 books including:
Like a religious version of Walt Disney, Dobson started with a small idea and built it into a multimedia empire: 10 radio shows, 11 magazines (including specialty publications for doctors, teachers and single parents), bestselling books, film strips and videos of all kinds. Then there are the basketball camps and the curriculum guides, the church bulletin fillers and suggested sermon topics, faxed weekly to thousands of pastors.
Diversity of Families: American families are pluralistic in nature. Our discussion of issues will reflect an understanding of and respect for cultural, ethnic and regional differences as well as differences in structure and lifestyle.Dobson is pictured in the Research Forum section.
LGBTQ advocates stated they only wanted to be treated the same as everyone else, not as an abnormal part of society. In the 21st century things have changed considerably. More high-profile individuals have come out as LGBTQ and more groups have surfaced to advocate for their cause. The LGBTQ movement has successfully taken over the debate terminology (e.g., you are cisgender, not simply male or female; we've all adopted LGBTQ, not LGBT and even add +), the media have become loud advocates for the LGBTQ cause, and businesses have been shamed into jumping on the bandwagon and virtue signaling they are not only nondiscriminatory, but sometimes unbelievably promoting of the LGBTQ lifestyle. Those who wish to speak out against anything having to do with LGBTQ talking points are labeled homophobic, ignorant, or part of a hate group and are shamed by the media. The entertainment industry is bending over backwards to show how inclusive and accepting they are. In broadcast television, roughly 10.2% of all regular expected series characters identify as LGBTQ. For movies, the LGBTQ percentage has ranged from 14%-17% in recent years, with the percentage rising each year. That said, LGBTQ-identifying Americans comprise only 5.6 percent of the American public, per a recent Gallup poll. Agenda. You think?
Dr. Dobson felt God directing him to start a new ministry, which he did in March 2010, to continue the important work of strengthening families, speaking into the culture, and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. He called the new organization Family Talk.
'We do not support teacher-led, state-mediated school prayer, but we do believe that students have the same religious rights as other people,' said Alan Crippen of 'Focus on the Family,' a major evangelical Christian broadcast and publications ministry founded by psychologist James Dobson.
...his breakthrough book, Dare to Discipline, ... challenged the permissive child-rearing techniques of Benjamin Spock. The book, published in 1970, encouraged parents to spank their children with belts or switches and to leave such items on the child's dresser to remind her of the consequences of challenging authority.
Dobson is one of the single most important religious intellectuals and political leaders in America today, and many people take his words very seriously. When Dobson makes such a statement, it is the Evangelical equivalent of a Vatican Decree that is meant to communicate a policy position not only to church goers, but to social conservatives as a whole-specifically, the Republican Party.
In addition, Dr. Dobson has been appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and serves in various other consulting positions.
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