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Tricky Times Ahead for Dobson?
By Frederick Clarkson Fri May 25, 2007 at 12:26:22 AM EST printable version print story
Two recent news stories, taken together, are indicative of the turbulent period that lies ahead for the religious right.  Even as such major institutions as Pat Robertson's Regent University and the late Jerry Falwell's Liberty University are becoming well-established and attracting presidential candidates as commencement speakers, times are going to be tricky for the religious right, even for its preeminent leader, James Dobson.
topic: Analysis of Christian Right
An Associated Press story is drawing international attention to a disagreement among religious right leaders over the significance of so-called Partial Birth Abortion bans.

Anti-abortion leaders are accusing one of their own, Focus on Family founder James Dobson, of misrepresenting a Supreme Court decision that upheld a ban on late-term abortions.

In a full-page ad in Wednesday's editions of The Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs, the heads of four anti-abortion groups said Dobson wrongly characterized the court's April ruling as a victory for abortion foes.
The ad said the ruling will actually encourage medical professionals to find ``less shocking'' methods than late-term abortions, which abortion opponents call ``partial-birth abortion.''

``Dr. Dobson, you mislead Christians claiming this ruling will 'protect children.' The court granted no authority to save the life of even a single child,'' the ad said. It concluded by asking Dobson to ``please repent.'' ... The letter was signed by Brian Rohrbough, president of Colorado Right to Life; the Rev. Tom Euteneuer, president of Human Life International; Flip Benham, director of Operation Rescue/Operation Save America; Judie Brown, president of American Life League; and Bob Enyart, pastor of Denver Bible Church.

The ad highlights a longstanding disagreement in the antiabortion movement over so-called "partial birth abortion." Many militant antiabortion activists agree with the signers of the letter, that PBA bans are publicity stunts, rather than subtantively reducing abortions in any way.  The raising of the issue in this way raises the stakes in an interesting way and may portend deeper political divisions down the road.

Meanwhile, The Rocky Mountain News reports that Dobson's Focus on the Family, is presenting a mixed financial picture, as general revenues are up, but revenue for the organization's political arm, Focus Action, has declined since its first year in operation, 2004.

The combined Focus organization, in Colorado Springs, had revenue of $148.8 million in the fiscal year through the end of September, a roughly 4 percent increase on a modest rise in donations, the documents showed. Most of the sum - $136.6 million - was contributions. Focus also gets revenue from the sale of books, films and other materials.

But Focus Action has seen a decrease in revenue. Donations to the lobbying group fell to $6.3 million in 2006 from $6.7 million in 2005 and $8.7 million in 2004, its inaugural year. Focus officials declined to comment on the numbers.
Despite the slip, Dobson signaled that the group would continue to be assertive on the national stage.

"Our work in the public policy arena continues to effect change in a culture that has rejected the Judeo-Christian ethic of our founding fathers," Dobson said. "The Focus Action staff is committed to confronting these aggressive attacks with energy and determination."


Of course, these numbers do not take into account FOF's national network (pdf) of about 35 separately incorporated Family Policy Councils, such as the Massachusetts Family Institute, that carry out political operations and lobbying at the state level. Nor does it take into consideration the role and budget of the Washington, DC-based lobby, the Family Research Council, founded by Dobson but later spun off to put some distance between the non-profit, tax-exempt Focus on the Family and overt political activity.  (Dobson has, however, remained on the board of directors.)          

There will be many stories such as these over the next little while, as the 2008 election season heats up; as religious right leaders jockey for position in the wake of the death of Jerry Falwell, and the ill health of Florida tlevangelist and political leader D. James Kennedy -- among other changes in the political landscape. Each such story, as interesting and signficant as it may be, is but small piece of a much-larger story that is still unfolding.




Display:
for many reasons. And there will be many opportunities presented as the aging leaders of the founding generation of the religious right pass from the scene; as the 2008 electoral season heats up; and as disagreements, suchas the PBA matter, resurface after years of remaining in the background


by Frederick Clarkson on Fri May 25, 2007 at 03:01:51 AM EST

One thing that is curious to me about the ad is the participation of Colorado Right to Life.  The National Right to Life Committee was one of the promulgators of the 'partial-birth abortion' ban and, over the ten-twelve years that it has been floating around, its most prominent supporter.  NRLC attorney James Bopp wrote a brief in support of it.  Any ideas about how or why the Colorado group has taken a position so different from NRLC?  

by cyncooper on Fri May 25, 2007 at 06:23:19 PM EST
I dunno why there is this apparent additional schism. Maybe Moiv knows.

by Frederick Clarkson on Fri May 25, 2007 at 08:14:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Seems NRLC seems kinda unhappy with the scartch on Dobson's cheek.  

NRLC just kicked out the Colorado Right to Life out of the club.


Colorado Right to Life was kicked out of the National Right to Life coalition on Wednesday, in part for publicly criticizing Focus on the Family founder James Dobson.

Read more here.

by cyncooper on Fri Jun 15, 2007 at 04:51:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]



Very good article. My sister attended the same church (1st Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena) as James Dobson for many years. He is like a rock star to many of these people, and as these leaders die, or 'go down the valley, one by one' the ones left will be more important, until they too join the 'choir invisible'.

Where will it end? It's possible the theocratic right is undergoing a makeover, becoming less 'southern' and more urbane and slick. Witness the ISPN network.

http://insp.org/

Perhaps the rising stars of the movement will finish running the fundamentalist wing of American Christianity into the ditch.

by COinMS on Sun May 27, 2007 at 01:47:16 AM EST


I am one of those people who wrote a piece [CAP for me] on Falwell's death, a matter which has since been elevated to the rite of a sacrament! However, as to a shakeup or divvying up space for each other, let us hope that A.U. puts one person on this case alone, for cutting the corners & law-breaking are almost inevitable, as if they give a damn anyway for a Constitutional matter, like Separation. But Dobson & Colorado Springs itself deserve all the scrutiny that can be mustered just on the Air Force Academy infestation to the level of religious assault for all non-bornagainers, a matter better solved by closure for at least a decade than taking a decade to dissolve such clusters, as its Superintendent has said & his policy for reorganization.

As different rightist groups & subgroups fight each other over the other's heterodoxy, we can only smile & thank them for working for us in dismantling their house of cards! In the meantime, it should be obligatory viewing for all sane religionists to see the documentary JESUS CAMP & see the rightist agenda in its most obnoxious mode: shameless.

These subchristians are a pox on all our houses and to be met tit for tat on any ground they surface, much less open their mouths. Who the Falwellians will align with or go it along with their faux-university, not unlike faux-news like Fox but more repulsive cable channels like SkyAngel & surely "christian radio," anything but Christian.

It would be nice to oppose them at a higher level, but they'll never reach such lofty heights. Just do not fail to see the correlation of the decline in nat'l literacy & the rise of old-tyume fundamentalism. It'll pass, per their own ignorance, but in the meantime don't let them "frame" any data.
Arden C. Hander

by achbird65 on Mon May 28, 2007 at 07:16:18 PM EST



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Left Behind: Eternal Forces: Installments of Jonathan Hutson's Talk To Action expose series on the "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game have been viewed by up to 1/2 million people. See our site section featuring Over 35 original articles covering the controversial "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game that has provoked a boycott by a coalition of religious groups and a letter writing campaign urging Walmart to stop selling the game. Media inquiries click here
(image: detail from Francoise Dubois' rendition of the Bartholomew's Day Massacre reveals the actual nature of religious warfare)