I remember when James Dobson was THE expert on parenting. He was an outspoken Christian who represented our faith so well in a field where he was well qualified. When Becky and I were brand new parents his books and radio broadcast were very helpful. For the last decade or more we’ve watched him move from Focusing on the family to political power broker. This week it got to an all time frustrating high for me.
If you missed it you can probably find James Dobson’s criticisms of Barrack Obama’s 2006 speech on his web site. I don’t know if they archive the broadcast but if you can listen do so carefully. Before you read on be clear I am not a supporter of Barack Obama.
The ruckus was made public this week on CNN. If you missed it here is my synopsis. Essentially, Obama was speaking about how to be a religious and live out one’s faith in a pluralistic society and do so in a way that respects the views of others. In short Dobson accused him of distorting the Bible and the Christian faith and how Christians ought to live in our society.
I hope you can listen to Dobson’s talk and Obamas. The frustration I have is how unfairly Dobson represents what Obama was saying. I believe he and his fellow radio host again and again distorted what Obama was saying by totally ignoring the context so they could push their agenda. An example was when Obama talked about what would happen if we removed all non-Christians from our society (by the way he wasn’t say do that he was saying “Imagine if..”). Even then, he rightly said we’d have diversity. Then, Obama asked (this is a direct quote) “Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson’s or Al Sharpton’s?”
Dobson went on and on about being “equated” with Al Sharpton (a man he called a racial bigot). The fact is that Obama wasn’t equating them he was using them as two examples of “christians” in America. And he was putting them at opposite ends of a scale – not equating them.
My biggest frustration is that Dobson is doing Christians, conservative evangelical Christians, and the country a disservice in misrepresenting the intent of Obama’s comments. I know this is normal in the political arena. I know it’s what everyone on both sides does. But when you say you a “Christian” political activist this should not be acceptable. You become exactly what you are trying to oppose.
I’ll say again this is not a defense of Barak Obama. I don’t know who will get my vote. I just know that when Christians speak out on these issues and we do it in this way there is more at stake than who get’s elected. If what we believe is true we don’t have to misrepresent people we oppose.
Forgive my frustration.
3 comments:
This has been irritating me for a few days now. I thought Obama's speech was fantastic. Dobson has always bothered me. Maybe its because he accuses Spoonge Bob of pushing a gay agenda. Or that Happy Feet was sending messages to kids to promote tolerance of gays. Maybe its because he is pro-life but is against sex education in schools that would reduce the number of unwanted teenage pregnancy.Maybe its because he called for the ouster of Rev. Richard Cizik for urging evangelicals to take global warming seriously. Unfortunately this is nothing new. Dobson has been accused of distorting research data to further the anti-gay agenda.
I seem to recall that there's a Biblical injunction against "bearing false witness", which Dobson's claims are at least flirting with. I'm not an Obama fan either, but there are plenty of strong substantive arguments that Dobson could present in opposition to Obama's policy positions without resorting to such obvious straw man reasoning. It both cheapens the political discourse and brings dishonor to the cause of Christ. Yeah, it "fires up the base", as they say, but people's living souls are in the balance. When the church's credibility suffers as a result of a statement like this, that balance tips the wrong way.
AMEN!
I am absolutely NOT an Obama supporter but I cannot agree with you more.
I consider myself to "politically attuned" I enjoy this blood sport more than most. Where as I consider myself a "conservative" not a republican its frustrates me greatly that so called "conservative Christians"
often fall well below the standard of grace when they attack a perceived foe.
Obama can be defeated easily on the basis of fact and in the arena of ideas. I'm just sorry that there is not a conservative voice at this time with the strength of his convictions to give him the courage to stand on the merits of the arguments.
I do not want this to sink to the level of a political blog but I myself will be going to the polls this year to hold my nose and vote for the lesser of two evils.
Sadly both side are using demagoguery to make their points, I just wish the self purported Christians would take a long look in the mirror and in their hearts before they open their mouths.
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