Dear Dr. Dobson
Dear Mr. Dobson,
There is nothing inherently Christian about being a Republican.
I just read an article in the Los Angeles Times about how your organization, Focus on the Family, is encouraging pastors and preachers to preach Republican rhetoric from the pulpit. Not only is this illegal, but it’s horrible.
I am a Christian. A tried and tested follower of Jesus Christ. My parents dragged me to a horrible church from birth until I left town for college. I hated that church because while I figured that there was something to this whole God/Jesus/Holy Spirit thing, my church certainly didn’t exhibit that.
We were told that if we masturbated, we’d turn into rapists. That God hated fags and that the only way to worship was to sit through a four-hour service, speak in tongues and maybe lose consciousness once or twice.
Oh yeah, and our pastor stole about $60K from the coffers.
There was very little of God’s love, compassion and the most important thing—what saves all of us from an eternity without him—grace.
I hate to compare you and your organization to a group like this, but I feel like I have to.
I started listening to your show about five years ago and I was thrilled. I’d managed to hold on to my faith through college and beyond. I was out on my own for the first time and I found Focus on the Family to be refreshing and encouraging. There were a few times I thought you were a little old school, but that was okay by me.
I do not feel that way anymore.
To see what the evangelical Christian Religious Right has done to the image of Christianity in this country is appalling. The fact that you guys are falling in lock step behind Bush and the Republican Party is completely abhorrent to me and even begins to go against the Bible you say you love.
Aside from unemployment, the Republican Party has let this country be taken to a bad, bad place. The war in Iraq was based on a lie (and don’t say that it’s not because guess what we did not find in the bunkers and desert. Oh yeah, and Osama isn’t tied to Iraq, either). The war in an unwinnable thing. We aren’t giving anyone their freedom; we’re just making them more indebted to others to rebuild the rubble we’re creating.
Bush laughed in the face of the world and called France names and boycotted Yoplait because they dared to have a different opinion than the great United States.
Bush called himself the great uniter during his campaign, but considering exactly how partisan he is, he never had any intention of uniting anything except his buddies and new jobs.
Why is Bush pushing to drill in ANWR when we have more than enough scientific know-how to create cars and homes that don’t depend on oil for fuel? He acts as though there’s nothing else to do besides find more oil, when there is an amazing array of ways to reduce dependency and consumption including increased public transportation, modernizing engines, etc. The internal combustion engine is basically the same as it was 100 years ago. I find it hard to believe that computers can fit in your hand now, but the car companies can’t come up with something better. The crude oil is really the only thing we can use to power our country.
Sure, it’s nice to have people on the bench who share your political views, but you cannot legislate people into behaving the way you want based on whatever book you happen to read.
The problem isn’t that abortion is legal. The problem is that we have an incomplete sexual education program in our schools and access to birth control is hindered and difficult for the poor and the young.
And so what if gays marry? The Bible also speaks out against divorce and adultery, but I don’t hear any of the RR trying to outlaw those things. Picking on just one issue really shows your bigotry. Jesus ate with tax collectors, prostitutes and cripples. If you’re really concerned about gays, why not get to know some. Understand their struggle, then see if you can so cavalierly legislate them out of your life.
Stem cell research will not create abortion farms. If the RR can’t see that, I don’t know what else to say about it.
It’s embarrassing that the only thing the RR is interested in promoting about Christianity is a handful of verses that are taken out of context. It’s embarrassing to hear folks say that they’re doing this in the name of Jesus. It ruins the chance of moderate Christians like myself to have any impact among friends or when witnessing because people are so put off by folks like yourself.
I recently re-read the New Testament and I was blown away by how much it talked about love, compassion and taking care of people. I would encourage you to get back to those ideals and not be so concerned with judgmental legislation. And keep the views out of the pulpit. People in pews trust the ones up front to be honest with them. My pastor let me down as a kid when he took that money from our congregation and it was only the grace of God and a strategically placed Wendy’s that brought me back into a church after that. Please don’t preach ideals from the pulpit that will push others away.
There may not be fast food so close to their dorms. And who knows what will happen then.
There is nothing inherently Christian about being a Republican.
I just read an article in the Los Angeles Times about how your organization, Focus on the Family, is encouraging pastors and preachers to preach Republican rhetoric from the pulpit. Not only is this illegal, but it’s horrible.
I am a Christian. A tried and tested follower of Jesus Christ. My parents dragged me to a horrible church from birth until I left town for college. I hated that church because while I figured that there was something to this whole God/Jesus/Holy Spirit thing, my church certainly didn’t exhibit that.
We were told that if we masturbated, we’d turn into rapists. That God hated fags and that the only way to worship was to sit through a four-hour service, speak in tongues and maybe lose consciousness once or twice.
Oh yeah, and our pastor stole about $60K from the coffers.
There was very little of God’s love, compassion and the most important thing—what saves all of us from an eternity without him—grace.
I hate to compare you and your organization to a group like this, but I feel like I have to.
I started listening to your show about five years ago and I was thrilled. I’d managed to hold on to my faith through college and beyond. I was out on my own for the first time and I found Focus on the Family to be refreshing and encouraging. There were a few times I thought you were a little old school, but that was okay by me.
I do not feel that way anymore.
To see what the evangelical Christian Religious Right has done to the image of Christianity in this country is appalling. The fact that you guys are falling in lock step behind Bush and the Republican Party is completely abhorrent to me and even begins to go against the Bible you say you love.
Aside from unemployment, the Republican Party has let this country be taken to a bad, bad place. The war in Iraq was based on a lie (and don’t say that it’s not because guess what we did not find in the bunkers and desert. Oh yeah, and Osama isn’t tied to Iraq, either). The war in an unwinnable thing. We aren’t giving anyone their freedom; we’re just making them more indebted to others to rebuild the rubble we’re creating.
Bush laughed in the face of the world and called France names and boycotted Yoplait because they dared to have a different opinion than the great United States.
Bush called himself the great uniter during his campaign, but considering exactly how partisan he is, he never had any intention of uniting anything except his buddies and new jobs.
Why is Bush pushing to drill in ANWR when we have more than enough scientific know-how to create cars and homes that don’t depend on oil for fuel? He acts as though there’s nothing else to do besides find more oil, when there is an amazing array of ways to reduce dependency and consumption including increased public transportation, modernizing engines, etc. The internal combustion engine is basically the same as it was 100 years ago. I find it hard to believe that computers can fit in your hand now, but the car companies can’t come up with something better. The crude oil is really the only thing we can use to power our country.
Sure, it’s nice to have people on the bench who share your political views, but you cannot legislate people into behaving the way you want based on whatever book you happen to read.
The problem isn’t that abortion is legal. The problem is that we have an incomplete sexual education program in our schools and access to birth control is hindered and difficult for the poor and the young.
And so what if gays marry? The Bible also speaks out against divorce and adultery, but I don’t hear any of the RR trying to outlaw those things. Picking on just one issue really shows your bigotry. Jesus ate with tax collectors, prostitutes and cripples. If you’re really concerned about gays, why not get to know some. Understand their struggle, then see if you can so cavalierly legislate them out of your life.
Stem cell research will not create abortion farms. If the RR can’t see that, I don’t know what else to say about it.
It’s embarrassing that the only thing the RR is interested in promoting about Christianity is a handful of verses that are taken out of context. It’s embarrassing to hear folks say that they’re doing this in the name of Jesus. It ruins the chance of moderate Christians like myself to have any impact among friends or when witnessing because people are so put off by folks like yourself.
I recently re-read the New Testament and I was blown away by how much it talked about love, compassion and taking care of people. I would encourage you to get back to those ideals and not be so concerned with judgmental legislation. And keep the views out of the pulpit. People in pews trust the ones up front to be honest with them. My pastor let me down as a kid when he took that money from our congregation and it was only the grace of God and a strategically placed Wendy’s that brought me back into a church after that. Please don’t preach ideals from the pulpit that will push others away.
There may not be fast food so close to their dorms. And who knows what will happen then.
posted by The Minority Report at 4:13 PM
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