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March 29, 2007
Dare to Discipline (your mouth)
James Dobson continues his campaign for political irrelevance.
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson appeared to throw cold water on a possible presidential bid by former Sen. Fred Thompson while praising former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is also weighing a presidential run, in a phone interview Tuesday.The way I figure it, there are only two who know for sure whether Fred Thompson is a Christian - God, and Fred Thompson. It's not really Dobson's place to say. So what does Dobson base his statement upon?"Everyone knows he's conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for," Dobson said of Thompson. "[But] I don't think he's a Christian; at least that's my impression," Dobson added, saying that such an impression would make it difficult for Thompson to connect with the Republican Party's conservative Christian base and win the GOP nomination.
Dobson left cleanup duty to a spokesman.
He said that, while Dobson didn't believe Thompson to be a member of a non-Christian faith, Dobson nevertheless "has never known Thompson to be a committed Christian—someone who talks openly about his faith...We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians,"Oh, well that makes it all better now! Now, instead of slandering just Thompson, Dobson and Focus on the Family have managed to casually insult any Christian who might not consider themselves evangelical - usually those in non-protestant or more liturgical faiths.
Nice work.
Maybe it's time for Dobson to step away from the politics for a bit and focus on his area of expertise - psychology. The man has written some truly outstanding books and has played a large role in making psychology okay for Christians. As a guy who has benefitted from the knowledge of psychologists and pharmacology, I do appreciate what he's done over the years.
Sure, Dobson has spoken out on behalf of conservative issues, but in recent elections, he's gone from being an effective spokesman to thinking he's a kingmaker who is authorized to bestow the blessings of evangelical Christians on candidates.
It was wrong of him to judge Thompson, and he should apologize.
(Hat tip: Allah)
UPDATE - Dave at GR notices some, er, inconsistencies with Dobson's reasoning. It seems Dobson's Real Christian™ Seal of Approval can be gained by saying the right things, not by living the right way. As much as I like Newt, I haven't seen him talking openly about his faith all that much.
UPDATE II - Dobson apologizes, sort of. Welcome, Hot Air visitors.
Posted by slublog at March 29, 2007 12:00 AM
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Comments
Biblical illiteracy everywhere and Dobson chooses to speak on Fred! Give me a break.
Posted by: PRCalDude at March 28, 2007 08:51 PM
AS hard as we push against a theological litmus test for politicians, the last thing we need is to impose one ourselves.
Posted by: Steve B at March 28, 2007 10:47 PM
Dobson is playing the jargon/vernacular game. The GOP is interested in the "Christian" voting bloc, to varying degrees depending on who you talk to. That's the vernacular usage; it pretty much means in this context any Protestant or Catholic conservative. Dobson also uses the term, "Christian," but he has a jargon usage of it that is a lot more precise. The non-charitable way to describe it is, "No one is a true Christian but us." The game is to intentionally confuse the jargon term with the vernacular term, to accomplish some purpose. In this case, he is trying to get the people who think of themselves as Christians in the vernacular sense to distance themselves from Thompson by calling him a non-Christian, using his jargon sense. Thus he can cover his butt, by becoming explicit about his jargon when pressed, but the seed has been planted--especially on the people who heard the game quote but not the explanation quote.
There's a better example, which is off-topic but crystal-clear in explaining the game I'm talking about: "Evolution is just a theory." People who are trying to undermine science will take the label, "Theory of Evolution," and attach the vernacular sense "guess" to the word theory, intentionally obscuring the fact that theory has a jargon meaning in science of an extremely well supported hypothesis.
Posted by: MainiacJoe at March 29, 2007 11:43 AM
Why is it so shocking to the repiblicans that only care about tax cuts that the base of their party might want someone they are comftorable with. Conservative rep's want tax cuts and people of faith yet the fiscal rep's, only care about tax cuts? Either you give and take or the party will be split in two. Remember, conservative christians usually vote on principals,the name or title republican means very little to them.
Posted by: marty at March 30, 2007 12:28 PM