Delusions of grandeur at "Focus on the Family" (from Bloggermann)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/

<snip>

Dobson, you will recall, joined the singularly inoffensive animated character “SpongeBob SquarePants” to his conspiracy theories of a “pro-homosexual” agenda, in order to get headlines. When he got those headlines, he promptly complained about getting them. Dobson, like many other exploiters of Amoral Values, ran immediately to the easiest way out of a stupid fix of his own creation: he blamed the big old ugly media.

His website asked readers to send emails of protest to me and four other reporters who had covered this foofery - it even provided them with an email-generator with which to do so. But because I responded to nearly all of those missives with something other than “I’m sorry, please don’t send me to hell,” Dobson has determined I need more exposure.

Hey, guys, worry about yourselves. You’re spewing hate, while assuming that for some reason, God has chosen you and you alone in all of history to understand the mysteries of existence, when mankind’s existence is filled with ample evidence that nobody yet has been smart enough to discern an answer.

You might try keeping it simpler: did you help others, or hurt them?

<snip>

Go get 'em, Keith!

Billboards went up about a conference in Galveston, where gay people can learn how to go straight. No kidding. Some guy was on the radio talking about how his son was gay, and now he's not. When he was asked why they decided his son was gay, he said because he was a workaholic father and didn't bond with him.

Dobson and his "Focus on the Family" organization has been a pervasive negative influence on American society for over 20 years. He is part of the propaganda/brainwashing effort that has created the culture that re-elected Bush despite the overwhelming evidence that his agenda is destructive to our country and inimical to our values.

Dr. James Dobson has a HUGE army of rabid fundamentalist Christian followers. His "Focus on the Family" is a massive, organized, mature, deeply entrenched activism group. I am now 39 years old, and I remember as a kid hearing constantly about "Dr. Dobson" - he was a celebrity in the fundamentalist Christian community way back then (in the late 70's and early 80's). He was famous back then for his book "Dare to Discipline", which endorsed beating the crap out of kids, in the name of the Lord. The Bible verse that was always quoted was Proverbs 23:13-14, which I quote verbatim: "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell."

At Dobson's urging, millions of fundamentalist Christian parents took that passage literally, and felt they were doing "the Lord's will, as He commanded in His Word" when they beat their children. Even as a child, I realized the REAL message of Dobson, which was that children needed to be disciplined, and this sometimes involved physical correction. OK, even with that concession, there are two major reasons I believe Dobson should be abhorred and discredited.

First, Dobson's teachings were/are distorted in several ways that resulted in unnecessary abuse of children. Many parents used his teachings as a justification for their own inherent sadistic tendencies and used 'discipline' as an outlet for their anger problems and rage issues. I SAW this, FIRST HAND, as a child growing up with the children of fundamentalist Christians. Further, some parents felt OBLIGATED to engage in physical discipline, when it was not really necessary, so they would not be seen by God as being 'too soft' or 'too permissive' as parents.

More significantly, Dobson's teachings are part of an overall conceptual schema (George Lakoff would call it a 'frame') that is the basic structure of the conservative political orientation.

Dobson's paternalistic, patriarchal, strict father, disciplinarian model is the (largely unconsciousness) basis for many people's embrace of political conservatism. That is the most important reason I think this man needs to be vilified, ridiculed, and discredited.

I like the use of the phrase "Radical cleric" for these fundamentalist assholes.

I too like to use the phrase "Radical Cleric" when refering to these fundamentalist leaders with theocratic political ambitions.

They are easy to dismiss as nutjobs (which in fact they are) but it is most dire that people become aware of the extreme agenda these people have for the United States and ultimately for the world. The results of the 2004 election were not a fluke or something that was drummed up over a peroid of months. It has been in planning for over 20 years, and what we are seeing now is, in the words of Katherine Yurica, "the swift advance of a planned coup".

The Swift Advance of a Planned Coup: Conquering by Stealth and Deception - How the Dominionists Are Succeeding in Their Quest for National Control and World Power
http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheSwiftAdvanceOfaPlannedCoup.htm

The Despoiling of America: How George W. Bush became the head of the new American Dominionist Church/State
http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm

Video on the Christian Reconstructionist Dominionist Theocratic Agenda
http://www.theocracywatch.org/av/video_dominion.ram

The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party
a public information project from TheocracyWatch.org
http://www.theocracywatch.org/

The Yurica Report
http://www.yuricareport.com/

"fatwa on on Spongebob"

that's hilarious, can I steal that line?

eom

Well, he's into that Old Testament shit, such as...

Abortion is a no-no, but here's when it's OK to kill your child in the name of Gawd:

http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_stone_your_children/dt21_18a.html

You can bet Jimmy follows Gawd's word when it commands him to kill his family!

http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_stone_your_whole_family/dt13_06-08.html

read this entry and the previous one.

To paraphrase Bishop Sheen:"You can always tell the favorites vices of an individual by listening to their constant accusations of another"

He must have had an pleasurable experience at one time and has never forgiven himself for it. The man is simply obsessed.

from Maureen Dowd's "Bushworld":

"Genuinely religious people are humbled by religion and are guided by it on the inside. They don't need to wear Jesus on the outside as a designer label."

This is exactly what religion has become in this country - a designer label. Maureen also talked about how only 30- 40 years ago entering religion into your campaign was political suicide, now it's suicide if you don't wear your religion on your sleeve.

James Dobson and his crew are one of the fundamental causes for this.

Makes me sick to my stomach.