James Dobson, one of the nation’s most influential evangelical leaders and founder of Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, died Aug. 21 at the age of 89.
The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute described its late leader in a statement as “a pioneer—a man of deep conviction whose voice shaped the way generations view faith, family and culture.” The institute said Dobson’s “bold leadership, integrity, and compassion helped equip countless families to thrive in a world of shifting values.”
Focus on the Family remembered Dobson as both its founder and its visionary. Jim Daly, the organization’s current president and Dobson’s successor, said in a statement that Dobson’s legacy “is in the people he touched and the families he helped,” adding that “millions of marriages were saved and strengthened” because of his leadership.
Focus emphasized Dobson’s role in building the organization’s foundation before handing leadership to Daly in the early 2000s. Dobson remained chairman of the board until 2009 and continued as the daily radio voice until 2010. Even after stepping away, he launched the radio show Family Talk and the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute to carry on his mission. He was still hosting Family Talk episodes earlier this month.
Why Dobson came to Colorado and his impact on the state’s culture
Journalist Steve Rabey, who began covering Focus when the group relocated to Colorado Springs in 1991, said practical reasons played a role in that move.
“There were some tax incentives,” Rabey said. “There were some grants by local organizations. There was a lower cost of living for employees. There was also a more conservative environment than Focus had when it was headquartered in California.”
The decision to move to Colorado paid off for the organization. It also helped Colorado Springs economically by bringing jobs, Rabey added.
But the arrival of Dobson and Focus also left its cultural mark on the city, he said.
“When Focus arrived, they really divided Colorado Springs,” Rabey said. “The organization played a central role in backing Colorado’s Amendment 2, which would restrict gay rights, and the campaign was kind of dirty and demeaning to gay people. Gay people were portrayed as both cultural elites and perverts. So it was a nasty campaign.”
Rabey said Dobson’s rhetoric helped fuel intolerance for people who are LGBTQ that still reverberates today. He notes that after the Club Q shooting in 2022, someone vandalized the sign at Focus’ headquarters, blaming the organization for the shooting (there is no evidence of any connection between the shooter and Focus on the Family).
National relevance
Dobson’s influence stretched far beyond Colorado. According to Focus on the Family, its broadcast, digital and print media platforms reach about 18 million people in nearly 100 countries.
The James Dobson Family Institute noted that Dobson authored more than 70 books on family life and hosted radio broadcasts that reached millions of listeners worldwide. He also advised multiple U.S. presidents.
Former Vice President Mike Pence called Dobson a ‘mentor’ and told him at an award ceremony in 2017, “You’ve done more for faith and freedom in your lifetime … than any one person could do in ten lifetimes.”
On Thursday, Colorado Christian University President Eric Hogue posted a remembrance of Dobson, reflecting on his influence on conservative Christians and Hogue himself.
“It is my hope that our students will look to Dr. Dobson’s life as a model of faithful leadership — committed to Christ, family, and the betterment of culture — and follow in his footsteps with courage and conviction,” Hogue wrote.
But for Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president of Interfaith Alliance, a national progressive faith group, the politicization that Dobson brought to his approach to religion drove some people away from the church.
“James Dobson had a major role in the shaping of American Christianity, from my perspective, not to the benefit either of the faith or the country,” Raushenbush said. “So many of those who have left the church cite the church’s anti-LGBTQ stance as the reason. I do lay the blame of that at the feet of Dobson.”
Raushenbush — who is gay, a Baptist minister, and someone deeply rooted in church life — also connected Dobson’s legacy to today’s debates over Christian nationalism.
‘A cautionary tale’
“What lessons James Dobson offers is a cautionary tale about melding too closely your political aims with the church,” Raushenbush said. “The heirs … are really trying to impose one religious idea upon the rest of the country.”
According to LGBTQ Nation, Dobson’s Focus on the Family labeled the LGBTQ+ rights movement a “particularly evil lie of Satan,” and promoted alarmist claims that growing acceptance of LGBTQ+ people would threaten religious liberty and societal norms.
One thing both critics and supporters agree on: Dobson leaves behind a lasting, complicated mark. And his impact is likely to be part of conversations involving our nation’s faith, family and politics for a long time to come.
“He’s had great impact on a lot of Americans who believed in what he was talking about,” said Rabey, the journalist. “But he’s had kind of a more negative impact as his views have gone out through legislation and impacted a lot of Americans who don’t buy his values.”
Source link
