Posted on 02/10/2005 2:45:54 PM PST by scripter
Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, was recently quoted in the press claiming that children's cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants was part of the "homosexual agenda."
The proof? SpongeBob appears in a new video for schools produced by the We Are Family Foundation, and the Foundation's website includes the Declaration of Tolerance, a pledge from Tolerance.org.
The Declaration states in part, "I pledge to have respect for people whose abilities, beliefs, culture, race, sexual identity or other characteristics are different from my own."
The "sexual identity" part alarmed Dr. Dobson.
It's the "beliefs" part that's hard for me.
Whose Gospel?
Focus on the Family's stated mission is to "cooperate with the Holy Spirit in disseminating the Gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible, and, specifically, to accomplish that objective by helping to preserve traditional values and the institution of the family."
Yet, Focus on the Family often seems more intent on disseminating the anti-gay gospel than the Gospels of Jesus Christ (which, by the way, never once mention gay people).
Its anti-gay crusade kicked off in 1992, when Dobson used his highly popular radio show to turn Colorado's anti-gay Amendment 2 into a fundamentalist cause celebre. The anti-gay crusade continues:
So how then do I muster respect, tolerance even, for Dr. Dobson when he constantly maligns my gay brothers and sisters and engages in shameful amounts of fear mongering? How do I respect a man whose beliefs so often contradict my own?
The key to tolerating Dobson may lie somewhere within our democracy's principles. I believe in Dr. Dobson's right to hold and express his beliefs; freedoms of religion and expression are core tenets of our democracy. I also believe that our democracy allows for both Dr. Dobson and a child with two moms.
Things get tough after that though, since Dobson actively seeks to limit the rights and freedoms of others. Worse, I suspect he wants our democracy to resemble a Christian theocracy.
I don't have an easy answer. The one thing I do know: When I sign the Tolerance Pledge today, I'll be thinking of Dr. Dobson and paying special attention to the line that says, "I will examine my own biases and work to overcome them."
Ping
Obviously the press misquoted Dr. Dobson - he never said that.
When the writer starts off with this, which, although he may have been quoted as saying it, he didn't, and has made that clear, you just know the rest of the article isn't going to be worth much.
"Even Christian conservative C. Everett Koop, President Reagan's surgeon general, has called Dobson "homophobic."
BS. I guarantee you that you can't find a citation on that. Spreading rumours.
There is so much baloney in this article that I don't even know where to begin...but that is one whopper that we can't let slide here at FR.
sexual organs hooked up to electrodes? "aversion therapy"? Come on...
I don't agree with the militant homosexual agenda either.. but this guy seems like he's got some issues. Doesn't he have anything better to do?
Bones
"Yet, Focus on the Family often seems more intent on disseminating the anti-gay gospel than the Gospels of Jesus Christ (which, by the way, never once mention gay people)."
She needs to read 1 Chrinthians 6:9
These are the same stupid talking points they've been using for ten years, with a couple of sentences added.
I did not hear that at all when they played the audio clip. Are these people just making things up like CU and Churchill?
remember these are the people who think they want Jesus...but not Paul. Heaven help us.
That's a complete fabrication. Dr Nicolosi does not use electrodes or anything like it, and never has. I called his office today to inform them of the article. The person who answered the phone just assured me they've never used electrodes.
I also emailed a copy... here's their response:
We are familiar with the article. It has been circulated in the office as well as to some of the people we work with on a daily basis. It has been a lot of fun! We do not take these things seriously.Tolerance.org continues to lose all credibility.
Indeed. I just added some additional comments from Dr. Nicolosi's office.
Sure. The problem is the Pledge of "Tolerance" (read: "Allegiance") that is meant for schoolchildren to recite in unison. It has nothing to do with people of various beliefs and everything to do with people of various sexual bents. The pledge is an open door for "diversity training," and the training materials put out for the public school system by public health officials (from your friendly neighborhood GLSEN) would curl your hair, I assure you. And using familiar cartoon characters to promote this agenda is just plain deceitful. IMHO, of course.
It would appear so. I called Focus on the Family and spoke with Steve, a representative for Dr. Dobson. Steve said they were completely unaware of any comment by C. Everett Koop calling Dr. Dobson homophobic. That's not to say it's false, but they are unaware of any comment.
I tried to find the Koop quote before posting the article and couldn't. It's Koop still around? I'd like to ask him myself, and there's another Koop quote regarding Dr. Paul Cameron that I'd like to ask about...
It's completely bogus, a fabrication, a lie.
Oh, gosh... well... how about if you do the very same thing to him that you claim he is doing to you and justify it by saying he is mean and homophobic and you are tolerant, but out of patience. Hmmm?
But of course! They fabricated the electrodes comment...
It is true that Jesus never specifically mentions homosexuality in the Gospels. However, he does speak of sexual impurity. In a 1st Century Jewish context, this indisputably would have included homosexuality, as well as adultery, incest and every other sexual sin mentioned in the Old Testament. The OT was Jesus' Bible, and the Gospels are clear that he knew it very well. He would have known how his audience would interpret the term "sexual impurity." If he had intended to exclude homosexuality from this category, he would have said so.
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