Posted on 09/23/2007 7:18:21 AM PDT by Doofer
About the only thing worse than painting yourself in a corner is doing it when the floor doesn’t need painting in the first place.
So I was doubly disappointed a couple of days ago when Dr. James Dobson, a one-time child psychologist who has become a leading Christian activist, absolutely skewered presidential candidate Fred Thompson in what was to me a dazzling display of dumb.
I’ve long admired and adored Dr. Dobson’s “Focus on the Family” and believe he’s a genius when it comes to kids. This week, in what was called “a private e-mail to friends,” the doctor proved to me he’s got a long way to go when it comes to working the same magic with adults.
Apparently Thompson’s history regarding some marriage amendments and the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform deal got Dr. Dobson all wild-eyed and fiery-hearted and he wrote his buddies this puzzling paragraph:
“(Thompson) has no passion, no zeal, and no apparent ‘want to.’ And yet he is apparently the Great Hope that burns in the breasts of many conservative Christians? Well, not for me, my brothers, not for me!”
Wow, if Dr. Dobson discounts Fred Thompson that fast and this early, it would follow he’s got a bigger ace to play, but if this thing works out like I suspect it will in the year to come, Dr. Dobson is going to make quite a mess walking across all that wet paint just before the election.
Understand, I’m not a big Thompson fan, but isn’t it too early to pick a horse? All I know is what I read, but in watching the various political aspirants I don’t think if I were Dr. Dobson I’d start slinging a whole lot of mud at anybody just yet.
There are some others still in the race who are a “little bit left” of Fred, so to speak, and to slap down the former senator was a needless act that got Dr. Dobson a good amount of the kind of coverage he doesn’t want and that his ministry sure doesn’t need..
I have long held the opinion that “the Christian right,” as it is called, should stay out of politics. There are many who disagree with me, but I don’t think God should be sullied by those who claim He is a Republican or a Democrat. The same drought that hits the red states hits the blue ones.
Further, I know some fine Christians who happen to be rather liberal. There are also some crooks, as we’ve seen lately, who espouse each party, so I wish the churches would stick to salvation and the politicians would handle the marriage amendments and campaign finance questions.
I think Christianity, as I know it and as I believe it, can be summed up in just one word: Hope. I don’t care what happens to me – car wrecks, friends committing suicide, brothers dying, divorce, whatever – I am assured by Jesus Christ the end of my life will include the words, “happily ever after.”
Why should a Christian activist, whose goal is to teach about that same “hope” and enable anyone from a mass murderer to a tainted politician to have the same promise of “happily ever after,” get all jumpy over Fred Thompson at this stage of the game?
The better question is a harder one for me. Is that what being a Christian is about? Is that the way you convince a non-believer to enter the Kingdom?
Dr. Dobson presents himself on a pretty high plain with slick magazines and TV shows and radio broadcasts, but when he pops Fred Thompson for “no passion, no zeal, no ‘want to’,” what part of that glorifies God? I don’t get it, not at all.
Finally, there are the pious who’ll discount the whole thing, pointing out a “private e-mail” should have never been disclosed, but somebody once said, “As a man thinketh, so he is.”
See #11.
I was responding to the article, not you.
“But religious fervor has started more wars in history than any other causes”
Really? Lets see, WW1, WWII, Pol Pot, the cold war, vietnam, 1812, civil war, and on and on. More people have died in conflict over the last 200 years than in all of recorded history. With the exception of the current they were not caused by religion.
Religious fervor helps many and is often falsely blamed by those seeking to attack devout people.
“Not “stay out” of politics, but concern themselves with the fundamental qualities that made the United States a safe haven for religious belief.”
For religious people to stay out of politics is to ensure the United States loses religious freedom.
Start naming those “religious wars” ~ we need a list so we can see if religion comes out on top or is a very secondary reason for war.
On the other hand we have the NRA, but are you suggesting the NRA is not doing as good a job at protecting the Second Amendment as, for example, the Episcopal church?
“we need a list so we can see if religion comes out on top or is a very secondary reason for war”
Folks always blame Christianity for the Crusades. And while there is enough blame to go around the Muslim role is usually ignored. Muslims started a war of agression which was a continuation of camel jockey mo’s profession. The Barbary coast was home to ruthless pirates and slavers. Millions of Europeans were take there as slaves and slaughtered.
Those pesky Christians should just keep quiet. You’d like that, I think. It’s not going to happen.No, I think Pistolshot thinks people like Dobson should.
Let me guess. You are a Thompson supporter.
I agree with Dobson, but what’s the alternative? We’ve got a choice between several uninspiring candidates.
I can tell you personally that I am offended with you putting Dr. Dobson’s photo in a “ phonies” grouping!! Our family knows him personally and he is ANYTHING BUT, phonie. You may disagree with his stand on Fred Thompson, but phonie he ISNT!!!
Polly
“On the other hand we have the NRA, but are you suggesting the NRA is not doing as good a job at protecting the Second Amendment as, for example, the Episcopal church?”
The Episcopal church has become more of a political movement as its not basing its decisions on a biblical reference.
Where has Fred been???? He should be on all these Sunday Morning shows. Hillary sure wants to be noticed. She is on everyone. Fred has not been in the news lately. Does anyone know if he is taking a break?
It seems Dobson’s got himself quite a big head and thinks that Christianity is some kind of big union,
It is because of the 2004 election when people didn’t mind hearing him speak and getting the Republicans elected. Now that he is not saying what evangelicals want to hear, they are dropping him like a disease. Nice people. Maybe he will get back in 2012 when he agrees with every word the Evangelicals want him too. I am glad I am not an Evangelical (catholic). You guys put too much pressure on people.
In theory a trial lawyer could proclaim himself a Christian activist and be accepted as one. I cannot remember such a theory being publicly tested. The same problems are posed for the pychologists that are posed for lawyers. The Bible is THE textbook when it comes to human psychology, and whatever written by Freud or Dewey collides with it. No one has big enough arms to embrace the Bible, Freud, and Dewey at the same time. For Dobson to be a Christian activist and a professing psychologist is like being bi-spiritual.
That is one of the best posts I ever read.
“It seems Dobson’s got himself quite a big head and thinks that Christianity is some kind of big union,”
Don’t know about the big head, but I never gotten that impression. Christianity is a big union or club. Its easy to join and it has great benefits. Everyone is welcome and the entry requirements are low.
“You guys put too much pressure on people”
Not really, we pretty much just ask that people follow Gods rules. Perhaps its Gods pressure you are feeling?
Original state Constitutions required office holders swear an allegiance to Jesus Christ or Christianity.
That being stated, I disagree with Dobson. Fred Thompson is the only conservative with a chance to win the GOP nomination.
Not really, we pretty much just ask that people follow Gods rules. Perhaps its Gods pressure you are feeling?
Bashing Dr. Dobson for not supporting Fred is pressure. Why does Dr. Dobson have to support Fred if he does not want to?????
So Mr. Exum. Does this mean that you don’t approve of Jackson and Tawana Sharpton huckstering at Black churches?
Or of Obama going to black churches and electioneering?
Just asking. ‘Pod.
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