On Dobson's Hypocrisy

A few weeks ago I gave students in my Baptist History class at Phillips Seminary a copy of Frederick Clarkson's chart about the Expanding Universe of the Religious Right. Some of the students were surprised to see James Dobson listed as a leader in the radical religious right.

This week I'm going to give them a copy of Robert Parham's Ethics Daily essay on "James Dobson No Jesus." If anyone had any doubt that Dobson has let partisan politics coopt his agenda, Parham's essay ought to set them straight. Here's an excerpt:

Dobson engages in similar Pharisaical practice when he prioritizes a few issues as the moral agenda, while neglecting many issues central to Jesus' teachings and placing the moral mantel on the GOP, as God's Only Party.

Dobson's organization is sponsoring a summit in Washington on Sept. 22-24 that will mobilize the conservative evangelical Christian vote to defeat Democrats in the fall election. Yet his summit has speakers who represent everything that conservative Christians say they oppose -- divorce, gambling, false witness and racism.

The event is pitched as Christian for Christians with the message: "Get Your Church Involved." A press release says the meeting is "a pro-family conference" for "politically active Christians" designed "primarily for Christians." Interested Christians should ask their church mission committee for underwriting to attend, says an article, because "We're going to be talking about marriage -- defending and protecting marriage."

So, who is one of the headline speakers at a conference that supposedly defends marriage?

Twice-divorced and thrice-married Newt Gingrich heads the list. He hardly merits exaltation as a pro-family model.

Another moral model on the program is Bill Bennett. He's the sanctimonious virtues guy, who hypocritically castigated the nation's moral standards while he snuck off to gamble in Las Vegas, where he received preferential treatment due to the size of his bets and his history of betting.

Another is trash-mouthed Ann Coulter, who bears false witness against others as godless and slams their faith, although she has no authentic record of attending church.

A fourth, Sen. George Allen, flung a racial slur at an American of Indian descent, exposing the Virginian's troubled past with race. He opposed a holiday honoring Baptist preacher Martin Luther King, while making nice with the Council of Conservative Citizens.

The presence of these headliners alone transgresses the moral values that many conservative evangelical pastors publicly condemn -- promiscuity/divorce, gambling, false witness and racism.

They now face a knotty dilemma. Do they turn a blind eye to Dobson's program and enable religious hypocrisy? If they do, how do they explain to their flock that much of what they preach against in their pulpits is morally acceptable if it advances a secular political agenda? How do they justify inviting speakers to a morality meeting who couldn't hold leadership positions in their own churches?