Respond to Focus on the Family Action "Letter from 2012 in Obama’s America"
James Dobson's organization, Focus on the Family Action, recently published a letter purporting to offer a vision of 2012 after four years of an Obama administration. This letter, filled with doomsday projections, is fearmongering of the worst kind - a sensationalist fiction with almost no basis in reality.
How does it reflect on our Christian witness in the world to see self-described Christian leaders engage in such blatant fearmongering in order to influence a political race? When Americans read Dobson's letter, do you think they'll come away thinking better of Christianity - or worse?
James Dobson should hear from those in the faith community that find this tactic appalling. Please tell James Dobson and Focus on the Family how you feel.
As Christians we have been choosing hope over fear for 2000 years. Our public witness should reflect our deepest hopes, not provoke unfounded fears.
Update 10/30/2008 - More responses added! Over 750 emails now have been sent to Focus on the Family, rejecting the fearmongering and sensationalism! Keep 'em coming!
Update 10/29/2008 - Thanks for your responses! The response to Focus on the Family's "Letter from 2012" was overwhelming! In just two days, Christians of all stripes and all political affiliations have sent over 650 emails to Focus on the Family telling them that we reject the politics of fear and falsehood.
We regret that we can't publish all the letters due to space concerns, but we're proud to present some of the highlights from the emails we've received thus far.
It's not too late to send your message to James Dobson and Focus on the Family. To send a message, click here.
You have, for many years now, served as a trusted voice of and for Christian witness in our country. I am deeply saddened, even disgusted, at the fear that you instilled in innocent and less informed members of the Church in our country when writing the letter from 2012. I believe strongly that we are called to action in the politics of our nation, but we must do so in the light of a living and loving God, One who I believe calls us into dialogue and reconciliation, one who gave us minds to think through difficult issues and not simply to make assumptions and "prophecies."
I am deeply disappointed and offended by your letter and have great hope that you will consider posting a public response to the droves of people who sit in disagreement with your tactics.
I am an evangelical Christian, active in an evangelical church, wife of a youth pastor. Please encourage your listeners to ask God to bless our country and its people. Please encourage your listeners to seek God's will as they cast their ballot. Please stop encouraging your listeners to hate those who think differently than themselves. This is what you are doing. You are vilifying Sen. Obama, a fellow Christian. You are giving Christian people permission and encouragement to speak out against Sen. Obama as if he were the antichrist. This is wrong. I'm living with the result of your encouragements. I'm hearing hateful things out of mouths that ususally speak the truth in love and they often reference your publications! Please steer your readers to love and good works, faith in God's soverignty and hope that God can bless us as a people, as a nation. Stop encouraging people to personalize their worst fears in the face of Sen. Obama. This is neither the faith that we are called to nor the hope that we have been given. If you differ, speak out. But with God's love and hope that He is still in control.
I am a believer in Jesus Christ, served on the mission field and have appreciated your books and ministry. After receiving 2012, I am pulling out my support for Focus on the Family not because I have gone "liberal", but because I am very disappointed with the direction you are taking. I love the church and desire unity whole heartedly, and 2012 seeks to divide the church, which is what the enemy wants. Christ transcends partisan, Dr. Dobson. Grace and peace to you, because I abhor slander, esp. in the body of Christ.
I just have to let you know that I am very disappointed in the letter you have published about the ramifications of Obama being elected president. The things you say in this letter do nothing but continue to alienate Christians from from the hurting world that we have been called to reach. You are taking a stand on an issue (homosexuality) to the exclusion of all others, and I have a hard time understanding why you believe that this one particular sin will be the one that will "ruin" our America. Sin is sin. You and I are just as sinful. I have had a stellar Christian education both as an undergraduate and graduate student, and I work in the field of mental health. So many people are afraid to come to the church and to the counseling clinic, to approach pastors and Christian counselors because of the approach you take to this issue in a public manner. Being a Christian is not about self-preservation or the preservation of an elite group, it is about sacrificing self to meet the needs of others - ALL others, whether we agree with them or not. Please, please, please be careful with the power you have.
For years I have been using Focus On The Family videos and materials in my church programs for young parents and families. I have always found you and your organization to be a great asset to our Christian churches.
However, I am appalled at the recent letter sent out by Focus On The Family Action which I understand to be an offshoot of Focus On The Family and its ministries. We have had too much anger, hate, and malevolence spread in this campaign. I can not believe this is the way God would have us act as Christians. Our God is not a God of fear; rather a God of hope, love and forgiveness. I am sure that whatever the outcome of the upcoming election our God is BIG enough to handle it, and to continue to help us work our way through our problems and difficulties should they come.
My prayer for you is that you help us by continueing to preach a gospel of hope. Also by helping us to be proactive in our Christian witness by taking the high road rather than sinking to the levels of fear-mongering.
I am very grateful for the support and inspiration that I received from your program as a young stay-at-home mother. I was saddened when I had to quit listening to your program because of the increased political partisianship that was not in the spirit of Christian love. But I am shocked by the contents of the Letter from 2012! This letter not only appears to be an act of political despiration but seems to proclaim the idea that God is somewho limited by a single election. The letter is also hateful and appeals to a great number of human instincts that are not Christian--prejudice, fear, and self-protection. Not to mention the fact, that unless you are claiming prophetic powers, there is no way you can make the claims in the letter. Most, if not all of the claims, are not even a part or even hinted at in Obama's platform.
Quite honestly, I think Focus on the Family should be ashamed and owes not only Obama but the American people an apology. THe church is losing a generation of people thanks to these kinds of hateful tactics. I know that God won't allow this to happen but as a supposed Christ-based organizaiton, I would think you would be concerned.
Proverbs 6:19 states in part that God finds detestable "a man who stirs up dissension among brothers." You are doing this very thing. I urge you to take down this hateful, fear-filled letter and ask Mr. Obama for forgiveness for maligning his character in this manner.
I grew up listening to your programs, and spending time in Odyssey. There have been many many projects that I have appreciated and thought beneficial to the Christian community but I have become increasingly concerned and now disgusted with your efforts in the political realm. Your partisan attacks and your inflammatory statements in the past couple of years have convinced me that you have strayed away from the original mission of Focus on the Family. I now hesitate to suggest your resources to anyone due to your political views and that is a loss to all of us.
Mahatma Ghandi once said,"I would be a Christian if it were not for the Christians." Mr Dobson, if I were not already a Christian, after listening and watching you smear this man Obama, I would not want to serve your God. My heart goes out to you and your organization, to have so much time and so much hate for Senator Obama. May God have mercy on you.
I have really appreciated some of the work you have done over the years - helping to encourage parents, strengthen marriages and families, and support the local church. But when you engage in partisan fearmongering and attempts to discredit your brothers and sisters in Christ, I feel sad, angry, and hurt.
If you continue to send messages attacking Barack Obama, I will have no choice but to end my support of your organization.
For as long as I can remember, you and your ministries have played a crucial role in my Christian upbringing. Your book told be how babies were made at the age of 14, when my ultra conservative parents still hadn't enlightened me. Your "Brio" magazine was my only source of American culture as a teenager growing up as a missionary kid in Mexico. "Adventures in Odessy" was one of our only sources of entertaiment. Your website has told my parents which movies their childern should or should not be allowed to watch for YEARS.
I do not see how your "Letter From 2012 in Obama's America" is in any way beneficial for Christians to read. I highly doubt that you need to convince any of your readers to vote Republican. All you are doing is putting false fear in people's minds, based on FICTIONAL assumptions.
Not to mention, when the world around us reads this letter, they will have yet another reason to label Christians as uninformed fanatics.
I happened to listen to Barack Obama's Father's Day Speech this weekend, and I would suggest that before you badmouth this man again, you take a hard listen to that speech. I would think that an organization that stands for FAMILY should find such words commendable.
I was appalled by your fear-mongering and utterly absurd letter trying to portray some post-apocalyptic dystopia four years into an Obama administration.
As a Christian, I find myself facing an uphill battle trying to evangelize to my non-Christian friends and acquaintances because their view of Christianity is shaped by hypocritical, fear-promoting and hate-filled groups who purport to speak for Christianity as a whole.
I support Barack Obama for president precisely because of my Christian beliefs. Neither political party can claim to be the perfect Christian party, but as I try to follow Jesus in my daily life, I find much more in common with the ideals and principles of the Democratic Party, and Barack Obama, than a Republican Party that serves the rich at the expense of the poor.
I work for a not-for-profit Christian radio station that airs Focus on the Family.
I appreciate Dr. Dobson's ministry for the family but absolutely abhor the way fear is being used as a way to disparage Senator Obama in this election.
It's my prayer that the holistic truth about Senator Obama would pervade Dr. Dobson's ministry and that facts about Senator Obama wouldn't be picked apart for the purpose of finding the worst in him.
The way Focus has spread falsehoods about Senator Obama is not the way I raise my family. The way I raise my family involves finding hope and seeing the best in people despite their perceived shortcomings.
I have always had great respect for you and your work and your faith commitment. My three sons, all now grown, were raised by your principles of child-rearing. I am therefore saddend now to see the tragic direction your ministry has taken. I'm deeply disappointed at the tactics used in attacking Barack Obama, a fellow-Christian who shares the same faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I'm saddened to see the witness such attacks sends to those outside of the faith we share. I'm saddened to know that people who stand on the fringes of Christianity will once again have to shake their heads and lament, "There they go again - Christians fighting Christians and trying to stir up trouble using shallow tactics of fear."
I hope you realize there are millions of individuals with a deep commitment to Jesus Christ who don't share your political views and are weary of having to hear that, because we differ politically, we are somehow less of a Christian. I respect you as a man of God and an individual deeply committed in your faith. I urge you to consider the harm that is being done to the cause of Christ when such tactics of fear and half-truths are spread thoughout the nation.
As a child, my family subscribed to your newsletters and hung on every word you delivered, believing that you were a man of wisdom. Our church bulletins contained your advice about child-rearing. Your radio show was listened to avidly. As an adult, I am appalled and embarrassed to be called a Christian with people like you spreading a message of fear in your "what if" letter about Mr. Obama. Like it or not, Mr. Obama is a fellow believer. And you are using malice in a last ditch attempt to hurt a brother in Christ. Or have you decided that since his views don't line up with yours that he isn't?
Regardless of whom is in office, God is God. He reigns and rules. He knows all. Have you forgotten that? It's sad that someone who has a voice to other Christians has chosen to ignore those truths. It's quite easy to see that you're terrified not because because of the "God is God" factor but because of what you interpret as a possible supposed infringement on a type of lifestyle that you have deemed superior to other people in this country. If you really believed that God has it all under control and not you, you would not be petrified.
The scripture that continues to roll around my heart is: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." - I John 4:18 You're moving in fear, not love.
For many years I have been a great admirer of yours and I have always held you and your work at Focus on the Family in high regard. However after reading your "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America" I must say that I am totally shocked and disappointed that you would elect to engage in such willful fear mongering behavior with an obvious intent to create hostile feelings and hatred. In my estimate such behavior is very un-Christ like. Unfortunately this is the type of bad behavior that campaign 2008 has brought out in people but really I had expected better form you.
As a pastor I find your letter to be hurtful, untrue, and mean-spirited. I think it might help if we look at the eigth commandment for guidance. Jesus wants us to put our neighbors actions in the best possible light. I assume that you love Jesus and that you love this country. Please, don't assume that just becuase we hold different biblical, theological, and political views that we are not brothers in Christ. I would hope that as religious leaders we can set a tone of love and compassion for those that disagree with our particular positions on certain subjects. I would hope that we would stay away from guessing at what might be the worse scenerios if this or that canidate wins in November. I will be praying for all of us that God leads us to love our neighbors and God with our whole heart.
As a previous donor to your organization I was extremely embarrassed by your piece "Letter from 2012 in Obama’s America". I am a faithful Christian who reads my Bible daily, prays faithfully and tries to live my life according to Jesus' teaching. This election I will be casting my vote after much prayer and deliberation of many issues that my Lord has laid on my heart. I am voting for Barack Obama for many reasons. I am ashamed that my brothers and sisters in Christ have helped to spread fear and hatred during this election season. I believe that these antics have pushed many people away from our precious Savior. Aren't we supposed to be winning others to Christ? The lies and deceptions that I have seen spread through out this election season certainly are not accomplishing our goal.
How does it reflect on our Christian witness in the world to see self-described Christian leaders engage in such blatant fearmongering in order to influence a political race? When Americans read your letter, do you think they'll come away thinking better of Christianity - or worse?
James Dobson, as a member of the faith community, I find this tactic appalling.
As Christians we have been choosing hope over fear for 2000 years. Our public witness should reflect our deepest hopes, not provoke unfounded fears.
I raised three children and often used Dare to Discipline and other Focus on the Family books to help shape my parenting skills, however I am VERY bothered by the fear the Focus people have tried to spread this election cycle about Obama.
Billy Graham has said that one of his great regrets is how he got too close to the Nixon campaign years ago...I think James Dobson's group has been used as a political pawn to be spit on and thrown away after they become useless to the republican party. They too may regret what they have done.
"Thou shall not bear false witness"...I urge you to cease the exagerations you are using to scare people to vote against Obama. Because of you the gentiles mock God's name Is 52:5
I am angry at what you are doing.
Fear is the opposite of faith. You claim to be a voice for faith in Jesus in this country, yet you engage in fearmongering tactics against your own Christian brothers. Why? Is Jesus not big enough for you?
I urge you, sir, to repent of this slanderous letter against your Christian brother, Barack Obama, and against the other Christians ("young evangelicals") cited--people who have searched their consciences and the record of the GOP and have realized they have too long been manipulated by such evil tactics as the ones you employ here.
And what is evil if not spreading slanderous, unfounded lies about your own Christian brother?
Again, sir, I urge you in love to repent.
Rev. Dobson, your book, Love Must be Tough, got me through some tough times in my first marriage. But to read you bearing false witness makes me sad, and leaves me no choice but to separate myself from Focus on the Family. The fearmongering is not becoming of any Christian. I am a born again Christian and I don't think what you're doing has any connection with the Bible. Jesus said His greatest commandment was to love Him will all our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves. How is this showing love?
I am not a supporter of Barack Obama, but I sent in my absentee ballot for McCain with a heavy heart anyway. I have never been less certain about my choice for President. This election has tired me to the core.
However, I am more saddened by the fear tactics of some influential Christian leaders during this election!
On November 5th, I will awaken to a new President and prayerfully support whomever it is, with the secure knowledge that God is still on his throne and watching over the affairs of men.
With no malice intended, Jim, you were "right on" when you advised parents regarding child-rearing in years passed but have gone off in a direction that is making Christians look like scared, mean-spirited bullies. It's hard to convince others of the love of God and the Good News he offers when the "visible ones" are shaking their fists all the time.
As a Christian Pastor I have appreciated a lot of your early work in regards to raising children and building a good marriage. Somehow the focus of your ministry has so drastically changed from your more humble beginnings I no longer recognize it. Your move to a self appointed spokesperson for the Republican Right has resulted in a loss of your credibiliity as a Psychologigist. Your attempts to create fear in the Christian community concerning this upcoming election is unexcusable and a great departure from the heart of the Gospel. I am a Christian Evangelical who will be supporting Barak Obama next week because I believe he is the best choice.
I am a pro-lifer who is appalled at the self-righteousness and hypocracy of Focus on the Family this election season: some of the statements that have been made, the smearing of Senator Obama's character, the hateful prayers against him, and so on. How does any of this reflect the love and light of Christ? Barack Obama is human, just like all the rest of us and we all have our blind spots, including you. You don't have to agree with him or vote for him, of course; but that does not mean you have to vilify him and the Democratic party either in the name of Christ.
We are all sinners, saved only by grace. Please try to show a little more of that grace towards others with whom you disagree.
Tell James Dobson and Focus on the Family how you feel about their fearmongering letter. This form will send two copies of your response: one to Focus on the Family's Citizen Link email address, and the other to Matthew 25 Network. We'll be posting some of the best responses on this page, so check back often.
