Religious Left

For the third year in a row, Focus on the Family has been forced to reduce it's workforce. This year they have layed off 202 workers making it the largest layoff in the three-year-run of layoffs. The cuts were made after a fall in donations. The video clip below is from the movie For The Bible Tells Me So ( purchase video here ).

As you probably are aware, James Dobson of Focus on the Family was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame and will be awarded today. I contacted Bruce DuMont, Chairman of the Radio Hall of Fame and expressed my discomfort with their decision. Mr. DuMont was kind enough to reply. Here is the reply: I understand the passion and anger behind your recent e-mail to me. I also understand why you find Dr. James Dobson objectionable. But to more fully understand the controversy, I feel you need to better understand the nomination and induction process of the National Radio Hall of Fame. Since 1992 the Steering Committee of the NRHOF (a project of the Broadcast Communications) has nominated individuals and programs for induction based on a criteria of on-air tenure and broadcast accomplishment. Historically, these nominations have been mailed to dues-paying members of the Museum and hundreds of established leaders of the radio industry for voting—and the actual induction. If you were not inc...

On November 8, 2008, the Museum of Broadcast Communications plans to induct James Dobson's anti-gay Focus on the Family radio program into its Radio Hall of Fame. Please contact the Museum of Broadcast Communications and let them know who they are about to induct into their Radio Hall of Fame. Call: (312) 822-0512 Email: Bruce Dumont (CEO) – brucedumont@museum.tv Email: Gina Doyle – gdoyle@museum.tv

In a recent article (from the right) voicing the opinions of Melissa Fryrear (director of the gender issues department at Focus on the Family and “previously a lesbian”) she makes the following statements: Don’t people of faith have the same right as any other American to be a part of the public dialogue? And shouldn’t Christians have the right to live their lives according to their biblical beliefs? Hey Melissa, don’t gay Americans have the right to live their lives according to their biblical beliefs (or non-biblical beliefs)? Melissa, when you “cherry pick” parts of the bible you wish to espouse it will never work. NONE of the folks who scream and yell about living bibilically are doing so. We all know the bible is FULL of rules and laws which NO ONE follows any longer. Melissa, gay churches exist! This in itself proves some religious folks don’t share all of your beliefs. Melissa, last I noticed FOF is very much a part of the pubic dialogue. In fact Mr. Dobson was recently awarded...

In a Time Magazine article by Nathan Thornburgh, writing on Wasilla, Alaska are such gems as: Palin was a highly polarizing political figure who brought partisan politics and hot-button social issues like abortion and gun control into a mayoral race that had traditionally been contested like a friendly intramural contest among neighbors. Churches proliferate in Wasilla today, and among the largest and most influential is the Wasilla Bible Church, where the Palins worship. At the 11:15 a.m. Sunday service, hundreds sit in folding chairs, listening to a 20-minute sermon about the Book of Malachi and singing along to alt-rock praise songs. The only sign of culture warring in the whole production is an insert in the day's program advertising an upcoming Focus on the Family conference on homosexuality in Anchorage called Love Won Out. The group promises to teach attendees how to "respond to misinformation in our culture" and help them "overcome" homosexuality. full a...

by Jack Hafferkamp EDGE Great Lakes Regional Editor After a slow start, the campaign against demagogic homophobe James Dobson’s induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame appears to be gaining steam as word spreads and time counts down to the induction awards dinner in Chicago planned for Saturday, November 8, 2008. While Dobson is not the only right wing radio star in the hall’s history - Rush Limbaugh was inducted in 1993 - the argument with Dobson is that he is a special case whose hate speech is beyond acceptability in a civil society. Dobson is the power behind Focus on the Family, a daily syndicated fundamentalist radio show that claims 4000 stations internationally. His over-the-top anti-gay outbursts on the radio, in lectures and books have created a backlash charge initially led by Truth Wins Out’s executive director, Wayne Besen, but which is now spreading. One difference between this year’s election process and that previously in place has been jumped on by anti-Dobson c...

Stuart Shepard is the managing editor at CitizenLink. CitizenLink is a registered trademark of Focus on the Family. In the video Stuart Shepard asked members to pray for torrential rain to drown out Obama's nomination at the Democratic Convention that is to be held at Invesco Field at Mile High, Colorado on August 24, 2008. Stuart Shepard: " Would it be wrong to ask people pray for rain? Okay, not just rain -- abundant rain, torrential rain.... 'Why would I pray for that?' Well, I'm still pro life, and I'm still in favor of marriage as being between one man and one woman. And I would like the next president who will select justices for the next Supreme Court to agree. So, I'm praying for unexpected, unanticipated, unforecasted rain that starts two minutes before the speech is set to begin. '' Although the video has been removed, as of this moment we can still see the text in a google cache version of the webpage: http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache...

advocate.com Truth Wins Out, a gay rights advocacy group, launched a campaign Thursday protesting the recent nomination of Focus on the Family founder and president James Dobson to the Radio Hall of Fame. Dobson went on to cite the parenting book of child psychologist Kyle Pruett, Fatherneed, as supporting Dobson’s claim. In a video clip posted on Truth Wins Out’s website, Pruett decried Dobson’s citation of his book. “I was disappointed, I was dismayed, and frankly, I was…mortified that my work would be in paragraphs of the conclusion that [Dobson] drew," Pruett said, adding, "There is no science that says those children [who are raised by gay or lesbian couples] are at risk.” Dobson also referred to the work of Carol Gilligan, a professor at New York University’s School of Law, in the article. Dobson portrayed her as siding with his criticism of Mary Cheney and her partner. Following the publication of the article, in a direct letter to Dobson, Gilligan wrote, “Not only did...

A recent post on GayPatriot.net by Average Gay Joe investigates an email by Peter LaBarbera. According to the article LaBarbera's total revenue (as last reported tothe IRS) was $194 million. Some other numbers from the article include the American Family Association ($16.9 million), Concerned Women for America ($10 million), Exodus International North American ($1.1 million), Family Research Council ($10.8 million), Focus on the Family ($142 million). full article

By Electa Draper, The Denver Post Colorado : A gay and lesbian Democratic group and conservative Christian lobbyists are battling over a bill expanding protections against discrimination in public life based on religion and sexual orientation. Focus on the Family Action and Colorado Family Action say the bill (SB 200)would have serious consequences, such as opening Colorado public restrooms and locker rooms to all genders and transgendered people, exposing children and women to sexual predators. Jim Pfaff, president of Colorado Family Action, said the measure could have numerous repercussions. For example, a wedding photographer would have to shoot the commitment ceremony of a gay couple, regardless of the photographer's religious beliefs about homosexuality. "The disingenuous media attack campaign utilizes bigoted, unfounded and hate-inspiring scare tactics," the El Paso County Stonewall Democrats said in a statement. "These are just scare tactics," said bill ...

Glenn Stanton, director of global family formation studies at Focus on the Family, said there's a clear consensus among anthropologists. "A family is a unit that draws from the two types of humanity, male and female," he said. "Those two parts of humanity join together, create new life and they both cooperate in the legitimization of the child, if you will, and the development of the child." Since its beginnings as a scientific discipline in the 19th century, anthropology has documented the historical and cultural variability of marriage and family forms. From ghost marriages to "female husbands" to polyandry, polygamy and cousin marriage, the cultures of the world exhibit incredible diversity in how they manage the universal problems of cultural transmission and the reproduction and care of the next generation. ... In fact, the [American Anthropological] Association requires academic recruiters who advertise with its service to state whether they prov...