Why Some People Have Been Critical of the Legacy of James Dobson

When I had returned to faith in my early twenties, if I randomly turned on Christian radio, there was a good chance that I would hear James Dobson, a person connected with James Dobson, or people discussing issues as taught by James Dobson.

James Dobson was a Christian psychologist and the founder of the influential Focus on the Family. He recently died at the age of 89.

There have been a lot of comments, both praising and criticizing Dobson as people have reflected on his legacy.

My goal here is to avoid both responses. While I often heard Dobson on the radio, I was not really affected by him for the good or the bad.

I would prefer to comment on why people have been critical, while not attacking Dobson as a person. People are grieving his loss and that should be respected.

I came across this statement today, referring to those who have been critical of James Dobson’s influence:

“Much of the hate directed against him is hatred of the Gospel and the Bible.”

That is a bold statement that raises all sorts of red flags for me. Plus, it is not quite true. Yes, there are people who disliked James Dobson for even trying to come up with a Christian model for parenting or attempting public theology. But that is not the full story.

One of the reasons some people disliked Dobson was that he was part of the movement that strongly wedded Christianity to conservative culture and conservative politics. He was also probably one of the most successful of his colleagues.

Some supporters of Dobson might not see a problem with this. They might assume that biblical Christianity presumes values that are consistent with conservative culture and politics.

But it does not.

I am not suggesting that Christianity is essentially liberal or progressive either.

Whatever one may think of the benefits of the vision for family and politics that was promoted by Dobson, they are not synonymous with either the gospel of the Bible. They were interpretations by certain segments of Christianity of how to apply faith to life.

Those who are most critical of Dobson’s legacy may be responding to the latching on of Christianity to a conservatism that seeks a return to a supposed ideal world seen in 1950s popular culture.

I know many Christians who love the gospel and the Bible who want nothing to do with Dobson’s brand of conservatism.

We must be careful when we show respect to people that we not reject potential criticisms based on false premises,