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Dobson Distorts Faith, Threatens Democrats
Fundamentalist leader James Dobson reads from a small Bible, having shrunken the Christian moral agenda to the anti-abortion and anti-homosexuality issues.

Puffed up from President Bush’s election, Dobson now threatens to put six Democratic senators in “red states” in his “bull’s-eye” for defeat if they filibuster against conservative judicial nominees.

According to the New York Times, Dobson’s threatening letter listed Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Mark Dayton of Minnesota, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Bill Nelson of Florida, all of whom are up for re-election in 2006.

Both mainstream clergy and Democrats of faith need to push back against Dobson’s intimidation, albeit for different reasons.

For clergy, the driving reason to oppose Dobson is theological integrity. Dobson corrupts authentic Christian faith when he cuts down the Bible’s moral agenda to a few issues and then prioritizes those issues as the only ones by which to judge a public servant.

Based on the quantity of passages, the big Bible actually prioritizes different issues than Dobson does, such as caring for the poor, practicing integrity in the marketplace, treating strangers with hospitality, observing the Sabbath and telling the truth.

In addition to distorting the biblical witness, Dobson leads the nation into idolatry, making god-like something that is thoroughly secular. Dobson does this when he targets members of one political party, implying that GOP means God’s Only Party. Such idolatry represents the polar opposite of authentic faith....