2001--In his Nationally syndicated Column Date Janurary 7, 2001  [pmi-note that:

1. Dr. Dobson never quotes God's Word on the subject of tough love through confrontation.

2. Secondly, he promotes a secular process/organization.

3. Thirdly, the tough love confrontation that is Biblical-though not identified as Godly, and the nature of the problem-denial, that Dr. Dobson does mention are the same Biblical steps that he has so stubbornly rejected towards himself, for many years.

4. Fourth he suggests children can go for help without their parents knowing--isn't this the same principle he opposes about teens getting abortions without their parents knowlege?

5. Dr. Dobson send people needing help to this secular organization and not to God's body where they can get everlasting help and life.

God says leave this man alone and stop supporting him until he falls and repents...just like Dr. Dobson says should be done to alcoholics. Everyone who supports Dr. Dobson and Focus On The Family with money, gifts, verbal and non-verbal support contribute to his willfull sinning and the destruction of those who do not know better...May God have mercy on their souls...

ALCOHOLIC MUST BE CONFRONTED IN SPIRIT OF TOUGH LOVE, Dr. Dobson writes:

"Q. My husband drinks excessively.  Aside from getting help for my family, what should I do specifically for him?  How on earth am I going to get him to go to Alcoholics Anonymous or some similar treatment program?  He is deep in denial, and I'm not even sure he's thinking right now.  He couldn't make a rational decision to save his life.  How am I going to get him to cooperate?"

A: You’re right about the difficulties you face. Begging won't accomplish anything, r husband could be dead before he admits he has a problem. Indeed, thousands die each year while denying that alcoholics.

That’s why Al?Anon teaches family members to confront with love. They learn how to remove the support systems that prop up the disease and permit it to thrive.  They are shown how and when to impose ultimatums that force the alcoholic to admit his or her need for help. And sometimes they recommend separation until the victim is so miserable that his or her denial will no longer hold up. In essence, Al?Anon teaches its own version of the love?must be?tough philosophy to family members who must implement it.

I asked Bob, a recovered alcoholic, if he was forced to attend Alcoholics Anonymous, the program that put him on the road to recovery. He said:

    "Let me put it this way. No one goes to AA  just because nothing better to do that evening. Everyone there has been forced to attend initially.  You just don’t say “On Monday night we watched a football game and on Tuesday we went to the movies. So what will we do on Wednesday? How about going over to an AA meeting?' It doesn't work that way. Yes, I was forced ? forced by my own misery. Pauline allowed me to be miserable for my own good. It was loving duress that moved me to attend."

Though it may sound easy to achieve, the loving confrontation that brought Bob to his senses was a delicate maneuver. I must re?emphasize that families should not attempt to implement it on their own initiative. Without the training and assistance of professional support groups, the encounter could degenerate into a hateful, vindictive, name-calling battle that would serve only to solidify the drinker's position.

Al-Anon Family Groups and Alcoholics Anonymous are both listed in local phone books.  Also to be found there is a number of the Council on Alcoholism, which can provide further guidance. For teen?agers of an alcoholic parent there is Alateen. Teens can go there and share without their parents' permission or knowledge, and its free.

AS of August 1, 2000 (Chuck who sought the information from FOTF executives) is saying that "Dr. Dobson IS a member of a local Nazarene church but is not allowed to give out the name"--which functionally means there is still no biblical recourse to address using Matthew 18 and Luke 17. Dr. Dobson's shameful behavior continues and now includes his so called church since they do not hold Dr. Dobson accountable for his actions.

August 1, 2000: 11:18am CDT, upon calling many Nazarene Churches in Colorado Springs I found Rev. Zell Woodworth is Dr. Dobson's pastor at the Nazarene Church Eastborough 4123 E Pikes Peak Ave COLORADO - SPRINGS, CO 80909 719-596-1929 I will attempt to bring these issues to Eastborough ruling Elders for the continuing of Matthew 18-Third Step of "Telling it to the Church". http://www.eastborough.org and Pastor Zell's email is PastorZell@eastborough.org

August 1, 2000:2:28pm CDT Rev. Zell Woodworth wrote back saying,

"Dear Sir, Eastborough, nor it's Church Board, are interested in hearing about your dispute with Dr. Dobson.

His, Pastor Woodworth" Enough said to now treat them as a non-church...Lord, Lord Lord...

M. Scott Peck's work "People of the Lie" proposes that evil arises from a kind of malignant narcissism. Malignant narcissism is, in Peck's definition, a self-love so consuming that it devours everything around it, but especially the truth.

"James Dobson's War on America" by Gil Alexander- Moegerle, shows how one man's malignant narcissism looks, both as writ small onto the lives of associates, and as scrawled large onto a nation's politics. "James Dobson's War on America" gives a revealing look inside the $100 million a year, 1200-employee parachurch empire known as Focus on the Family (FotF) and also a look inside the heart of its pharaoh, James Dobson. And, just as important, this book gives its readers a look inside the psychology of the conservative wing of Christianity, in which there is much good as well as much evil.

James Dobson is a minister's son, raised to follow his father's footsteps to the pulpit of the Church of the Nazarene. Rather than become a minister, Dobson earned his Ph.D. in psychology and served as an Associate Clinical Professor at the USC School of Medicine and on the staff of Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.

Central to understanding Dobson's psychology is understanding The Nazarenes. The church is a "holiness sect," which believes that human beings can attain such exalted states of grace (called "Entire Sanctification" or "The Second Work of Grace" or "Perfect Love") that they are incapable of sin. According to Alexander-Moegerle, Dobson believes that he is inerrant. So, for example, when Dobson appears enraged, he is actually agitated; when he slanders someone, he is merely administering a brotherly rebuke; and when he lies, he is merely repeating what the Holy Spirit has whispered in his ear.

Other facts about Dobson: he is a multimillionaire, and owns a stable of Arabian horses. He has a mailing list of 3.5 million, and can generate hundreds of thousands of letters to Congress from a single radio broadcast. He acts as a kingmaker in the Republican Party. Alexander-Moegerle confirms that Dobson excludes minorities and women from senior positions. Dobson is intensely homophobic, finding homosexuals "unnatural" and "disgusting." That this attitude is in flagrant contradiction with scripture does not register.

Alexander-Moegerle also came from a conservative Christian background. He worked on behalf of FotF from 1977-1980 as vice-president of Domain Advertising Agency, then joined FotF as a vice-president in 1980. In 1987, he was forced to resign from FotF, and in 1988, he filed a civil lawsuit against James Dobson and FotF for wrongful termination, invasion of privacy, interference with business dealings, and infliction of intentional emotional distress. The suit was ultimately settled in 1991, and the terms of the settlement have limited Alexander-Moegerle's freedom to speak about the issues in full detail. Still, what he has been able to publish has resulted in a remarkable book that penetrates the secrecy in which the Dobson empire is enshrouded.

The portrait of James Dobson the mortal, as drawn by Alexander-Moegerle, is of an angry, emotionally rigid, vengeful man. Alexander-Moegerle recounts a number of vignettes that illustrate these qualities. Although Dobson is a licensed psychologist, he apparently participated in breaching the confidentiality of counseling sessions of his employees and their family members. Alexander-Moegerle says that Dobson knew intimate details of the counseling sessions of various people, details that he could only have obtained by persuading the counselor to betray the professional obligation to secrecy.

Another episode that illumines Dobson the man is how he dealt with his mother's death. As she was dying, and had become confused and unable to recognize family members, Dobson delegated the duty of visiting her to an employee given the pseudonym "Rick Johnson." After Mrs. Dobson's death, James Dobson dedicated four radio broadcasts to her memory. Then, rumors that Johnson had mishandled funds of elderly pensioners came to Dobson. Without supporting evidence, Dobson formally accused Johnson of wrongdoing and paid an attorney $28,000 to investigate Johnson's finances. The investigation revealed no evidence of misuse of funds or any other questionable activity, but even so, Dobson asked Johnson to leave membership in the church they both attended.

On the political level, Alexander-Moegerle shows that much of the peculiar social legislation emanating from Washington is in direct response to pressure from Dobson. Much of the paranoia about the decline of American society is fed by Dobson broadcasts, and much of the anger in political discourse is traceable to Dobson's demonization of opponents.

Foibles such as Dobson's anger, rigidity, and self-righteousness are part of being human. Power, however, magnifies the effects of the foibles of fallible human beings, making the vast power that Dobson has accumulated a clear and present danger. Alexander-Moegerle points out that Dobson has argued in separate venues that FotF is and is not a church. Aside from the benefits of tax exemption, Dobson has used the claim that FotF is a church and the powerful protections of the First Amendment to claim exemption from all laws having to do with discrimination in employment and invasion of privacy. Amazingly, the court accepted this argument, placing Dobson effectively above the law. Yet separately, Dobson has asked members of the media to sign a statement that they would not refer to him as a minister or evangelist; when they have so titled him, Dobson has become livid and accused them of attempting to discredit him. And, of course, under tax law, FotF is not a church. If it were, it would clearly be violating Federal election law by endorsing candidates and engaging in partisan politics.

It is very good news that a senior executive of Dobson's empire has decided that truth is important. The light of this story has yet to penetrate the smog of media scandal peddling, but "James Dobson's War on America" signals that this wing of the religious-corporate empire is vulnerable. One hopes, of course, that one day the IRS, the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department will rouse from their long slumber and notice that the Federal Treasury is being used to finance political campaigns through the use of tax exemptions.

The truth, though, is more powerful than Caesar--than the temporal power of the big money behind the corporate evangelistic machines. Dobson's associates and viewers will no longer be able to look at him without remembering that he is, after all, a man, and fallible. The spell with which Dobson has protected himself from scrutiny is broken. One can predict, therefore, that the days of his immoderate influence are waning.

One point that Alexander-Moegerle did not address is the question of the potential for abuse of the pastoral counseling information that FotF collects. Millions of people call in at tormented times in their lives, and share their innermost secrets with a stranger. Some of what they say about their family members is surely exaggerated, false, or even malicious. Computer technology makes it possible to construct databases of this information--and, as those familiar with information technology know, databases never die.

From Alexander-Moegerle's narrative, one can tell that there is some usage of such archival material for marketing purposes. FotF is, as Alexander-Moegerle says, quintessentially a marketing enterprise. The potential for abuse of confidential information, however, is very great, and the pastoral counseling industry is utterly unregulated--perhaps even above the law. Just as Dobson's personal flaws in his attitudes toward women, minorities, and gays are magnified by his power onto the political stage, the potential exists for abuse of the confidentiality of counseling on a mass scale. There have been "shepherding" scandals before, in which the head of a cult uses his knowledge of the secrets of his followers to manipulate them, but these have involved relatively small numbers of people. If FotF were to be used in such a manner, the repercussions would be major and national.

One final note on this book. When Alexander-Moegerle was searching for an alternative to the Dobson cult, the Reverend Barry Lynn, who heads Americans United for Separation of Church and State, seems to have been a wise guide. The importance of the reconciling role of people of faith such as Barry Lynn is poorly understood among secular opponents of the religious right. To use a scriptural phrase, the members of religious cults such as FotF "have gone out from us"; America has been wounded by the division. Individuals must reach across denominational and political boundaries to greet one another as brothers and sisters. When men of good will (such as Lynn) do so, they heal us, too.

((c) 1999 by Joel Swadesh. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced without
 the author's permission. E-mail: JSwadesh@aol.com. This article originally appeared in 
The Allodium on October 1997 . Please contact The Allodium for permission requests.

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