Three decades ago, co-founder Gil Alexander-Moegerle intended Focus on the Family to help strengthen Christian couples and parents. But his associate James Dobson had other ideas.
Beneath a thin non-profit veneer of cozy advice for conservative Christian couples, Dobson built a book-and-video empire devoted to antigay bigotry and phony antiabortion rhetoric.
Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin has discovered that Focus now admits its focus is no longer the Christian family.
Sonja Swiatkiewicz, Focus’ director of issues response, spoke with Everyday Christian:
She said gay marriage issue is now one of the largest for Focus.
“I would not consider gay marriage as something we are just keeping an eye on,” Swiatkiewicz said. “Protecting the institution of marriage as between a man and a woman is one of our primary goals. We receive about 250,000 communications a month from folks who have very deep hurts on this issue and request resources. We know the impact it has on the breakdown of the relationship between men, women and children.
“We work to protect or restore marriages as closely as we do on the sanctity of life beginning at conception and protecting religious liberties.”
James Dobson is no longer the leader of Focus on the Family; he has been succeeded by Jim Daly as president and CEO, and by retired Air Force officer Patrick Caruana as chairman. (Caruana, interestingly, is an investor and executive for space- and land-based war contractors.)
Yet Dobson’s spirit — not “God’s will” — lives on in the organization’s devotion to hurting faithful gay couples while doing nothing to strengthen the conservative Christian evangelical family.
