(King James Dobson On His Theocratic Throne)
I knew something was up when I received more than a dozen e-mails last night from irate religious fanatics who insulted me in their special “loving” way. To their credit, these zealots were slightly more polite than the despicable people who sent 50+ hate mails following my appearance on The O’Reilly Factor the night before. Most of these lovely folks wished me a painful death from AIDS or an eternity in Hell. While such letters don’t bother me, as it is part of the job – I’m always impressed by conservative manners and morality.
I soon learned that the new batch of e-mails were generated from Focus on the Family, which had launched a sleazy personal attack against me and my integrity on their online tabloid Citizen Link. I’ve often said that a Focus on the Family ad for the website should read: “Citizen Link: For People Who Don’t Think.” Here is what the tabloid said:
It looks like there will be a few uninvited guests when Dr. James Dobson officially is inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in November. Gay activist Wayne Besen, who reportedly preferred Howard Stern to win the popular vote, plans to protest the Chicago event. He’s called Dr. Dobson “an extremist who has built his empire on the backs of gays and lesbians” and “a bigot who distorts scientific research. Gary Schneeberger, vice president for media and public relations (PR) at Focus on the Family, called Besen “a PR pro of the first order.” “He puts words into sentences very colorfully,” Schneeberger said. “And that attracts the media’s attention. Unfortunately, he’s a little less adept at putting truth into sentences.”
The most outrageous lie told in the story was that it was gay activists, not James Dobson, who distorted research. I have written two books and hundreds of press releases and articles, yet I have not once been accused by a scientist of distorting his or her work. Meanwhile, Dobson has been taken to the woodshed by seven scientists in two years for twisting their science to fit his version of Scripture. Talk about spin! Here is what Focus on the Falsehoods had to say:
As for “distorting research,” Schneeberger said it’s the gay activists who are doing the distorting.
In 2006, Dr. Dobson was invited to write an opinion piece for TIME magazine about the benefits of traditional marriage to children and society. In the article, Dr. Dobson pointed to a handful of scientific studies that found mothers and fathers parent differently.
“He never said the scientists agreed with his conclusion that gay marriage is bad for society,” Schneeberger said. “He merely said their data could be used to reach his conclusion — which is 100 percent true, but something the scientists didn’t appreciate because of their ideological leanings.”
Here are the facts: The seven scientists from three countries who said that Dobson distorted their work were not so-called gay activists. Indeed, I have no idea about their political leanings any more than Dobson does. When I cold called each scientist to let them know Dobson bastardized their work, they did not even know who I was. Yet, they were grateful at the opportunity to set the record straight and upbraid Double-Talk Dobson for manipulating their research.
Clearly, Dobson is the one lying, not me. By saying otherwise, Focus on the Family is bearing false witness. They are also trying to shoot the messenger (me) because they can’t stand up to the seven scientists who accused Dobson of misrepresenting their studies for political gain.
Memo to Focus – this is not about me, this is about Dobson refusing to address the concerns of these scientists. These esteemed doctors ALL tried to address Focus on the Family and they were met with silence. What is Focus on the Family so afraid of? Why won’t they take the calls or answer the letters from the very scientists that they misquote?
Make no mistake – what Dobson did was lowbrow. He wanted to make the point that gay people are inherently worthless, so he cherry picked work from respected researchers to make it look like their secular, scientific conclusions bolstered his religious opinions. As a former child psychologist, he has the training to splice and dice this legitimate research to make it appear as if it supported his erroneous and unsubstantiated conclusions. Thus, it is fair to conclude that Dobson knew exactly what he was doing and therefore his distortions were likely deliberate.
Dobson should apologize for his outrageously immoral behavior. Notice that in the Citizen Link article, he did not mention that there were SEVEN researchers who took him to task in a period of two years. Notice, that he and his PR puppet Gary Schneeberger did not link to any of Truth Wins Out’s videos.
By withholding such crucial information, Focus on the Family ensured that their members who read the tabloid story were unable to judge the veracity of Dobson’s claims. Leave it to Focus on the Family to give their fans half the story and a quarter of the facts so they are unable to come to their own conclusions. Sometimes, it seems this organization disrespects their own members and donors, even more than the gay community.
Focus on the Family must realize that Truth Wins Out is determined to expand its Respect My Research program in the coming year. We are only going to make lying more difficult for this organization. Dobson and Schneeberger are playing a game they are not going to win – as the Truth is a powerful weapon that can overcome the money-changer amounts of money that flow through their luxurious castle in Colorado Springs.
