James Dobson Has Died, But I’ll Be Skipping His Funeral

This past Thursday, the news feed on my iPhone informed me that James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, had died at the age of 89, proving once again that only the good die young. If I were to have written a novel and gone in search of a demon, I would have created James Dobson, a man who had a knack of making evil seem kind, of making the profane seem holy, of making the absurd seem like good, old common sense. That he did it with an avuncular, grandfatherly approach makes what he did all the worse, akin to adding sugar to poison so more people would eagerly digest it.But it was still poison. He relegated women to the bedroom and kitchen, gays and lesbians to hell, home-schooled children to lives of social isolation and ignorance, religious hucksters and fundamentalists to the House, Senate, and Oval Office, and charlatans to the pulpit. In contradiction to every virtue he espoused, he endorsed Donald Trump for the Presidency, then served on his Evangelical Executive Advisory Board, alongside known crooks, swindlers, and cheats.Am I sad he is dead? No. I have not cried a tear, nor do I intend to. Am I sad he lived? Yes. I weep for what his life could have been, the good it could have accomplished. I weep because the impulse of decency that might have first motivated his ministry was obviously supplanted by a lust for power, prestige, and wealth. He might have started with Jesus, but he died with Donald Trump. He was a modern Judas, trading his principles for silver, like so many others in Trump’s orbit. I weep for the gay youth rejected by their parents because of Dobson. I weep for the women who never reached their potential because James Dobson wouldn’t permit it. I weep for the gullible who earnestly believed James Dobson spoke for God and heeded his counsel. I weep for the nation that elevated this man, made his biases into law, and is now cursed with a president who feigns decency, though is anything but.James Dobson was a sterling example of the depravity possible when someone claims to know the mind of God. Underneath his soft and polished voice was a hard and mean worldview, invariably condemning, excluding, and demonizing those who didn’t look like him, pray like him, and think like him.I did not mourn the death of Jerry Falwell. I did not mourn the death of Pat Robertson. Nor do I mourn the death of James Dobson. I mourn only the deaths of decency and democracy these prophets of doom hastened with their pinched and hateful views.Philip Gulley is the author of the popular Harmony series and Unlearning God: How Unbelieving Helped Me Believe.Discover my books, stories, and more by visiting Books by Philip GulleyContact Philip directly at [email protected] PHILIP FOR SUNDAY WORSHIPYou're invited to join Philip and Fairfield Friends Meeting online for our worship services (Sundays 10:30-11:30 a.m. EDT) via Zoom.Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/83152822906?pwd=UDkzR3NPNlB5N29QY0svelRkNkUwdz09Meeting ID: 831 5282 2906 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit philipgulley.substack.com/subscribe