Obama: Dobson "Making Stuff Up"

LOS ANGELES — Barack Obama said Tuesday that evangelical leader James Dobson was "making stuff up" when he accused the presumed Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible.

Dobson used his Focus on the Family radio program to highlight excerpts of a speech Obama gave in June 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal.

Speaking to reporters on his campaign plane before landing in Los Angeles, Obama said the speech made the argument that people of faith, like himself, "try to translate some of our concerns in a universal language so that we can have an open and vigorous debate rather than having religion divide us."

Obama added, "I think you'll see that he was just making stuff up, maybe for his own purposes."

In his program, Dobson focused on examples Obama cited in asking which Biblical passages should guide public policy. For instance, Obama said Leviticus suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination. Obama also cited Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."

"Folks haven't been reading their Bibles," Obama said in the speech.

"I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Dobson said.

Asked about Dobson's assessment, Obama said "somebody would be pretty hard-pressed to make that argument" that he was distorting the Bible.

Story continues below

advertisement

Obama supporters also responded to Dobson.

The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, a Methodist pastor from Texas and longtime supporter of President Bush who has endorsed Obama, said Tuesday he belongs to a group of religious leaders who, working independently of Obama's campaign, launched a Web site to counter Dobson at . The site highlights statements from Obama and Dobson and asks visitors to compare them. http://www.jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com

Caldwell said he has great respect for Dobson's advocacy for families, but said the criticism of Obama was "a bit over the top" and "crossed the line."

"There has been a call for a higher level of politics and politicking," Caldwell said. "So to attack at this level is inappropriate and I think unacceptable and we at least want to hold everybody accountable."

Tom Minnery, a senior vice president at Focus on the Family, responded: "Without question, Dr. Dobson is speaking for millions of evangelicals because his understanding of the Bible is thoroughly evangelical."

___

AP Religion Writer Eric Gorski in Denver contributed to this report.

Comments

[joeyp404]

"Making stuff up." Are his daughters working on the campaign?

[vippy]

That damn religion again which has no place in the workplace or anywhere else. It is PRIVATE!

[TLV]

Let me explain how most of the people of this once great nation think.....­.they feel a duty to watch continuous episodes of idiotic television, they drink themselves into oblivion because it's Friday night, they think burning tank after tank of fuel on their ATVs while drunk is FUN! FUN! FUN! and they have more tattoos per body per family than any other other group on the planet.

Obama knows this and is appealing to that crowd.
"Making stuff up" is a simple and to the point way to describe lying.

[carlgt1]

I find it funny that RepugliKKKans, who spin and invent stuff from their own mythical books, would whine when someone points out they are "making stuff up!"

[considerthis]

What part of that didn't you understand? When 3 words suffice, why add more

[joeyp404]

I understand it perfectly. I'm just waiting for the "He started it" for his next zinger.

[bogues]

If he had said, James Dobson is distorting the truth, someone would have called him an elitist for not simply saying, he is making stuff up.

[2bad]

Take note of this Dobson quote: "I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Translation: Obama is actually encouraging people to read this book for themselves to make up their own mind instead of letting Dobson tell them what he wants them to hear and believe. Dobson's interpretation being the "traditional understanding"!

[LCRover001]

I think it is more they will start reading the Bible and stop reading his interpretations of it.

Dr. Dob's income is from books sales and speeches. If people start reading the Bible for them selves they might come to the conclusion that Dr. D’s interpretations don’t mesh with how they understand the written word of God. Which would be very bad for business.

[tinarm]

The Repugnants have done more damage to Christianity and religion as whole than any other group in history. They have distorted, lied, and manipulated people into focusing on one or two issues to the point christians have forgotten that the bible is a whole book not one or two chp. or versus. If anyone reads the new testament you would understand what wack jobs Dobson, Robertson, and the rest of them are. I was raised in church, sang in a christian rock group, and left the church in 2000. I refuse to sit in a pew where a pastor tells me who to vote for. It's not his job, it is a pastors job to explain the bible to his or her best ability, but not to distort it.

[loria]

The Evangelicals need to stop believing that they are the ones with the who have ownership on the correct interpretation of the Bible. The Bible was writen in different languages and often when translated to English their are different interpretaions of the translations. I am tired of their judgement. I know that my own denomination, which is a large mainstream protestant denomination, interpretes the Bible differently, believing that it is the inspired word of God, not the inerrent word of God. Evangelicals don't speak for me on many issues. I think they need to stop believing that t hey are the sole voice of Christianity. Many people probably don't realize that a group of more than 35 leaders from many mainstream denominations (including President Bush's own denomination, Methodist, as well as Catholic, Presbyterian, Lutheran, to name a few) tried to meet with Bush before the Iraq war to voice their opposition to the war. He wouldn't meet with them. I guess he had a direct line to God and didn't need to hear from them. So, while it easy to think that Dobson and the Evangelicals are the voice of Christianity, they are not. They are one voice. Unfortunately, they are the loudest voice and their distortions get the most attention.

[wolfgangmo]

Next time you see that, go back the next week with a video camera, cell phone or digital recorder and bust his/her ass. Send the tape to the IRS. That will tie their lying asses in so much red tape that they won't have time to poop, never mind lie.

[jmndodge]

Amen!

It's not Christian involvement in political process, taking part in elections, supporting issues important to them, it is their wholesale lack of political awareness, which has allowed a couple of social issues to bind them to political positions that more critical examination would have shown offensive. The democratic process has always been designed to allow voices from many perspectives to be heard and express their hope and vision, reaching a compromise and consensus. Ideally this takes place while building a climate of respect and friendship. Common goals lead to compromise on issues which seem less critical at the moment. In the wholesale ignorance of the "Christian right" blending with the "political right" the balance was lost, the respect destroyed, and friendship lost. Tragically, I no longer feel it possible to correct the balance, without total defeat and disgrace of the moral bankruptcy of the Christian right. Perhaps the signs of some awakening within the movement will allow it to happen, but I encourage everyone to work passionately this election cycle to strongly defeat the blind conservatism destroying our nation.

[WBP]

Very well said indeed. I am sure the balance will be corrected - the FIRST step is not allowing the fundies to over turn the recent California Supreme Court decision clearing access to marriage by same sex couples. This will act as a watermark - that the tide is retreating and the worst is over...

[ltfcrazy]

Anyone who thinks the DOD could survive the Sermon on the mount didn't read it. Then again, they do unto others what they'd like done to them, so they CAN survive to do unto others again don't they?

[AMDillon04]

I think that was the point Barack was making, our DOD couldn't live up to the Sermon on the Mount.

[LibDrummer]

Dobson is a cleric. This is the exact same line of thinking we are fighting against in the "war" on terror.

RELIGION IS THE ROOT OF ALL PROBLEMS! People like Dobson and terrorist bombers for God are perfect examples of this. The worl would be a better place without any superstion or religion.

The Church is and always has been about money and power, God is just a means to an end.

[wolfgangmo]

I respectfully disagree with your generalization.

[comacoma]

And I concur.... we need a secular humanist in the White House. No "gods" in government.

[loria]

Honestly, you might need to go to another country to find that. I am not saying it's right, but I don't think a secular president could be elected in t his country, not now anyway.

[BlackWidowPilot]

Atheism no more has a monopoly on morality than the religious.

Best to judge men one at a time, by their deeds.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[euthman]

I'm a nonbeliever myself, but I think your characterization of religion is overly broad. In fact, there are good religious organizations and bad ones. As in all spheres of life, you have to judge each by considering its actions. I certainly agree that Dobson and his Focus on the Family are examples of the latter category.

[turfkiller]

Dobson does not speak for me.

He is turning religion into a bunch of sound bites. Much like the early church when Tertullian called it "the church of a bunch of bishops."

He is so far removed from Christianity but very close to self edification.

[eggman]

Quoting the Bible is distorting it? It's not a matter of interpretation that Leviticus OKs slavery and condems eating shellfish. As far as the "traditional understanding" of the Bible, one might point out that many Christians "traditionally" thought enslaving people was OK.

[CharlieMarlowe]

Except that Christians are supposed to have a new covenant relationship with God. They are not circumcised to the law and, therefore, should not be obedient to it. This makes the theological interpretation of those such as Dobson, et al, suspect. On a related note, there have been comments about the sexual proclivities of pastors. America is the land of Playboy and Puritans, so these guys are just living an all-encompassing American cultural life

[davesideas]

People who use the Old Testament to rationalize their behavior freak me out...they are essentially denying the new covenant and Jesus as the savior and son of God...don'­t want to be within lightening strike distance of those yahoos...

[leftyandproudofit]

And they also believe in a "traditional" interpretation of how the world was created.

[loria]

Not all Christians believe the world was created in seven days. Many of the largest denominations believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God and must be interpreted in the context of the time and culture it was written. So, you might be surprised to find out how many Christians also believe in evolution.

[Bramptonian]

I agree with you on this Eggman. I am a pentecostal Christian and the FACT is, passages in Liviticus seem to ok slavery. A lot of people like Dobson (Southern religious whites) were the ones holding out against the abolition of slavery and they represented the land owners (Baccra Massa) who used these same passages from Liviticus when they 'disciplined' slaves even to telling the young girls they can't say 'no' to their masters who wanted to 'sleep' with them as they had to be obedient . They constantly quoted passages from the bible to serve their own purposes to make sure slaves were so subservient, they could not even learn to read. The bible is true and what Obama said is true but people like Dobson can't handle the truth.

[turfkiller]

James Dobson does not speak for me.

He is making religion a bunch of sound bites.

Like the early church when Tertullian at the end of his life began to call the new church "the church of a bunch of bishops."

[SouthpawSass]

p.57 Dobson says “sick and deformed” children can be hit too.

p.64 Dobson recommends using "switches" and "paddles" to hit children.

p.65 Dobson recommends starting whipping at age 15-18 months, and “there is no magical time at the end of childhood when spanking becomes ineffectiv­e.”

p.68. Spank children if their bedwetting is an “act of defiance.”

p.187. Underachievers are called “messies.”


http://www.stoptherod.net/dobson.html

[BlackWidowPilot]

As disturbing as the following apparent trend amongst the GOP party elite (nd with chilling mutual root causes):

http://www.armchairsubversive.org

If Dobson honestly cared about America's children, IMHO he would have been denouncing with his usual fire and brimstone the apparent enabling of pedophiles by the GOP's party leadership, especially their *silence* on the matter akin to the institutional silence of the Papacy with their own sexual abuse scandals. Dobson, like his vaunted GOP - the self-appointed "party of Christian family values" is a hypocrite of Biblical proportions.

Leland R. Erikson

Citizen

[SouthpawSass]

“The New Dare to Discipline” by James Dobson

In this book, Dobson refers to children as: tyrant, dictator, little spitfire, terrors, brat, bratty, rebel, tornado, "little fat-fingers", "fat little legs" and "spindly legs."


CHAPTER ONE – The Challenge

On p.4 the story is told of a 3 year old girl whose mother tries to force her to take a nap when she is not at all tired. This is a daily occurrence; the girl doesn’t want a nap and is never tired at the mother’s designated “naptime”. The absurdity of the mother expecting her to sleep anyway is never commented on by Dobson. Instead, he describes the girl as “defiant,” a “tyrant,” a “dictator,” and her mother as “hopelessly beaten.” The child was crying from her crib. Dobson says she “was brazenly rejecting the authority of her mother.”

http://www.stoptherod.net/dobson.html

[ltfcrazy]

Imagine how his children are going to turn out! Does he even have any?

[comacoma]

Evangelicals reproduce asexually.­.. except for those attempting it in mens rooms across the nation.

[wolfgangmo]

Of course he does.

And they are well as well adjusted as anyone can be after spending much of their childhood chained in the basement and the remainder with a smile pasted on their faces for church/bath day.

[JerryTheAngel]

Evangelicals were used by Cheney/Bush to get their votes to ensure their election. How many speeches has Bush given on Gay Marriage and Abortion? NONE.

They are nothing but sheep. Jesus Christ taught the world to love your enemies and to turn the other cheek, which means to me, that we should sit down and talk to them. The majority of evangelicals in this country are warmongers.

They go against almost everything Christ taught in the bible. They have to maintain their cover by sending a few of their sheep to third world countries to feed the poor.

James Dobson if he had the power would be making speeches like the President of Iran. Both of them are religious lunatics.

Focus on the Family is a rouge to reel in the sheep and their hard earned cash. Nothing more. Nothing less.

[escobar]

I couldn't agree more.

[Hayduke1969]

You are correct. Most warmongers are Christians. American evangenlical theology has become inseparable from the doctrine (cult?) of militarism.

I'm always impressed by the culture of the Air Force in particular. The AF Academy is dominated by fundies who learn to drop death from the sky, while their campus is dominated by the chapel. I guess it acts as some kind of moral buffer perhaps.

These people are all evil.

It's fun is to call them on their BS. They justify the killing by quoting old testament scripture or Paul's letters or (typically) John Calvin or church "tradition­"...but never the teachings of Jesus, whom they profess to follow. Or you'll hear them say: "Jesus got mad and wrecked the temple where the money changers were"...as though that's analogous to dropping cluster bombs on innocent brown skinned folks on the other side of the planet.

[bogues]

James Dobson and others like him prey on the sincerity of the good people they claim to lead. The danger in people like Dobson and Tony Perkins, a Dobson mouthpiece, is that they convince their followers that there is only one way to heaven and that is through them. I watched Tony Perkins on Larry King Live last night and he came right out and said he finds it odd that Democrats are talking about religion at all, because it is a new topic for them. I have news for him, many democrats attend church regularly and read their bibles daily. We simply do not force our beliefs on anyone else. God could have made it so no one had a choice, he did not do it that way. If I have a choice, then for goodness sake, everyone else should have the right to choose. It will be a good day for America if we are able to elect a president who respects the rights of all americans, not just the ones who see it his way. I believe that man is Barack Obama.

[kanobi11]

http://jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com/

This is perfectly wonderful for addressing people of faith who are trying to sort out the ad hominem attacks launched by James Dobson, and it is led by, (of all people,) Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell -- one of President Bush's spiritual advisors.

It's simple, easy to read, and entirely straightfoward. People of faith defending Obama.

[gulopartisan]

What makes fundamentalism so dangerous is something not captured in the name. They are fundamentally antinomian; they do not believe in authority at all. A linguistic fundamentalist doesn't care if you can show him why it's "between you and me," because he "knows" otherwise. He doesn't care what the grammar books say, 'cause they are wrong. And so it goes. There is no recourse for discussion, diplomacy, and leverage with a fundamentalist because they do not accept the value or compulsion of anything: evidence, logic, anecdote, force. They are right because they are right -- about God, crayfish, the liberal elite, and the Dodgers, and that's that.

[Jinxykb]

Actually, as someone who was raised on Dobson (my mom adhered to his teachings on child rearing), and also with hearing him on the radio every day as a kid I am pretty confident that the guy believes every single word he says. He is a full-on nut job, but he really believes he speaks the truth and is helping people. I think Obama completely unhinges him because he is so logical and straight forward.

[darthmaul]

That's the danger of people like this, and the same can be said for their other side of the coin fundamentalist brethren radical Muslim extremists. When dealing with a "True Believer" any recourse to logic, rational thinking and discourse is pointless. I heard that Bush told his mom, that while he loved her she was not really saved, until she accepted Jesus Christ and was born again. Poor mom, doomed to purgatory!

[ltfcrazy]

That's the danger of isms and ideologies in general. There are as many paths to God as there are people on the planet. When any one person says my way is the only way, they are playing God and proposing that they know what's best for themselves and everyone else. How can I live God's will if I am running the show?
This man, like so many others, thinks he is God, or chosen by God and is therefore insane. It doesn't matter how many degrees he has on his wall, or how many books he has written, he is INSANE!