ARRGH!
We interrupt this otherwise joyous holiday season to note that in the Focus on the Family/Glenn Beck dust-up we discussed Monday, the Dobson organization has caved:
This article is no longer available.
I truly do not understand this – it is the “CitizenLink” website of FotF – it is about social action and politics – who cares if the source of good information is Mormon, Hindu, or Martian?
The absolute worst part is that in California we have just witnessed what is possible if Mormons and Evangelicals and Catholics unite politically – so how does the leading Evangelical public figure (although Dobson is rapidly being supplanted in that role by Pastor Warren – more momentarily) respond? By caving to the slighest pressure from a few grossly over-zealous types. Which does what? It weakens an already very weak and formative bridge between.
Shame on the Dobson organization.
Since we’re posting…
I was planning on taking the holidays off here, but since the bone headed nonsense above forced my hand I might as well point out that the “Warren praying at the inaugural” discussion continues at an amazing pace. I said my piece the other day, but apparently everybody wants to talk about it anyway. So, without comment, here is a sampling of this vast discussion:
Posted in Political Strategy, Reading List, Religious Bigotry, Understanding Religion | 6 Comments » | 
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Doug King on 24 Dec 2008 at 1:01 pm #
It was wrong for the Mormon director of the California Musical Theatre to lose his job over support for Prop 8, and it is equally wrong for Focus on the Family or the Christian News Network to blacklist Beck because he is Mormon.
The next time I hear a radio spot for Focus on the Family, maybe I should quickly change the channel lest I become somehow corrupted by listening to someone that I do not consider 100% religiously correct. Never mind Dr. Dobson often makes sense and I could benefit from listening to him. After all, the issue, as framed by the religious zealots on the right, is not what people say but who says it. (Didn’t the apostle Paul have something to say about “zeal without knowledge?”)
Merry Christmas! Good will towards Men! …except for Mormons like Eckern and Beck and Romney and Huntsman and …. (and me) of course. We apparently don’t deserve good will.
Thanks, John, for your right-headedness on this issue.
eto on 25 Dec 2008 at 5:09 pm #
A question for all Mormons and Evangelicals and Catholics and Jews:
Is there any source from which you would be unwilling to accept more truth?
Doug King on 27 Dec 2008 at 10:48 am #
Eto – your question is probably intended to be rhetorical, but some readers might misinterpret the lack of response. Speaking for myself I answer a resounding Yes! “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.” (Article of Faith 13; compare Phil 4:8).
However, I don’t think blacklisting “The Christmas Sweater” even approaches your question about accepting “more truth.” The Christian News Network communication said nothing about Beck’s program teaching heretical Mormon doctrine but only warned that Beck was a Mormon heretic. This would be akin to my loving the Mormon Tabernacle Choir version of “Amazing Grace” but boycotting the Tramaine Hawkins version for fear of being somehow harmed by her religion. Since the tune and lyrics are the same, a rational person would whether I was insecure about my own faith or perhaps even bigoted.
This world needs every drop of goodness it can get, no matter who provides it. (I recommend Tramaine Hawkins, by the way.)
Doug King on 27 Dec 2008 at 10:50 am #
Oops. The last sentence of the second paragraph should read, “…a rational person would wonder whether I was insecure about my onw faith or perhaps even bigoted.”
anna on 15 Oct 2009 at 10:43 pm #
Thanks, John, for your right-headedness on this issue.
Telling The Story – Part IV – ‘Jokers To The Right’ | Article VI Blog | John Schroeder on 02 Nov 2009 at 6:33 am #
[...] friends” with Mormons for a long time, dating to before the last election cycle and they have continued since. And they have usually resulted in Dobson getting beaten up by his listeners/constituency/audience [...]