According to a statement from the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, conservative Christian leader James Dobson, who started Focus on the Family and was formerly referred to as “the nation’s most influential evangelical leader,” passed away on Thursday.
Dobson, a child psychologist by profession, rose to fame in the 1970s by offering parenting guidance in books such as “Dare to Discipline.” He impacted a generation of evangelical parents with this effort.
In the early 1980s, he assisted in the founding of the Christian think tank Family Research Council after founding Focus on the Family in 1977. In addition to working against LGBTQ+ rights, he was a fervent opponent of abortion rights and the teaching of evolution in schools. According to Focus for the Family, “transgender ideology is a lie from the pit of hell” and homosexuality is a “particularly evillie of Satan.”
Dobson felt that the Bible ought to guide public policy and that the wider acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals in society ran against to his views on the Bible and the family.
“That decision is not really about gay marriage,” he remarked in reference to the Obergefell ruling to legalize same-sex marriage on the Christian TV show Andrew Wommack Ministries. The entire culture battle is at issue. That one choice cost us the entire culture war.
Political leaders sought Dobson out as his influence among cultural conservatives increased. Dobson was frequently asked to visit the White House in the 1980s to confer with President Ronald Reagan and his administration. Dobson joined the Commission on Pornography under Attorney General Edwin Meese in 1985.
At the height of his power, Dobson’s uncompromising conservatism infuriated some Republican leaders. Dobson cautioned during the 1996 presidential campaign that if the GOP platform’s anti-abortion tenets were softened, evangelical voters would flee in large numbers from the Republican Party. Additionally, he took issue with proposals that Bob Dole, the party’s presidential nominee, pick a running mate who supported abortion rights.
He had a profound effect on politicians, parents, and clergy.
“His legacy will last a lifetime,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, in a statement. “Very few people have had the positive, Christ-honoring impact on the family as Dr. Jim Dobson.” “Dr. Dobson will be missed, but like other influential Christian leaders of his era, he has raised many more in his wake.”
The Religion News Service and NPR worked together to generate this report.
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