Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat!

June 1999

Dear Friends,

In my letter last month, I described a recent resolution passed by our Board of Directors outlining a “Plan of Succession” to be implemented (hopefully a decade or more from now) when the time comes for me to retire or “get promoted” to heaven. That candid and intimate look inside the ministry was shared because of the premium we place on our relationship with you, the supporters of this work. This is an open ministry that depends on complete honesty and a high degree of interaction with our partners in order to function properly. In that spirit, I would like to ask for your advice about a very important issue that is on our minds these days.

It focuses on the debate occurring now among Christians about the culture war and where we stand in the effort to defend righteousness in the public square. Some have concluded that Americans no longer care about right and wrong, and that believers should throw up their hands and surrender. We hear this talk everywhere — suggesting that Christians quit trying to influence the culture or lobby our local and national governments. It is this issue that I am asking you to address.

Here is the background to the present situation: Once before, after President Clinton was elected in 1992, the notion of abandoning the struggle was promoted by some prominent Christian leaders. A few of them leaned heavily on me at that time. This led me to ask our constituency if Focus on the Family should continue to defend the unborn child, oppose the homosexual agenda, fight for lower taxes, promote pro-family initiatives in Congress, etc. More than 160,000 people responded, and of that number, 95 percent said, Yes! Continue to defend the family and the Judeo-Christian system of values.1 Another four percent said, Yes, continue what you are doing but perhaps you should emphasize it less. Only one percent wanted us to avoid public policy altogether. For the past seven years, we have followed that advice to the best of our ability.

But now the debate has resurfaced and seems more pervasive than ever. This resurgence of isolationism is articulated in a recent book entitled Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America? The authors, Cal Thomas and Pastor Ed Dobson (no relation), criticize those of us who believe it is our duty as Christians to voice our views in the public square. Cal has been my friend for years and he has appeared on the Focus on the Family broadcast many times. He is a good man whom I respect. I’m not acquainted with Pastor Dobson, but I believe both of these men love the Lord and are sincere in what they write. Unfortunately, at least in my opinion, they are dead wrong in their perspectives about public policy. Furthermore, what they recommend for the Christian community would accelerate the decline of America if the ideas they espouse become widely accepted.

Let me respond to several of the themes articulated in Blinded by Might, the first being a perspective with which I agree. The authors make the case that the church should never be involved in politics. To “marry the pulpit” to a political party or candidate is to risk its widowhood in four years. Who can argue with this point? It is hardly a new concern. Indeed, it is patently illegal for churches and nonprofit organizations to be involved in campaigns and elections, and the IRS will revoke the tax-exempt status of organizations that violate that law. There has only been one church in recent memory that suffered this fate,2 so it is appropriate that we ask why the authors are so emphatic about condemning an activity that rarely occurs? The reason becomes clear from what they write next.

Cal and Ed expand their definition of what is political to include the great moral issues of the day. Anything being debated in the public arena — even that which reflects clear biblical mandates — is deemed to be a distraction and an impediment to the church. It is a preposterous claim! According to the authors, clergy and any organized expression of the laity should, by inference, avoid issues such as the sanctity of human life, the redefinition of marriage, pornography, gambling, safe-sex ideology, and the assault on religious liberty. As such, they provide convenient “cover” for pastors who don’t want to take the heat, and for laymen who don’t want to get involved.

The book jacket even tells us that individuals who have worked to defend morality in government have wasted their time. It reads: “Despite nearly twenty years of vigorous and sophisticated activism, [conservative Christians have] failed in [their] mission to end abortion, eliminate pornography, restore the shattered American family and usher in a better world based on ‘traditional values.’”

Admittedly, Christian activists have not won all the battles. Those of us who have fought for what we believe have faced formidable foes. Postmodernists and those who think God is irrelevant to policy still hold sway in the Congress, the judiciary, the executive branch, the entertainment industry, the news media, the universities and most other centers of power. Thus, the pro-family community has been extremely frustrated by many unsuccessful campaigns, especially by our inability to end the horrible procedure known as partial-birth abortion. But we have given our best to the effort. Frankly, I believe those who have been silent while tiny brains were being sucked from the heads of viable babies will have to explain someday why they made no protest. For Christians who have criticized our foray into public policy, I have to ask where they were when the issue hung in the balance in the U.S. Senate. Did they write or call Capitol Hill? Did they picket the White House in the rain, as did 500 Catholics, including four bishops and cardinals?3 Were they present in the Senate Gallery when the tragic fate of precious babies was being decided by a three-vote margin?4 I was there on that day, but I didn’t see Cal or Ed. And I wonder if Pastor Dobson mourned the tragedy of that vote in his sermon the following Sunday.

While it is true that we have lost some tough battles, the authors fail to acknowledge our remarkable successes. And there have been many of them thanks to the millions of Americans who have made phone calls and written to our legislators. With the help of these citizens, we defeated a measure that would have outlawed or greatly hampered home schools;5 we helped reverse a legal decision by Attorney General Janet Reno’s office to weaken child pornography laws;6 we overwhelmed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after its bureaucrats attempted to outlaw any expression of religious faith in the workplace;7 and Bill and Hillary Clinton’s endorsement of the dangerous United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was never ratified by Congress.8 And make note of this: In the month of May, the Gallup organization released the results of a nationwide poll showing that Americans are moving steadily toward the sanctity of life and away from abortion on demand. Fully 71 percent now favor at least some restrictions on the procedure!9

That is very exciting news! But why do you suppose it is happening? The answer is because pro-lifers have refused to give up. They have poured their money, their time and their very lives into the battle. And I have to tell you that I deeply regret Cal Thomas’ and Ed Dobson’s disparagement of these precious people who are steadily winning the battle for the hearts and minds of their fellow countrymen.

As for the criticism that believers have not achieved everything they set out to accomplish, I wonder what that has to do with Christian duty, anyway. Since when did being outnumbered and underpowered justify silence in response to evil? Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian, stood against the Nazi regime and its oppression of the Jews, for which he paid with his life.10 Would Cal and Ed have suggested that he accommodate Hitler’s henchmen just because he had no chance of winning?!

As this example illustrates, the greatest weakness of the authors’ thesis is with its departure from the historic posture of the church. Down through the ages, godly leaders have confronted wicked regimes and their policies. Since pastors and laymen are now being told to remain in the safety of their churches, I wonder what Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson would say about Christian martyrs, from John the Baptist11 to Sir Thomas More,12 who opposed those in positions of power. I would like to hear them attempt to make a consistent argument against Dr. Martin Luther King and his effort to end racial segregation in the 1960s. Would they consider his a wrongheaded attempt to “usher in righteousness on Air Force One” [one of Cal’s favorite laugh lines]?13 King’s followers marched directly from the church and into the street, where powerful firehoses knocked them off their feet.14 One of those marches was led by a pastor.15 In fact, during this time period, Martin Luther King was frequently on the phone with Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the Justice Department, and growing federal pressure helped break the back of the racist resistance to integration. In that sense, righteousness was indeed “ushered in on Air Force One.” 16 If it is wrong for today’s Christians and their churches to stand against laws that are unjust and evil, then it must have been wrong for the people in Birmingham to oppose an unjust system while singing “We Shall Overcome.”

What about the great debate over slavery some 140 years ago? It became a heated political issue that differentiated the two presidential candidates of 1860 and eventually led to our bloodiest war. Some Southern churches used their every resource to end the wretched practice of buying and selling human beings, and thereby separated husbands, wives and children. Who would dare criticize those courageous pastors today, who were undoubtedly maligned at the time, for speaking out against the Confederacy? No one did, and yet Cal and Ed now offer this ill-considered advice to today’s churches, urging them to ignore the current moral issues in government and society. Their argument is porous. When the church reaches the point of having no stomach for the fight against evil, especially in a day when moral foundations are crumbling, then its powerful voice for righteousness is muted and its influence in the culture is ineffective. As Os Guiness said of many churches, they are “privately engaging but socially irrelevant.”17

In conclusion, let me refer to the implications of the title Blinded By Might. That phrase impugns the motives of every Christian who has worked tirelessly and thanklessly to influence our government. It implies that the sacrifices made to defend righteousness in the culture have been products of egotism and naiveté. That is a low blow. I also find the subtitle offensive: “Can the Religious Right Save America?” The answer is no! I challenge the authors to find even one credible church leader who thinks otherwise. But conservative Christians can and must let their voices be heard in the public square. The political system does not belong exclusively to those with whom we disagree, and we should not yield them a single victory without fighting for what we believe! This is the way a democracy works. It is a representative form of government that should involve every citizen. It was designed, as Lincoln said, “of the people, by the people, for the people.”18 That includes people of faith, and it is foolish to assume that once a person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ and joins forces with concerned friends in the church, they should be disenfranchised and silenced.

Unfortunately, Blinded by Might has been used powerfully by the secular media and liberal commentators in recent weeks to discredit Christians who seek to defend their beliefs. I hope the book slides quickly into the night before it can do any more damage to the nation and to the church of Jesus Christ.

What’s at stake at this stage in our history is profoundly more significant than the whims of politics. Hanging in the balance is the essence of the Christian faith: purity, reverence for life, family stability, love for God and receptivity to the gospel itself. We are the custodians — the stewards — of this precious heritage. We can’t afford to tremble now!

Well, this brings me back to the request I made at the beginning of the letter. May I ask for your advice with regard to the continued involvement of Focus on the Family in the great moral (as opposed to political) issues of the day? Have the opinions of my readers changed since 1992? Has the Christian community given up on the effort to influence this representative form of government? Is the culture war really lost, as Paul Weyrich recently asserted?19

My colleagues and I speak out on behalf of the thousands who write to us and support us, but we can only have a meaningful influence in the public arena if large numbers of Christians and their leaders are willing to stand with us. Are you there? Do you care? I really need to know. It would be helpful if you would write us a note or a letter to explain your position.

God’s richest blessings to you all.

Your friend in Christ,

James C. Dobson, Ph.D.
President

P.S. James Garfield, the twentieth president of the United States, wrote this in 1877: “Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature.... If the next centennial does not find us a great nation ... it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.”20