James Dobson gives up - thank God!

I'd say it is about time for this to happen. James Dobson has declared on his radio program that there is "... utter evil that's coming out of the United States Congress." This is in response to the passage by the House of Representatives of the Matthew Shepard Act.

For any who are not familiar with the recent bill (which recently passed the House, and should soon pass the Senate), it would extend the federal law covering hate crimes to include gay people. It is named for 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, a young man, who in 1998, was tortured, beaten and left to die in a remote area in Wyoming. His offense to the perpetrators was that he was gay.

James Dobson and Focus on the Family has been spreading lies about the nature of this bill since its introduction. By way radio broadcasts and statements, Dobson often led his listeners to rally around on behalf of God in the culture war against acceptance of gay people, among other things (for example, abortion, but I'm not going in to that here).

Now, finally, it appears that there is a change in Dobson's "war." If I am correctly reading the article from U.S. News and World Report, Dobson is giving up, surrendering, throwing in the towel. This is what I have to say about Dobson, "It's about time."

It's about time that Americans stop listening to Dobson's lies about gay people and to think about how their religious rectitude has harmed those whose sexual orientation is in the minority. It's about time that there be protection for the rights of ALL Americans. And it's about time that the Focus on the Family organization get out of politics, and back to honing in on how to accept gay family members, rather than work against them and the bonding relationships that are cherished by ALL of us.

Fortunately there is change happening in America, and we can hope for thinking people of faith to come forward to support things that are truly right.

for further reading:
by Mel White, "Religion Gone Bad: Dangers of the Religious Right."