The Observer, September 15, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 3
Free Speech Zone: Focus on the Family Action limits true freedom and justice
My hometown of Willowick, Ohio, a mere 20 minute drive from Case, is what you could call the quintessential American suburb. The last time I was home, I was taken aback to discover that the city, already strapped for cash, had put banners reading "Faith, Family, Friends" against the backdrop of an American flag on all of the Willowick's identical telephone poles. Now aside from the obvious question of what the point of such an exhibition could be, this display is very telling of the degree to which people have been duped by social conservatives in America.
The banners, to me, represent a boundary on the community whose lines of inclusion demand that all those inside either accept the comprehensive agenda of religious conservatives, or at least accept their presence in positions of power. And for anyone who would dare oppose the sublime mantra of "Faith, Family, Friends," well, they know where they can go.
There are thousands of suburbs and small towns throughout this country just like Willowick where entire communities have been similarly bamboozled by the rhetoric of the leaders of the Religious Right in America. Perhaps the most notorious of these proselytizers at the moment is James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family. The following is a quote from Dobson discussing why he created the Focus on the Family Action (basically Focus on the Family reorganized for tax-exemption status).
"For nearly 40 years, I have been watching a nonstop, withering attack from social and political liberals that is tearing families apart, undermining marriage, belittling Christian values and endangering our children. Most of what we as Christians believe is now either viewed as passé – or openly ridiculed. It's time to say, 'Enough is enough!'"
"If we don't act now, most of what we hold dear will be trampled in the name of political correctness. But incredibly, Americans, and Christians in particular, have not responded to protect our most precious rights, liberties, and beliefs. I want to address this apathy. And the only way to do it is through an agile, aggressive cultural and family advocacy organization like Focus on the Family Action," he said.
Dobson's grievances are standard rhetoric for the religious right and should therefore be viewed as highly influential for the unsuspecting Americans who buy into it. To begin, there is a tone of desperation and necessity in this language, as if the world were going to crumble under the weight of its "sin" tomorrow.
Dobson's startling insights attempt to illustrate clearly that it is the goal of liberalism to convert all Americans into godless hedonists by means of the "liberal propaganda machine." He also seems to have been living under a rock for the past 25 years if he is suggesting that religion has not influenced political policy.
However, by far the most audacious assertion made by Dobson is that America has something to learn from yesteryear about values and morality. What Dobson is suggesting is such a narrow interpretation of the past that it ignores the majority of American history. The fact that these "traditional American values" largely amounted to the complete disregard for freedom, liberty, or equality for women, minorities, and working-class Americans seems to mean little to Dobson.
This is because the religious right movement is an attempt by affluent white people, born of fear and a feeling of inadequacy, to "recover" some Arcadian utopia of simplicity and moral clarity. While claiming to be fighting for freedom abroad (and trying to find any trace of it in American history), conservatives are seeking to limit freedom at home – in the home to be more precise – by telling individuals whom they can and cannot marry and by attempting to limit women's access to birth control. Similarly, the religious right seeks to destroy the separation of church and state by eradicating evolution from public school curriculums and replacing it with "intelligent design."
Dobson's principles, those of an intransigent and reactionary group of religious extremists who yield disproportionate power, ought to have no value in a society concerned with equality and justice.
