American RTL Action, the political 527 group, is exposing Focus on the Family’s Dr. James Dobson for violating his pledge in which he invoked the name of God by declaring that he is voting for John McCain…
On April 28, 1990 at the Washington D.C. Rally for Life Dr. Dobson stated, “I want to give a pledge to you on a political level… I have determined that for the rest of my life, however long God lets me live on this earth, I will never cast one vote for any man or woman who would kill one innocent baby.” (See video at ARTLaction.com.) James Dobson is violating this pledge by voting for John McCain for president, a Republican who has recently voted to authorize funding to kill some children by surgical abortion.” – Christian Newswire
Dr. James Dobson made that statement 18 years ago. Believe it or not, he is human, and humans do make mistakes. Sometimes it is more important to do what you believe to be right rather than to hold dogmatically to something that you said almost two decades ago. For Dobson, it is the choice between a lot of babies being killed, or a lot more babies being killed. For him, the logical, but hard-reached conclusion is that he should support John McCain – being the most pro-life presidential candidate, not to mention his VP candidate, Sarah Palin.
“The ARLA [American Right to Life Action] says Focus founder Dr. James Dobson violated a pledge to God to never back a candidate who supports abortion. Dobson recently said on his radio show that he would “pull the lever for John McCain” if the election were held today” – Denver Post
They responded by protesting Dobson’s statement, trespassing on Dobson’s Focus on the Family premises, and refusing to come out until escorted out by the police. Get your act together ARTL. Why are you wasting time and effort on protesting the work of those who are more closely aligned to yourselves than almost any other group in existence? Sigh…
Jill Stanek commented,
“Sigh… I have good friends and respected pro-life colleagues who are members of American Right to Life. They did such a good job establishing credibility with their Sheets of Shame huge pro-life sign at the Denver National Convention, and then they had to do this. It’s as if they can’t handle respect.” – Jill Stanek
To finish, here’s an excerpt from Rebecca Orczeck‘s article, Incrementalism Vs. Purism In The Abortion Debate,
“Purists will not consider voting for a candidate who has a history of voting for any abortion legalization (even within the context of conceding some practices in order to get others outlawed) or does not support the complete and immediate end of abortion.
Incrementalists, on the other hand, work toward getting abortion completely outlawed, using smaller steps when necessary. They will vote for a candidate that is pro-life for the majority of their voting history.
The debate is basically about choosing the lesser of two evils; do you vote for someone who believes in outlawing most of abortion, or hold out for abortion to be abolished quickly, in one step?
Personally, I believe there are great intentions on both sides of the debate. I don’t know a single incrementalist who would turn down a complete abolition of abortion. In that way I believe we would all be purists, in an ideal situation. On the other side of the opinion, the purists have it right that incrementalism is a one step forward, two steps back dance.” – Bella Online
Definitely worth reading the entire article there.
Dr. Dobson made the statement 18 years ago, but he broke his vow to God last week. Human or not, he must be held accountable for his sins. His obsession with political power is his downfall, and those that continue to encourage his bad behavior are also responsible for the continued killing of millions of unborn children. Jim Dobson, like National Right to Life and other so called “pro-lifers” are comfortable with playing the politics of regulating abortion, but seem scared to death with the idea of actually ending it.
Near the end of his life Wilberforce acknowledged how incrementalism was a failure and he should have went for an all out ban of the slave trade. We can learn a lot from history.
Dobson wants to be a Christian leader and in doing so has more accountability than those with lesser responsbilities. He should not have made a pledge to God in front of millions of people and then continually play the tape at the welcome center at Focus on the Family Headquarters.
Then he breaks the pledge as if it is not significant for political gain thereby demonstrating bad leadership under Christ’s headship. He at times brings up political issues on his radio show and gets millions of people to call so he has a lot of influence. If he is that influential he needs to be correct in his theology and be held accountable to what he says because he is a representative of Jesus in a high profile position.
Thanks for your comments. I can’t say I know much about Dr. Dobson… Is he really scared to death of ending abortion? That would be terrible indeed.
I’ll keep my eye on proceedings.
Andy, I hope you’ll permit this press release here. It explains a lot about the Dobson protest…
For Immediate Release
http://artlaction.com/release/20080903/artla-rebukes-dobson-breaking-his-pledge-god
American RTL Action Rebukes Dobson for Breaking his Pledge before God
Colorado Springs, CO –American RTL Action, the political 527 group, is exposing Focus on the Family’s Dr. James Dobson for violating his public pledge in which he invoked the name of God. Dr. Dobson explicitly violated his pledge by declaring that he is voting for John McCain. ARTL members will protest Dr. Dobson at his headquarters at 8655 Explorer Drive in Colorado Springs on Thur. Sept. 4, beginning at 7:45 a.m.
On April 28, 1990 at the Washington D.C. Rally for Life on video and to hundreds of thousands of Christians, Dr. Dobson stated, “I want to give a pledge to you on a political level… I have determined that for the rest of my life, however long God lets me live on this earth, I will never cast one vote for any man or woman who would kill one innocent baby.” (See pledge video at ARTLaction.com.) James Dobson has endorsed John McCain for president, a Republican who has recently voted to authorize funding to kill some children by surgical abortion.
American RTL Action calls upon Jim Daly, the president of Focus, to take down the video of Dr. Dobson’s pledge which still plays for visitors at their Welcome Center. Dr. Dobson has broken the public oath which he repeated over a period of years including on his Focus on the Family radio program in March of 1995 saying, “I am committed never again to cast a vote for a politician who would kill one innocent baby,” referring to the rape and incest ‘exceptions,’ “which are a window to the soul of a ‘pro-life’ candidate,” said ARTL Action president Steve Curtis.
“John McCain funds the killing of countless children,” said the group’s director of research Darrell Birkey, “for example by voting to allocate monies on Oct. 27, 2005 for tax-funded surgical abortion if the baby’s father is a criminal, that is, a rapist.” The official Senate.gov site documents McCain’s Yea vote on the Health and Human Services Appropriations Public Law 109–149 and the Government Printing Office documents that McCain’s vote authorized funding for surgical abortion to kill an unborn child whose father is a criminal as the law states, SEC. 507. (a) “funds are appropriated in this Act” that includes coverage of abortion, SEC. 508. (a) (1) “if the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.”
[Of course National RTL misleads Christians on Republican candidates by ignoring their pro-abortion votes; and they claim that McCain: “Voted consistently against federal funding of abortion,” by ignoring his votes that funded abortion; funded dissecting the tiniest children; gave millions to Planned Parenthood; etc. A NRTL 100% rating is a near-certain indicator that a Republican is pro-choice with exceptions.]
“Dr. Dobson is violating the pledge he took before God,” said Birkey, “by voting for John McCain. Both the Sarah Palin distraction, and the candidate’s rhetoric to Rick Warren claiming he believes that human rights begin at conception, are belied by John McCain’s long tolerance of chemical abortifacients and funding of the dissection of the tiniest embryonic boys and girls.”
“In violating his 1990 pledge in which he invoked the name of God, Dr. Dobson has lost the moral authority to speak for Christians,” said Curtis. “He can speak for Republicans who do not fear God, but he cannot speak for the Body of Christ. Jim Daly, please remove that video of Dr. Dobson’s broken pledge from the Focus on the Family Welcome Center; you dishonor the Lord as you portray Dr. Dobson as principled and as keeping his oath before God.”
Last week ARTL Action unfurled the massive Sheets Of Shame abortion protest sign on a mountain overlooking the DNC in Denver. “American RTL will expose both Republican and Democratic politicians who advocate the killing of unborn children,” said Curtis, who is also a former chairman of the Colorado Republican Party. And ARTL Action reminds Dr. Dobson that Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount warned His followers against invoking God’s name in an oath, and regardless, forbade them from breaking their word. In the New Testament the apostle James wrote, “Do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No,’ lest you fall into judgment.”
John McCain repeatedly votes to give millions of dollars to foreign and domestic abortion providers including Planned Parenthood. One week after pro-abortion Rudi Giuliani dropped out of the primary race, Republicans for Choice endorsed John McCain. And his Sanctity of Life campaign webpage doesn’t even mention the words conception, rape, incest, fertilization, nor the phrase human life amendment. Further, McCain refused to co-sponsor U.S. Senator Roger Wicker’s life-saving S.3111 and refuses to endorse Colorado’s historic Personhood amendment initiative which is on their statewide November ballot. “McCain is as Jesus warned in Matthew 7:15,” said Birkey, “a wolf in sheep’s clothing, manipulating Christians into voting for someone who continues to kill the innocent preborn.”
The group’s website has a test for a Christian to rank his own loyalty to God as compared to Republican politics. A believer need only consider whether he approves of Dr. Dobson violating the pledge he made before God to increase the chance of victory for a Republican candidate in November. As Jesus said, “No man can have two masters,” yet Focus on the Family leads Christians to worship the Republican Party as an idol. American Right To Life Action urges everyone, please trust and obey God above all.
For more information:
American RTL Action
1-888-888-ARTL
office@ARTLaction.com
Thanks for the press release Anon. I have a bit more perspective on the issue now, but I still think that Dobson is allowed to change his mind. Though, it would have been far more wise of him to make a public statement, explaining why he was taking such a drastic step, instead of blithely going back on his word without any explanation.