There are certainly reasons for evangelicals to have concerns about Obama -- based on his extreme views on abortion, judicial nominees, Iraq (his plans for a precipitous withdrawal would probably trigger mass death and perhaps even genocide) and other issues. But critics of Obama have an obligation to provide a fair and honest critique, and the attacks leveled by Dobson fall terribly short of that standard. If Christian conservatives want to be taken seriously, they need to make serious arguments and speak with intellectual integrity. In this instance, Dobson didn't. He has set back his cause and made some of us who are evangelicals and conservatives wince.
You should know that you're in trouble when even those who normally occupy the same moral, ideological, and theological ground you do are scattering as if you're radioactive. So it is with James Dobson, who not only gives Christianity a bad name, he's become the poster boy for religious intolerance and bigotry.
I could care less that Dobson disagrees with Sen. Barack Obama on...well, just about everything, really. I'd expect nothing less from a man whose brand of Christianity could only fairly be described as "slash-and-burn". While Obama at least speaks the language of inclusiveness and tolerance, Dobson's theology tends to be more of the "kill-'em-all-let-God-sort-'em-out" variety- where one and only one possible interpretation of Scripture is possible...and it's Dobson's. Anyone who dares to disagree is a heretic, and deserves to burn for all eternity in Hell. So much for the vision of a loving and understanding God....
When Conservative Evangelicals such as Peter Wehner feel the need to speak up and remind us that not all of them are intolerant, bigoted nutjobs, you kinda get the feeling that Dobson's not exactly being welcomed with open arms. I realize this will sound condescending- which is not my intent- but it's comforting to realize that even Conservative Evangelicals have minimum standards of ideological and theological silliness.
I would never expect that Conservative Evangelicals would march in ideological and/or theological lockstep behind Sen. Obama. I think the least they could do, though, is to honestly evaluate Sen. Obama's attempt to integrate his faith into his political vision. At least we have a Presidential candidate who's willing to live his faith, instead of using it as a bludgeon to convert the federal government into the private playground of Dominionist theocrats.
I certainly don't begrudge the Religious Right their place at the political table. They have every bit as much right to have their voices heard as "Godless Libruls" such as myself. What they do NOT have the right to do, however, is to force their narrow theology and political vision down the throats of those who don't share their beliefs. I have no problem with the idea of having an honest and open debate with those who think differently; they only constitute a threat when they seek to deny me the rights they demand for themselves. When Conservative Evangelicals like Wehner publicly bitch-slap bigots like Dobson...well, it makes me think that maybe, just maybe there might be hope for this world.
Maybe.
