http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/10/09/dobson_spiritual_empire_wields_political_clout/Dobson spiritual empire wields political clout
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff | October 9, 2005
First of three parts on key evangelical leaders.
COLORADO SPRINGS -- The bullet hole just inside the headquarters of Focus on the Family is carefully preserved, a reminder of that 1996 day when a gunman held four employees hostage at the nerve center of James C. Dobson's evangelical empire. According to a sign near the bullet hole, the power of prayer helped end that standoff. In those days, Dobson was known primarily as a folksy child psychologist, an avuncular figure with a popular radio show who used a heavy helping of Christian morality to flavor his advice on child-rearing.
Today, prayer is only part of what Dobson is dispersing through radio, books, and a panoply of other media as he takes his fight for family values from the shadow of Pikes Peak to the halls of Congress and the steps of the Supreme Court. To Dobson, the stakes could not be higher. ''Two starkly contrasting worldviews predominate today's moral and cultural debate," Dobson said in an e-mail response to questions from The Boston Globe. ''One side defends the traditional values that have made this nation great for more than 225 years; the other works to chisel away at that foundation."
Dobson stands in the vanguard of a crusade by evangelical Christians to place their agenda at the forefront of public debate over presidential and congressional elections, judicial appointments, gay marriage, and the ''life issues" of abortion, euthanasia, and embryonic stem-cell research. Dobson, 69, is arguably the dominant ideologist of the movement. His influence is so considerable among conservatives that, before President Bush nominated Harriet E. Miers for the Supreme Court, White House adviser Karl Rove reportedly called Dobson with private assurances about Miers's judicial philosophy.
Other key figures range from Richard Land, the politically connected Washington lobbyist of the Southern Baptist Convention, to Rick Warren, an evangelical pastor who has built an enormous following both at his Southern California mega-church and through his best-selling book, ''The Purpose Driven Life." Some are deeply involved in politics, others simply preach a message that reinforces conservative values. With the pending retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a key swing vote on the bench, these and other conservative leaders see their best chance in decades to steer American culture firmly to the right. In addition to his support for Miers, Dobson backed Judge John G. Roberts Jr., the president's nominee to fill the chief justice position that opened upon the death of William H. Rehnquist. In the last few years, Dobson marshaled enormous resources of media, money, and mailing lists in preparation for these high-court vacancies, which he calls ''a watershed moment in American history." more....
Tomorrow: Crusade in the capital
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