Dr. James Dobson is not a minister and is no authority on the Bible?

[kentuck]

He has written several books on raising children and family matters but he is not a preacher or an ordained minister. He knows no more about the Bible than does Barack Obama or myself - perhaps less?
Just a point to remember when he starts criticizing people about "distorting" the meaning of the Bible. Perhaps someone should ask him what makes him an authority on Biblical issues??

[LaurenG]

1. Dobson is a psychologist. His mother used to beat him with her girdle.

poor man is so confused.

The article in a Denver magazine called “5280″ makes Dobson’s mother, Myrtle, sound like a real piece of work. Notes writer Eileen Welsome:

Myrtle Dobson was an amiable and social woman, but she didn’t hesitate to whack her son with a shoe or belt when she felt it was required. Consequently, Dobson writes, he learned at an early age to stay out of striking distance when he back-talked to his mother. One day he made the mistake of mouthing off when she was only four feet away and heard a 16-pound girdle whistling through the air. “The intended blow caught me across the chest, followed by a multitude of straps and buckles wrapping themselves around my midsection.” The girdle incident did not dampen his defiance, however. One evening, after Dobson’s mother forbid him from going to a dance, the recalcitrant teenager told her that he was going anyway; she picked up the telephone and called her husband. “I need you,” she said.

The article continues: “‘What happened in the next few days shocked me down to my toes,’ writes Dobson.”


His father canceled the next four years’ worth of speaking engagements, put the Oklahoma house up for sale, and took a pastor’s job in San Benito, Texas, a small town near the Mexican border. Dobson had two years of high school left, and when he started classes he found himself the target of a couple of bullies. Rather than turn the other cheek, Dobson wheeled around and threw his schoolbooks in the face of one annoying youth. “By the time he could see me again I was on top of him,” Dobson writes. Dobson also tried a little bullying himself, targeting a boy whom he sized up as a “sissy.” But the boy gave him such a thrashing that Dobson concluded bullying wasn’t for him.

Elsewhere the story notes that in the Dobson household there were “a million rules…regulations and prohibitions for almost every imaginable situation.” Dobson recalls being “chewed out for using the expression ‘Hot dog!’ and forbidden from uttering ‘darn,’ ‘geez,’ or ‘dad-gummit’ because they were considered shorthand swear words.”

more...

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/7938.html

[Vickers]

5. "Dobson is no longer a licensed psychologist as his California license expired in April 2008."

That from Wikipedia.

I wonder why he let it lapse?

:shrug:

[raccoon]

24. Either he's renewed it or it never lapsed in the first place.

This says it expires in April 2010.

http://www2.dca.ca.gov/pls/wllpub/WLLQRYNA$LCEV2.QueryView?P_LICENSE_NUMBER=3203&P_LTE_ID=725

[AlCzervik]

8. a 16 pound girdle? Was that for keeping things in or out?

[ryanmuegge]

13. Holy shit. A psychologist?

He's more fucked up than the people he is supposed to help.

[Rob H.]

17. From the story at the link (emphasis added)

Even more alarming, Dobson admits in one of his books that as a child he arranged a fight between two mismatched dogs. The battle involved a tenacious bulldog and a “sweet, passive Scottie named Baby,” and Dobson provoked it by throwing a tennis ball toward Baby. He writes what happened next: “The bulldog went straight for Baby’s throat and hung on. It was an awful scene. Neighbors came running from everywhere as the Scottie screamed in terror. It took ten minutes and a garden hose for the adults to pry loose the bulldog’s grip. By then Baby was almost dead. He spent two weeks in the animal hospital, and I spent two weeks in the doghouse. I was hated by the entire town.”

As any child psychologist will tell you, this type of cruelty toward animals is a sign of a serious psychological disturbance.

You deserved to be hated by the entire town, you miserable shit. That's fucked up.

[Iris]

20. Is he the one who thinks dads should shower with their sons to show whose bigger?

[jmowreader]

32. No, he thinks dads should shower with their sons so they won't turn gay

Apparently, if your son sees that you have a penis, and he knows you're not gay (Dobson apparently has never heard of a beard), he will not be gay.

I always REALLY wondered how this is supposed to work...if gayness is chosen like Dobson's ilk proclaim, which of course it's not, wouldn't showing your son your dick get him interested in penises? I'd think you'd be better off having your son shower with his mom so he could get interested in vaginas!

[Iris]

35. that man is seriously fucked up.

i can't believe ANYONE would take him seriously

[yardwork]

28. Didn't he also describe a fight between him and his miniature dachshund?

It seems to me I've seen passages quoted from Dobson's book about how he went "mano a mano" with his little dog, beating the animal up in the bathroom.

Edited - yes. It's quoted downthread. He beat a little dachshund with a belt. Nice.

[Rob H.]

33. Sounds like he has some serious control issues

if he has to take a belt to a dog that at most probably weighs 12 pounds because he thinks the dog is defying him. No wonder Dobson's such a fan of frog-detonating W--they both have cruelty to animals in common.

[ThoughtCriminal]

40. 16 pounds? "I Can't Believe It's A Girdle"

(A registered trademark of Playtex)

[BOSSHOG]

2. He makes a living off the bible

He tells his lemmings to hate in the name of Jesus Christ. Only religious zealots are sposed to "distort" the bible in this country and only to promote their "christian worldview" which in a nutshell is hate everybody we can't prostelyze.

dobson does serve one great purpose. He is living, breathing proof of how very important the separation of church and state is.

[Bluerthanblue]

6. no- he makes his living off of other people, who choose-

to adopt and share much of his bigotry- OR who don't bother to listen to him past thier own particular "pet issue".

Dobson does NOT speak for 'christianity'- despite what the media might have you think-

peace~

[jaxx]

19. You are absolutely right.

Dobson preaches against gays, and has no tolerance for anything but his own brand of what he calls christianity. He's the biggest charlatan in business.

[Swamp Rat]

3. Does he pay taxes?

Maybe he's simply a tax cheat and a bigot, or a terrorist pretending to be a minister.

[Bluerthanblue]

4. even if he was a "minister" that would not make

him an "authority" on the "bible"-

I agree Kentuck- the man is full of himself.

Obama's words were right on- and shared by many people who do study the 'bible'-

peace~

[bluedawg12]

7. Homophobe, dog beater, child beating advocate

http://www.outsidethetent.com/wp/archives/category/fundies/

I think Siggie the Dachshund, who once endured a savage beating at Dobson’s hands, might disagree:

When I told Sigmund to leave his warm seat and go to bed, he flattened his ears and slowly turned his head toward me. He deliberately braced himself by placing one paw on the edge of the furry lid, then hunched his shoulders, raised his lips to reveal the molars on both sides, and uttered his most threatening growl. …

I had seen this defiant mood before, and knew there was only one way to deal with it. The ONLY way to make Siggie obey is to threaten him with destruction. Nothing else works. I turned and went to my closet and got a small belt to help me “reason” with .

What developed next is impossible to describe. That tiny dog and I had the most vicious fight ever staged between man and beast. I fought him up one wall and down the other, with both of us scratching and clawing and growling and swinging the belt.

[sammythecat]

18. Sick bastard.

He's a demagogue with a broken personality. He's as nutty as a Charles Manson, he's just going in a different direction with a different message. He doesn't break any laws and his psychosis is shared by millions, therefore he has a certain legitimacy that Charles Manson didn't have.

[Iris]

21. That's just ridicuolus. What kind of loser has to have a fight up and down the walls with a little

dog?

[ET Awful]

9. I wonder if he realized that the same Old Testament laws that Obama referred to are the source

of Dobson's own diatribes against homosexuality?

[Bluerthanblue]

16. I'm sure he realizes that- he is counting on other people not to though-

and sadly, many people will accept his perspective, because they are too lazy to think for themselves, and too afraid of thinking outside the 'box' or making waves.

peace~

[spanone]

10. ...but he did stay at a holiday inn express, and that makes him smarter than *

[kentuck]

11. But it is amazing how many people think he is a preacher.

He is not.

[raccoon]

25. Just like that John Gray who is supposedly a "relationship expert"

and has written all these Mars & Venus books really has no credentials.

I thought this Dobson was a preacher too. THanks for the heads up.

[DavidDvorkin]

12. And what if he were an expert on some particular branch of mythology?

That would still be no reason to pay any attention to him.

[notadmblnd]

14. OMG, who knew a girdle could cause such damage to a child's psyche?

and I thought I was scarred from being forced to help my mother pull hers on. Phew, I'm glad those things are a thing of the past:wow:

[no_hypocrisy]

15. As much as Elmer Gantry ever was . . . .

[marshall]

22. Must one be an ordained minister to be an authority on the Bible?

I have no opinion about Dobson, but I do think it's possible to be an authority on something without being ordained. I personally prefer to discuss religion and scriptures with people who are not ordained ministers--they tend to be more open minded.

[kentuck]

23. That is very true...

But I think most people give Dobson credibility because they think he is a minister, which he isn't. It's just that his criticisms should be put into the proper perspective. I'm not a Doctor but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night...

[marshall]

26. Certainly the NY Times was fooled

They had to eat crow after calling him "The Reverend Dobson".
But for many denominations being ordained a minister has little to do with education--it's an ineffable feeling and an innocuous calling. Note that Al Sharpton was ordained a minister at age 9.

[librechik]

31. good point--but that would be someone other than Dobson, surely

not open-minded at all

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

27. The man thinks Spongebob Squarepants is gay.

I wouldn't trust his authority to make change for a dollar, let alone anything which requires literacy.

[yardwork]

30. In fairness, Spongebob might be gay. He's a gay role model!

[Arugula Latte]

29. Plus, the Bible is just a collection of mythology, so to base anything on it

is rather ridiculous, anyway.

[DefenseLawyer]

34. He's making a living

Everybody's got to pay the bills somehow. Sometimes I am less incline to hate these shysters as I am those who keep writing the checks.

[CraftyGal]

36. I have met Dobson...

he is very charismatic and that is why he has a huge following. I was very concerned about some of his teachings especially after I was told that a teething baby bit the mother on purpose while nursing. Really young children don't know that if you do a, b will happen. So a baby under a year doesn't understand that if you bite mom that it hurts. they could be very hungry therefore they are more enthusiastic.

I actually asked him a question because I had a difficult child who defiant at every turn. when he advocated hitting her for her defiance, I asked doesn't that just escalate the issue? He went if you question my authority, you questions God's. I walked away and went in search of otherwise that were less violent to deal with her.

CraftyGal

[bluedawg12]

37. News flash for JD- hitting kids makes for angry adults. n/t

[Vickers]

38. "if you question my authority, you questions God's"

Fair enough.

[kentuck]

39. I went into his Focus on the Family once...

while I was running for office, and defended a woman's right to choice. :-)