Entries for February 2009

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson has stepped down as chairman of the organization, citing the need to pass the reins to a new generation of leadership, the Associated Press reports. Importantly, Dobson will continue to host the organization's eponymous daily radio broadcast. His departure means that Focus recognizes the need to prepare for the post-Dobson era. Dobson turns 73 this year. The transition won't be easy. On the one hand, Dobson—a child psychologist—is the organization's greatest asset, and phasing him out may do Focus in. On the other, Dobson has become a liability because the cult of personality around him has prevented the organization from connecting to a new generation of Christians.

Dobson is so closely affiliated with Focus that most Focus supporters don't distinguish between the man and the organization he founded in 1977, even though he stepped down as president in 2003. That explains why Dobson is staying on as the ministry's voice on the radio and as a spokesman for Focus's sister political organization, Focus on the Family Action. Focus just doesn't have anyone else who could draw the 1.5 million daily radio listeners that Dobson pulls in.

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

Responding to my story about President Obama opening public events with local folks reciting prayers, a number of readers and bloggers note that I mention the racial identities of two nonwhite invocation givers but decline to do so for a third—named Ryan Culp—whom they correctly conclude is white. One reader writes:

When the Baptist minister and the administrator for the Tohono O'odham Nation are mentioned, their races are centrally used to identify them.

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

I can't remember as big a week for Catholics in national politics since Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton squared off in Pennsylvania's Democratic primary last April. With Catholics accounting for roughly a third of Keystone State Democratic voters, the contest prompted both candidates to hire Catholic outreach directors and to dispatch high-profile Catholic surrogates.A recap of the last week:

On Monday, Pope Benedict XVI named Timothy Dolan the new archbishop of New York, the closet thing to an American pope. One of his first congratulatory calls was from President Obama. The White House had the political savvy to keep quiet about the call to the media, to avoid making it look political.

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

The Brody File says the White House is weighing the controversy over Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius's ties to embattled abortion provider George Tiller in deciding whether to appoint her to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. I wonder how much (if it all) this controversy is exacerbated by Sebelius's Catholicism and her falling out with her own bishop over her support for abortion rights. If Sebelius were a pro-choice, mainline Protestant, would she be less of a lightning rod for pro-lifers?

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

My most recent God & Country column for the new digital U.S. News weekly explains why Christian broadcasters fear the return of the Fairness Doctrine—or something like it—even more than other broadcasters. You can read the column here. The Senate has passed a Fairness Doctrine ban today, but the measure is mostly beside the point in the view of Fairness Doctrine fans and foes. From my column:

Democrats, though, say reports of the fairness doctrine's second coming have been exaggerated by conservative opinion shapers looking to stir up their base. (Privately, some conservative activists acknowledge that the threat appears remote.) The anti-fairness doctrine campaign, liberals allege, is intended to tarnish other proposals aimed at bringing ideological balance to the airwaves, which are publicly owned and which the Communications Act of 1934 require "to operate in the public interest." A recent report on the subject by the liberal Center for American Progress recommended restoring ownership caps on stations, expanding the role for local listeners in radio licensing, and charging fees to stations that shirk public interest obligations. "No one is advocating a return to the fairness doctrine," says John Halpin, one of the report's authors. "We have no interest in taking anyone off the air."

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

More on how a Jindal-Palin presidential matchup might play out, from Michael Gerson in the Washington Post :

In Louisiana, Jindal is the darling of evangelical and charismatic churches, where he often tells his conversion story. One Louisiana Republican official has commented, "People think of Bobby Jindal as one of us." Consider that a moment. In some of the most conservative Protestant communities, in one of the most conservative states in America, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, a strong Catholic with parents from Punjab, is considered "one of us."

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

A variety of reactions around the blogosphere to my story on the White House's practice of commissioning and vetting prayers for President Obama's public events.

AllahPundit at Hot Air is relishing the prospect of atheists freaking out: 

Sue, atheists. Sue like the wind . ... Exit question: Who's up for seeing Hitchens and his lawyer roll into court with a complaint to knock this one out of the park, huh? Come on. Common ground at last!