View source for James Dobson

{{Short description|American evangelical Christian psychologist and author (1936–2025)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Use American English|date = September 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2025}}
{{Infobox religious biography
| name               = James Dobson
| image              = James Dobson 2noprofile.jpg
| caption            = Dobson in 2013
| birth_name         = James Clayton Dobson Jr.
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1936|4|21}}
| birth_place        = [[Shreveport, Louisiana]], United States
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2025|8|21|1936|4|21}}
| death_place        = [[Colorado Springs, Colorado]], United States
| spouse             = {{marriage|Shirley Deere|1960}}
| children           = 2
| education          = [[Point Loma Nazarene University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[University of Southern California]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
| works              = ''[[Marriage Under Fire]]''
| religion           = [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical Christian]]
| founder            = {{plainlist|
* [[Family Research Council]]
* [[Focus on the Family]]
* [[Family Policy Alliance]]}}
| website            = {{official URL}}
}}
<!--* Please view the Wikipedia Manual of Style regarding naming conventions at Wikipedia:NAMES#Academic_titles before editing here. Do not add titles like "Dr." or post-nominal letters like "Ph.D.".-->

'''James Clayton Dobson Jr.'''{{efn|name=common name|He is commonly referred to as "Jim Dobson".}} (April 21, 1936 – August 21, 2025) was an American [[evangelicalism|evangelical Christian]] author, psychologist and founder of [[Focus on the Family]] (FotF), which he led from 1977 until 2010. In the 1980s, he was ranked as one of the most influential spokesmen for [[Social conservatism|conservative social positions]] in American public life.<ref>{{cite book |last=Detwiler |first=Fritz |title=Standing on the Premises of God The Christian Right's Fight to Redefine America's Public Schools |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mdWLvULyG2YC&pg=PA68 |year=1999 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-1914-5 |page=68 |access-date=January 4, 2021 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119190733/https://books.google.com/books?id=mdWLvULyG2YC&pg=PA68 |url-status=live }}</ref> Although never an [[ordained minister]], he was called "the nation's most influential evangelical leader" by ''[[The New York Times]]'' while ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' portrayed him as being a successor to evangelical leaders [[Jerry Falwell]] and [[Pat Robertson]].<ref name=nytimes1>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/01/politics/evangelical-leader-threatens-to-use-his-political-muscle-against.html?_r=0 |title=Evangelical Leader Threatens to Use His Political Muscle Against Some Democrats |last=Kirkpatrick |first=David |date=January 1, 2005 |access-date=August 18, 2016 |work=[[The New York Times]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104192326/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/01/politics/evangelical-leader-threatens-to-use-his-political-muscle-against.html?_r=0 |archive-date=January 4, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=ctontime>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/februaryweb-only/12.0c.html |title=Who's Driving This Thing? |last=Olsen |first=Ted |date=February 21, 2005 |access-date=September 5, 2008 |magazine=[[Christianity Today]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080914004351/http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/februaryweb-only/12.0c.html |archive-date=September 14, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="slate04">{{cite news |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2004/11/james-dobson.html |title=James Dobson: The Religious Right's New Kingmaker. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041117015847/http://slate.msn.com/id/2109621/ |archive-date=November 17, 2004 |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=November 12, 2004 |first=Michael |last=Crowley |url-status=live |access-date=August 18, 2016}}</ref>

As part of his former role in the organization he produced the daily radio program ''Focus on the Family'', which the organization has said was broadcast in more than a dozen languages and on over 7,000 stations worldwide, and reportedly heard daily by more than 220 million people in 164 countries. ''Focus on the Family'' was also carried by about 60 U.S. television stations daily.<ref name="aboutFF" /> In 2010, he launched the radio broadcast ''Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson''.<ref name="ambassadoradvertising1">{{cite web |url=http://www.ambassadoradvertising.com/media-center/family-talk-dr-james-dobson/news/family-talk-largest-launch-christian-radio-history/ |title="Family Talk" Is Largest Launch In Christian Radio History - Media Center - Ambassador Advertising Agency - We Connect Ministry and Media |publisher=Ambassadoradvertising.com |date=May 5, 2010 |access-date=October 16, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130117004430/http://www.ambassadoradvertising.com/media-center/family-talk-dr-james-dobson/news/family-talk-largest-launch-christian-radio-history/ |archive-date=January 17, 2013}}</ref><ref name="usatoday1">{{cite news |date=February 26, 2010 |title=James Dobson delivers final broadcast for Focus on Family |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-02-26-dobson-focus-family_N.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101029101345/http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-02-26-dobson-focus-family_N.htm |archive-date=October 29, 2010 |access-date=October 16, 2010 |website=USA Today |publisher= |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

Dobson advocated for "[[family values]]"{{mdash}}the instruction of children in [[heterosexuality]] and traditional [[gender roles]], which he believed are mandated by the [[Bible]]. The goal of this was to promote heterosexual marriage, which he viewed as a cornerstone of civilization that was to be protected from his perceived dangers of [[feminism]] and the [[LGBTQ rights]] movement. Dobson sought to equip his audience to fight in the American [[culture war]], which he called the "Civil War of Values".

His writing career began as an assistant to [[Paul Popenoe]]. After Dobson's rise to prominence through promoting [[corporal punishment]] of disobedient children in the 1970s, he became a founder of [[purity culture]] in the 1990s. He promoted his ideas via his various Focus on the Family affiliated organizations, the [[Family Research Council]] which he founded in 1981, [[Family Policy Alliance]] which he founded in 2004, the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute which he founded in 2010, and a network of US state-based lobbying organizations called [[Family Policy Council]]s.

==Early life and education==
James Clayton Dobson Jr. was born to Myrtle Georgia (née Dillingham) and James C. Dobson Sr. on April 21, 1936, in [[Shreveport, Louisiana]].<ref name="LATimes">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-11-02-ls-63874-story.html |title=A Man of Millions : Broadcaster James Dobson Has Become a Leading Name in Evangelical Circles--and the Politicians Have Noticed |last=Stammer |first=Larry B. |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=November 2, 1995 |access-date=June 24, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sanbenitohistory.com/projects/Famous_San_Benitians_8th/Dobson.html |title=James C Dobson |website=San Benito History |access-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130320040954/http://www.sanbenitohistory.com/projects/Famous_San_Benitians_8th/Dobson.html |archive-date=March 20, 2013}}</ref><ref name = McFadden>{{cite news |title=James Dobson, Influential Leader of the Religious Right, Dies at 89 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/us/politics/james-dobson-dead.html |access-date=August 21, 2025 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 21, 2025|last = McFadden|first = Robert D.|authorlink = Robert D. McFadden}}</ref> From his earliest childhood, religion played a central part in his life. He once told a reporter that he learned to pray before he learned to talk, and says he gave his life to [[Jesus]] at the age of three, in response to an [[altar call]] by his father.<ref name="sotc">{{cite book |last=Apostolidis |first=Paul |title=Stations of the Cross Adorno and Christian Right Radio |date=May 2000 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=9780822381006 |page=22}}</ref> He was the son, grandson, and great-grandson of [[Church of the Nazarene]] ministers.<ref>{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Gerson |title=A Righteous Indignation |work=[[U.S. News & World Report]] |date=May 4, 1998 |type=Reprint |url=http://www.skeptictank.org/hs/dobson.htm |via=SkepticTank.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609085028/http://www.skeptictank.org/hs/dobson.htm |archive-date=June 9, 2007}}</ref>

His parents were traveling evangelists; as a child, Dobson often stayed with family members while his parents were out traveling.{{sfn|Du Mez|2020|p=78}} Like most Nazarenes, they forbade dancing and going to movies. Young Jimmie Lee, as he was called, concentrated on his studies.<ref name="ebff">{{cite news |last=Stepp |first=Laura |date=August 8, 1990 |title=The Empire Built on Family and Faith: Psychologist James C. Dobson, Bringing His Evangelical Focus to Politics |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/140162655 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103065825/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/doc/140162655.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Aug+8%2C+1990&author=Laura+Sessions+Stepp+Washington+Post+Staff+Writer&pub=The+Washington+Post+%281974-Current+file%29&edition=&startpage=&desc=The+Empire+Built+on+Family+%26+Faith |archive-date=January 3, 2017 |access-date=July 6, 2017 |newspaper=Washington Post |pages=C1–3 |id={{ProQuest|140162655}}}}</ref> As a teenager, he was rebellious, though he eventually found a close relationship with his father.{{sfn|Du Mez|2020|p=78}}

Dobson's mother was intolerant of "sassiness" and would strike her child with whatever object came to hand, including a shoe or belt; she once gave Dobson a "massive blow" with a [[Girdle (undergarment)|girdle]] outfitted with straps and buckles.<ref name="Bartkowski1995">{{cite journal |title=Spare the Rod..., or Spare the Child? Divergent Perspectives on Conservative Protestant Child Discipline |first=John P. |last=Bartkowski |journal=Review of Religious Research |date=December 1995 |volume=37 |number=2 |pages=97–116 |doi=10.2307/3512395 |jstor=3512395 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3512395|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=26}} Dobson studied academic psychology and came to believe that he was being called to become a Christian counselor or perhaps a Christian psychologist.<ref name="sotc" /> He attended Pasadena College (now [[Point Loma Nazarene University]]) as an undergraduate, where he met his wife, Shirley, and served as captain of the school's tennis team. Dobson graduated in 1958, served in the National Guard for six months, and began working at [[Children's Hospital Los Angeles]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buss |first=Dale |url=https://archive.org/details/familyman00dale/ |title=Family Man: the Biography of Dr. James Dobson |date=2005 |publisher=Tyndale House |isbn=9780842381918 |location=Wheaton, Ill. |pages=27 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name="ISAE">{{cite web |title=Jim Dobson |url=http://isae.wheaton.edu/hall-of-biography/jim-dobson/ |publisher=Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals, Wheaton College |access-date=December 6, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110315204130/http://isae.wheaton.edu/hall-of-biography/jim-dobson/ |archive-date=March 15, 2011}}</ref>{{Sfn|Du Mez|2020|p=79}} In 1967, Dobson received his doctorate in psychology from the [[University of Southern California]] in [[Los Angeles]].<ref name="Hankins" />

==Career==
===Early career===
In 1967, he became an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the [[University of Southern California School of Medicine]] for 14 years.<ref name="Hankins">{{Cite book |last=Hankins |first=Barry |url=https://archive.org/details/americanevangeli0000hank/ |title=American Evangelicals: A Contemporary History of a Mainstream Religious Movement |date=2008 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |series=Critical Issues in History |pages=156 |isbn=978-0-7425-4989-0 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> At USC he was exposed to troubled youth and the [[counterculture of the 1960s]]. He found it "a distressing time to be so young" because society offered him no moral absolutes he felt he could rely upon. [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War]] was blossoming into a widespread rejection of authority, which Dobson viewed as "a sudden disintegration of moral and ethical principles" among Americans his age and the younger people he saw in clinical practice. This convinced him that "the institution of the family was disintegrating."{{sfn|Gilgoff|2007|p=21–22}}

Based on these experiences, in 1970 Dobson published ''Dare to Discipline''. The book encouraged parents to assert their authority over their children, particularly by corporal punishment. Dobson saw children as rebellious and inherently sinful and believed a rejection of authority to be the source of societal problems.{{sfn|Du Mez|2020|p=78}} He wrote that "Respect for leadership is the glue that holds social organization together. Without it there is chaos, violence, and insecurity for everyone."<ref>Cited in {{harvnb|Du Mez|2020|p=79}}</ref>

He spent 17 years on the staff of the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles in the Division of Child Development and Medical Genetics. For a time, Dobson worked as an assistant to [[Paul Popenoe]] and counselor at Popenoe's Institute of Family Relations, a [[Relationship counseling|marriage-counseling]] center, in [[Los Angeles]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Popenoe |first=David |title=War Over the Family |date=2005 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-0-7658-0259-0 |chapter=Chapter 14: Remembering My Father: An Intellectual Portrait of 'The Man Who Saved Marriages'}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brenner |first=Suzanne |date=June 2022 |title=The Ethics of Marriage in American Evangelicalism |url=https://rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9655.13701 |journal=Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=424 |doi=10.1111/1467-9655.13701 |issn=1359-0987|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Popenoe counseled couples on the importance of same-race marriage and adherence to gender norms for the purpose of [[eugenics]]. Under Popenoe, Dobson published about male-female differences and the dangers of feminism.<ref name=Farley2021 /> When the [[American Psychological Association]] de-pathologized homosexuality by removing it from their list of [[mental disorder]]s in 1973, Dobson resigned from the organization in protest.{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=29}} In 1976, he took a sabbatical from USC and Children's Hospital; he never returned.

With funding from a Christian publisher, he began to broadcast his ideas on the radio and in public lectures. Saying that he feared to repeat the mistakes of his own absentee father by being away on the lecture circuit, Dobson video recorded and distributed his lectures. He sent a representative around the country to solicit funding from evangelical businessmen and distribute the videos. A video about absent fathers titled ''Where's Dad?'' had 100 million views by the early 1980s.{{sfn|Du Mez|2020|p=81}}

===Focus on the Family===
In 1977, he founded [[Focus on the Family]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Balmer |first=Randall Herbert |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofev0000balm/ |title=Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism |date=2004 |publisher=Baylor University Press |isbn=9781932792041 |edition=Revised and expanded |pages=265 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> He grew the organization into a multimedia empire by the mid-1990s, including 10 radio programs, 11 magazines, numerous videos, and basketball camps, and program of [[fax]]ing suggested sermon topics and bulletin fillers to thousands of churches every week.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Roberts |first=Steven V. |date=April 25, 1995 |title=The Heavy Hitter |journal=[[U.S. News & World Report]] |volume=118 |issue=16 |page=34 |quote=Like a religious version of Walt Disney, Dobson started with a small idea and built it into a multimedia empire: 10 radio shows, 11 magazines (including specialty publications for doctors, teachers and single parents), bestselling books, film strips and videos of all kinds. Then there are the basketball camps and the curriculum guides, the church bulletin fillers and suggested sermon topics, faxed weekly to thousands of pastors.}}</ref> In 1995, the organization's budget was more than $100 million annually.{{sfn|Du Mez|2020|p=85}}

Before becoming famous for the radio ministry, he created the "Focus on the Family Film Series" released in 1978<ref>{{Cite web |title=Honoring His Father: Ryan Dobson Talks About His Heritage, His Ministry, and His Dreams – New Commandment Men's Ministries |url=https://newcommandment.org/honoring-his-father-an-interview-with-ryan-dobson/ |access-date=2025-08-28 |language=en-US}}</ref> based on his Family Life seminars.

[[Jimmy Carter]] organized a White House Conference on Families in 1979–1980 that explicitly included a "diversity of families" with various structures.<ref>{{cite report |title=White House Conference on Families; Listening to America's Families |publisher=White House Conference on Families, Washington, D.C. |location=Baltimore/Minneapolis/Los Angeles |date=June 1980 |url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED198914.pdf |quote=Diversity of Families: American families are pluralistic in nature. Our discussion of issues will reflect an understanding of and respect for cultural, ethnic and regional differences as well as differences in structure and lifestyle. }} Dobson is pictured in the Research Forum section.</ref> Dobson objected to this, believing that only his preferred notion of the traditional family{{mdash}}one headed by a male breadwinner married to a female caregiver{{mdash}}should be endorsed by the conference. He also objected to the fact that he was not invited to the planning for the event. At Dobson's urging, his listeners wrote 80,000 letters to the White House asking for Dobson to be invited, which he eventually was. This demonstrated to Dobson his power to rally his followers for political ends.{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=180}}

Beginning in 1980, Dobson built networks of political activists and founded lobbying organizations that advocated against LGBTQ rights and opposed legal abortion, among other socially conservative policy goals. He nurtured relationships with conservative politicians, such as [[Ronald Reagan]]. He was among the founders of [[Family Research Council]] in 1981, a federal lobbying organization classified as a hate group, and [[Family Policy Council]]s that lobby at the level of state government. When Focus on the Family moved to [[Colorado Springs]] in 1991, the city started to be called "the [[Vatican City|Vatican]] of the [[Christian right|Religious Right]]" with Dobson imagined as an evangelical pope.{{sfn|Stephens|2019|p=4–5}}

Focus on the Family established an [[Ex-gay movement|ex-gay]] program called [[Love Won Out]] in 1998. The program promoted [[conversion therapy]], the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to make gay people straight. Dobson increased his promotion of Love Won Out in 2000 upon discovering that opposition to gay marriage was helping the Christian Right gain members and voters.{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=189}} State-level affiliates of FotF drafted gay marriage bans in several states, starting with [[Nebraska Initiative 416]] in 2000.<ref>{{cite news |last=Baker |first=Tess N. |date=January 12, 2001 |title=Family Council Celebrates |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/lincoln-journal-star-family-council-cele/172908869/ |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Dobson broadcast that gay marriage was turning children from faithful Christian homes against God. His arguments caused large evangelical turnouts in support of the gay marriage prohibitions, resulting in defense of marriage amendments to thirty U.S. state constitutions.{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=207}}

Dobson stepped down as president and CEO of Focus on the Family in 2003, and resigned from the position of chairman of the board in February 2009.<ref>{{cite news |date=February 27, 2009 |title=James Dobson resigns as Focus on the Family chair |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29431308 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105070235/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/29431308/ns/us_news-faith/t/dobson-resigns-chair-focus-family/ |archive-date=January 5, 2018 |access-date=January 5, 2018 |work=NBC News |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> Dobson explained his departure as twofold: firstly, to allow a smooth transfer of leadership to the next generation, and in this case, to [[Jim Daly (evangelist)|Jim Daly]] whom he directly appointed as his replacement. And secondly, because he and Daly had divergent views on policy, "especially when it comes to confronting those who would weaken the family and undermine our faith."<ref>{{cite news |date=October 7, 2013 |title=The Rest of the Story |url=http://drjamesdobson.org/about/commentaries/the-rest-of-the-story |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130817203753/http://drjamesdobson.org/About/Commentaries/The-rest-of-the-story |archive-date=August 17, 2013 |access-date=October 7, 2013 |work=Dr. James Dobson}}</ref> After he stepped down, Focus on the Family hired an orthodoxy expert to maintain Dobson's message.{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=33}} Free to become more explicitly political without imperiling Focus on the Family's tax exemptions, Dobson rededicated himself primarily to lobbying instead of advice to families. While Daly attempted to appeal to a new generation of evangelicals with softened messages on abortion and homosexuality, Dobson remained hard-line. Focus on the Family removed archives of Dobson's writing from their headquarters and website.{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=41–44}}

===Ted Bundy interview===
Dobson interviewed [[serial killer]] [[Ted Bundy]] on-camera the day before Bundy's execution on January 24, 1989. The interview became controversial because Bundy was given an opportunity to attempt to explain his actions (the [[rape]] and [[murder]] of 30 young women). Bundy claimed in the interview (in a reversal of his previous stance) that violent [[pornography]] played a significant role in molding and crystallizing his fantasies. In May 1989, during an interview with John Tanner, a Republican [[Florida]] prosecutor, Dobson called for Bundy to be forgiven. The Bundy tapes gave Focus on the Family revenues of over $1 million, $600,000 of which it donated to [[Opposition to pornography|anti-pornography]] groups and to anti-abortion groups.<ref name=WaTimes>{{cite news |last=Aynesworth |first=Hugh |title=Bundy lore lives decade after killer was put to death |newspaper=[[The Washington Times]] |date=January 24, 1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Blumenthal |first=Max |url=https://archive.org/details/republicangomorr00blum_0/page/77 |title=Republican Gomorrah Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party |publisher=Nation Books |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-56858-398-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/republicangomorr00blum_0/page/77 77] |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

===Shift to political activity===
In 2004, Dobson founded [[Family Policy Alliance]], a lobbying arm of his media empire. With a more permissive tax status than Focus on the Family, it was allowed to directly fundraise for political campaigns.{{sfn|Gilgoff|2007|p=14–15}} The Alliance also coordinates the action of Dobson's network of state-based Family Policy Councils. Together, these organizations seek to encode traditional [[gender roles]] into public policy and law.{{sfn|Brenneman|2014|p=135-136}} They consider [[LGBTQ rights]] to be a threatening "[[gay agenda|agenda]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://familypolicyalliance.com/issues/tag/lgbt-agenda/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726005613/https://familypolicyalliance.com/issues/tag/lgbt-agenda/ |archive-date=July 26, 2022 |title=Who can you trust? |website=Family Policy Alliance |first1=Nathan |last1=Winters |first2=Nicole |last2=Hudgens |quote=LGBTQ advocates stated they only wanted to be treated the same as everyone else, not as an abnormal part of society. In the 21st century things have changed considerably. More high-profile individuals have come out as LGBTQ and more groups have surfaced to advocate for their cause. The LGBTQ movement has successfully taken over the debate terminology (e.g., you are cisgender, not simply male or female; we've all adopted LGBTQ, not LGBT and even add +), the media have become loud advocates for the LGBTQ cause, and businesses have been shamed into jumping on the bandwagon and virtue signaling they are not only nondiscriminatory, but sometimes unbelievably promoting of the LGBTQ lifestyle. Those who wish to speak out against anything having to do with LGBTQ talking points are labeled homophobic, ignorant, or part of a hate group and are shamed by the media. The entertainment industry is bending over backwards to show how inclusive and accepting they are. In broadcast television, roughly 10.2% of all regular expected series characters identify as LGBTQ. For movies, the LGBTQ percentage has ranged from 14%-17% in recent years, with the percentage rising each year. That said, LGBTQ-identifying Americans comprise only 5.6 percent of the American public, per a recent Gallup poll. Agenda. You think? }}</ref>

Throughout its existence, Dobson has attacked the [[President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief]] (PEPFAR), a US government program to fight AIDS worldwide. In 2006, he said that "80 percent of this money is going toward terrible programs that are immoral as well as ineffective. For example, to promote condom distribution, people associated with these government programs have dressed up like condoms and created ceramic sculptures of male genitalia."<ref>{{cite web |last=Smart |first=Theo |date=June 23, 2006 |title=Casting the first stone: the US Christian right's war on the Global Fund |url=https://www.aidsmap.com/news/jun-2006/casting-first-stone-us-christian-rights-war-global-fund |website=aidsmap}}</ref> He renewed his attack in 2023, falsely claiming that PEPFAR funds abortions.<ref>{{cite news |work=Health Policy Watch |first=Kerry |last=Cullinan |date=June 20, 2023 |title=Lives Are At Risk as Anti-Abortion Groups Attack HIV Programme PEPFAR |url=https://healthpolicy-watch.news/lives-at-risk-as-groups-attack-pepfar/ }}</ref> Focus on the Family received a grant of $49,505 through PEPFAR in 2017 to operate an [[Abstinence-only sex education|abstinence-only]] purity pledge program.<ref>{{cite web |title=Project Grant |url=https://www.usaspending.gov/award/50022480 |url-status=dead |website=USA Spending |access-date=June 23, 2023 |archive-date=June 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623004402/https://www.usaspending.gov/award/50022480 }}</ref>

===Dr. James Dobson Family Institute===
In 2010, Dobson founded the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute,<ref>{{cite web |title=Dr. Dobson's Ministry & History |url=http://www.drjamesdobson.org/about/history |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218133156/http://www.drjamesdobson.org/about/history |archive-date=December 18, 2013 |access-date=December 16, 2013 |website=Dr. James Dobson |quote=Dr. Dobson felt God directing him to start a new ministry, which he did in March 2010, to continue the important work of strengthening families, speaking into the culture, and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. He called the new organization Family Talk.}}</ref> a non-profit organization that produces his radio program, ''Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk''. He stepped away from leadership of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute in 2022, naming Joe Waresak the new president. He continued to broadcast his radio show.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dr. James Dobson Family Institute Names New President To Succeed Dobson |first=Dale |last=Chamberlain |date=November 11, 2022 |website=Church Leaders |url=https://churchleaders.com/news/438422-dr-james-dobson-family-institute-names-new-president-to-succeed-dobson.html }}</ref>

Dobson frequently appeared as a guest on the [[Fox News Channel]].<ref name=fox1 />

==Personal life and death==
Dobson and Shirley Deere were married on August 26, 1960. The couple had two children.<ref name="nyt2010">{{Cite news |last=Goodstein |first=Laurie |date=January 16, 2010 |title=Radio Show for Focus on the Family Founder |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/business/media/17dobson.html |access-date=May 9, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220111091805/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/business/media/17dobson.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Dobson turned control of some of Focus on the Family's youth-oriented magazine titles over to his son Ryan Dobson in 2009.<ref>{{cite news |work=The Denver Post |title=Dobson's "rebel" son gets on board |first=Electra |last=Draper |date=March 26, 2009 |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2009/03/26/dobsons-rebel-son-gets-on-board/ }}</ref> He gave his daughter a golden key necklace as a gift when she voiced her commitment to sexual purity at age ten. He encouraged other parents to give similar gifts.{{sfn|Moslener|2015|p=103}}

Dobson died at his home in [[Colorado Springs, Colorado]], on August 21, 2025, at the age of 89.<ref name="McFadden" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Hewitt |first1=Bill |title=James Dobson, evangelical leader behind Focus on the Family, dies at 89 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/08/21/james-dobson-dead-focus-on-the-family/ |access-date=August 21, 2025 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=August 21, 2025}}</ref>

==Awards==
At the invitation of Presidents and Attorneys General,<ref name="PFAW" /> Dobson has also served on government advisory panels and testified at several government hearings. He was given the "Layman of the Year" award by the [[National Association of Evangelicals]] in 1982, "The Children's Friend" honor by Childhelp USA (an advocate agency against [[child abuse]]) in 1987, and the Humanitarian Award by the California Psychological Association in 1988. In 2005, Dobson received an honorary doctorate from [[Indiana Wesleyan University]] and was inducted into IWU's ''Society of World Changers'', while speaking at the university's Academic Convocation.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=2005 |title=Year in Review |url=http://www.indwes.edu/alumni/graphics/2005PRtriangle.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060414081401/http://www.indwes.edu/alumni/graphics/2005PRtriangle.pdf |archive-date=April 14, 2006 |access-date=October 11, 2008 |website=Triangle |publisher=Indiana Wesleyan University |page=7 |volume=86 |issue=3}}</ref><ref name="aboutFF" />

In 2008, Dobson's ''Focus on the Family'' program was inducted into the [[National Radio Hall of Fame]] to controversy from secular listeners opposed to Dobson's views, along with those supporting LGBTQ rights.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 25, 2008 |title=Dobson wins out for Hall induction |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-dobson-wins-out-for-hall/172911331/ |access-date=May 22, 2025 |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=2–10 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Williams |first=Devon |date=May 1, 2008 |title=Dr. Dobson's Broadcast Nominated to Radio Hall of Fame |url=http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000007319.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503062441/http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000007319.cfm |archive-date=May 3, 2008 |access-date=July 25, 2008 |website=CitizenLink |publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gazette.com/articles/radio_38491___article.html/dobson_fame.html |title=Dobson garners hall of fame honor |date=July 21, 2008 |last=Barna |first=Mark |work=[[The Gazette (Colorado Springs)|The Gazette]] |access-date=July 25, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080727000847/http://www.gazette.com/articles/radio_38491___article.html/dobson_fame.html |archive-date=July 27, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=July 11, 2008 |title=Dr. Dobson Blasted by Gay Activist |url=http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000007803.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080817125658/http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000007803.cfm |archive-date=August 17, 2008 |access-date=July 25, 2008 |website=CitizenLink |publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Besen |first=Wayne |date=July 9, 2008 |title=TWO Launches Drive to Keep James Dobson Out of the Radio Hall of Fame |url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/two-launches-drive-keep-james/story.aspx?guid=%7B689964E1-58B4-447C-8035-A4E5A019854E%7D&dist=hppr |access-date=July 25, 2008 |publisher=[[PR Newswire]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.radiohof.org/pioneer/focusonthefamily.htm |title=Focus On The Family |publisher=Radio Hall of Fame |access-date=May 24, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707190532/http://www.radiohof.org/pioneer/focusonthefamily.htm |archive-date=July 7, 2012}}</ref>

==Social views==
{{Conservatism US|activists}}

=== Views on marriage ===
James Dobson was a strong proponent of marriage defined as "one where husband and wife are lawfully married, are committed to each other for life", and have a [[homemaking|homemaker]] mother and [[Breadwinner model|breadwinner]] father.<ref>{{cite book |first1=James C. |last1=Dobson |first2=Gary L. |last2=Bauer |title=Children at Risk |year=1994 |pages=119, 122}}</ref> According to his view, women are not deemed inferior to men because both are created in God's image, but each gender has biblically mandated roles.<ref>{{cite web |last=Dobson |first=James |title=Why Boys Are So Different |publisher=[[Focus on the Family]] |year=2001 |url=http://www.focusonyourchild.com/develop/art1/A0000716.html |access-date=September 7, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006062936/http://www.focusonyourchild.com/develop/art1/A0000716.html |archive-date=October 6, 2007 |ref=none}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=June 2023}} He recommended that married women with children under the age of 18 focus on mothering, rather than work outside the home.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://family.custhelp.com./cgi-bin/family.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=974 |title=Is it important for mothers to stay home during the teen years? |publisher=Focus on the Family |first=James |last=Dobson |access-date=June 20, 2008}}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

Dobson could be said to have viewed marriage as a transaction in which women exchange sex for protection:<ref name=Johnson1998 />
{{Blockquote
|text=The natural sex appeal of girls serves as their primary source of bargaining power in the game of life. In exchange for feminine affection and love, a man accepts a girl as his lifetime responsibility—supplying her needs and caring for her welfare. This sexual aspect of the marital agreement can hardly be denied.<ref name=Johnson1998 />
|author=James Dobson|source=''Dare to Discipline'' (1970)}}

He advised wives to use their social and sexual skills to coerce their husbands into becoming good partners. By doing this, according to Dobson, women would transform male lust into love, and male destructive impulses into useful accomplishments. He regarded heterosexual marriage as the cornerstone of civilization, as women fulfilled their role of civilizing their husbands.<ref name=Johnson1998 />{{sfn|Moslener|2015|p=98–99}}

In his 2004 book ''[[Marriage Under Fire]]'', Dobson suggested that heterosexual marriage rates in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden was falling due to the recognition of [[same-sex relationship]]s by those countries during the 1990s. He remarked that the "institution of marriage in those countries is rapidly dying" as a result, with most young people [[cohabitation|cohabiting]] or choosing to remain single (living alone) and illegitimacy rates rising in some Norwegian counties up to 80%.{{Sfn|Dobson|2004|p=9}}

Dobson wrote that "every civilization in the world" had been built upon marriage.<ref>Dobson, James C. ''Marriage under fire: why we must win this war.'' Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, 2004. quoted in McManus, Mike and Harriet McManus. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4QZA_AzsR2oC&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77 Living together: myths, risks, and answers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119190737/https://books.google.com/books?id=4QZA_AzsR2oC&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77 |date=January 19, 2023 }}''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008.</ref> He also believed that homosexuality was neither a choice nor genetic, but was caused by external factors during early childhood.<ref name=msnbc05>{{cite web |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0611/22/lkl.01.html |title=Interview With Dr. James Dobson |first=Larry |last=King |publisher=CNN |date=November 22, 2006 |access-date=November 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629135156/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0611/22/lkl.01.html |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> He anecdotally cited as evidence the life of actress [[Anne Heche]],<ref name=msnbc06>{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna8234503 |title='Healed' by God: Evangelical group sponsors conference on nature of gays |first=Alex |last=Johnson |publisher=[[NBC News]] |date=June 23, 2005 |access-date=June 21, 2008 |archive-date=November 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123091427/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8234503 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=stranger05 /> who was previously in a relationship with [[Ellen DeGeneres]]. Criticizing "the realities of judicial tyranny", Dobson wrote that "[t]here is no issue today that is more significant to our culture than the defense of the family. Not even the war on terror eclipses it."{{Sfn|Dobson|2004|p=85}}

===Views on schooling===
Focus on the Family supports<ref name="NPR-2010">{{cite web|date=February 26, 2010 |title=James Dobson Signs Off At Focus On The Family |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124105203 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301035322/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124105203 |archive-date=March 1, 2010 |access-date=October 16, 2010 |series=Morning Edition |publisher=NPR}}</ref> [[private school]] [[school voucher|vouchers]] and [[tax credit]]s for religious schools. According to the Focus on the Family website, Dobson believed that parents were ultimately responsible for their children's education, and encourages parents to visit their children's schools to ask questions and to join the [[Parent-Teacher Association|PTA]] so that they may voice their opinions.<ref name="improveSchool">{{cite web |title=What can parents do to improve public schools? |publisher=Focus on the Family |url=http://family.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/family.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=796 |access-date=June 21, 2008}}{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> Dobson opposed [[sex education]] curricula that are not [[abstinence]]-only.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dobson |first=James |url=https://archive.org/details/bringingupgirlsp0000dobs/ |title=Bringing Up Girls |date=2010 |publisher=Tyndale House |location=Carol Stream, Ill. |pages=161–163, 174–175 |isbn=978-1-4143-0127-3 |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{Sfn|Dobson|2001|pp=76, 128}}

According to [[People for the American Way]], Focus on the Family material has been used to challenge a book or curriculum taught in public schools.<ref name="PFAW" /> Critics, such as People for the American Way, allege that Focus on the Family encourages Christian teachers to establish prayer groups in public schools.<ref name="PFAW" /><ref name=nation06>{{cite web |url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060814/zirin |title=You Can Keep the Faith |first=Dave |last=Zirin |date=July 28, 2006 |work=[[The Nation]] |access-date=June 21, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517043711/http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060814/zirin |archive-date=May 17, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> Dobson supported [[school prayer|student-led prayer]] in [[Public school (government funded)|public schools]],<ref name="PFAW" /> and believed that allowing student-led Christian prayer in schools did not violate the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution]].<ref name="lat95">{{cite news |last1=Stammer |first1=Larry B. |last2=Colvin |first2=Richard Lee |date=August 31, 1995 |title=Foes Target Amendment on Prayer in Schools; Beliefs: Citing Federal Guidelines, Activists and Some Religious Leaders say a Change in Constitution is Unneeded |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |page=3 |quote='We do not support teacher-led, state-mediated school prayer, but we do believe that students have the same religious rights as other people,' said Alan Crippen of 'Focus on the Family,' a major evangelical Christian broadcast and publications ministry founded by psychologist James Dobson.}}</ref>

===Views on discipline of children===
In his book ''Dare to Discipline'', Dobson advocated the [[spanking]] of children as young as fifteen months and up to eight years old when they misbehave, using switches or belts kept on the child's dresser as a reminder of authority.<ref name="Balmer2007">{{cite web |last=Balmer |first=Randall |date=August 2007 |title=The Wizard of Colorado Springs |url=http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0708&article=070833a |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613174215/http://www.sojo.net//index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0708&article=070833a |archive-date=June 13, 2008 |access-date=June 26, 2008 |work=Sojourners Magazine |quote="...his breakthrough book, Dare to Discipline, ... challenged the permissive child-rearing techniques of Benjamin Spock. The book, published in 1970, encouraged parents to spank their children with belts or switches and to leave such items on the child's dresser to remind her of the consequences of challenging authority."}}</ref> In Dobson's opinion, parents must uphold their authority and do so consistently.<ref name=DTD /> Dobson said corporal punishment should end with the child asking for forgiveness and receiving a hug.{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=36}} After the spanking, he believed in having a "heart to heart" talk with a child, which provided an opportunity to re-bond and express love to the child.{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=64}} Though ''Dare to Discipline'' was not overtly political, Dobson considered his parenting techniques to be the solution to the social unrest of the 1960s. The book was a rebuttal to [[Benjamin Spock]], whose parenting ideas were more permissive.<ref name=Balmer2007 />{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=28}} By returning to the authoritarian parenting style popular in prior eras, Dobson hoped to preserve order, obedience, and social hierarchy. The book quickly sold over two million copies, establishing Dobson as a trusted authority among parents bewildered by the rapid changes of the era.{{sfn|Du Mez|2020|pp=78, 80}}<ref name="Cook-1984">{{Cite news |last=Cook |first=Judith A. |date=August 5, 1984 |title=Success story: Focus on the Family - Christian group dedicated to preservation of the home |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/606230996/ |access-date=November 11, 2024 |work=Monrovia News-Post |location=Monrovia, California |pages=1–2}}</ref><ref name=Farley2021>{{cite web |website=Religion and Politics |title=The Eugenics Roots of Evangelical Family Values |first=Audrey Clare |last=Farley |date=May 12, 2021 |url=https://religionandpolitics.org/2021/05/12/the-eugenics-roots-of-evangelical-family-values/ |access-date=June 17, 2023 |archive-date=June 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230617000229/https://religionandpolitics.org/2021/05/12/the-eugenics-roots-of-evangelical-family-values/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In ''The Strong-Willed Child'', Dobson drew an analogy between the defiance of a family pet and that of a small child, and concludes that "just as surely as a dog will occasionally challenge the authority of his leaders, so will a little child—only more so."{{sfn|Dobson|1978|p=6}} ''The Strong-Willed Child'' says that if authority is portrayed correctly to a child, the child will understand how to interact with other authority figures:

{{blockquote|By learning to yield to the loving authority... of his parents, a child learns to submit to other forms of authority which will confront him later in his life—his teachers, school principal, police, neighbors and employers.{{sfn|Dobson|1978|p=235}} }}

If allowed to challenge parental authority, Dobson says, children would challenge God's authority when they grew older. Hence, rebellion must be punished to protect the child's [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]]. Believing that "pain is a marvelous purifier", Dobson recommended corporal punishment as the most effective way to keep the child subordinate to adults. He believed the parent should model both [[divine mercy]] and [[Divine retribution|wrath]] to prepare the [[Original sin|inherently sinful]] child for a relationship with God.{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=59,61}} Dobson warned of the dire consequences of failing to discipline one's children: "[[Eli (biblical figure)|Eli, the priest]], permitted his sons to desecrate the temple. All three were put to death."{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=58}}

He warned against "harsh spanking", as he found it unnecessary to beat a child into submission.<ref name="DTD">{{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0553127098 |title=Dare to Discipline |date=February 1977 |publisher=Bantam |isbn=9780553228410 |page=23 |url-access=registration}}</ref> In a 1997 book, he warns that "discipline must not be harsh and destructive to the child's spirit."<ref>{{cite book |first=James C. |last=Dobson |year=1997 |title=Solid Answers: America's foremost family counselor responds to tough questions facing today's families |publisher=Tyndale House Publishers |location=Wheaton, Illinois |page=130 |isbn=9780842306232 |url=https://archive.org/details/solidanswersamer00dobs/page/130/}}</ref> Dobson considers disciplining children to be a necessary but unpleasant part of raising children which should only be carried out by qualified parents:

{{blockquote|Anyone who has ever [[child abuse|abused]] a child—or has ever felt himself losing control during a spanking—should not expose the child to that tragedy. Anyone who has a violent temper that at times becomes unmanageable should not use that approach. Anyone who secretly 'enjoys' the administration of corporal punishment should not be the one to implement it.<ref name=ffcorporal>{{cite web |url=http://www.uexpress.com/focusonthefamily/?uc_full_date=20041121 |title=Good-Natured Child Needs His Share of Parents' Attention |first=James |last=Dobson |date=2004-11-21 |publisher=Focus on the Family |access-date=2008-06-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612122328/http://www.uexpress.com/focusonthefamily/?uc_full_date=20041121 |archive-date=2008-06-12 |url-status=live |ref=none}}</ref>}}

When asked "How long do you think a child should be allowed to cry after being punished? Is there a limit?" Dobson responded:

{{blockquote|Yes, I believe there should be a limit. As long as the tears represent a genuine release of emotion, they should be permitted to fall. But crying quickly changes from inner sobbing to an expression of protest... Real crying usually lasts two minutes or less but may continue for five. After that point, the child is merely complaining, and the change can be recognized in the tone and intensity of his voice. I would require him to stop the protest crying, usually by offering him a little more of whatever caused the original tears. In younger children, crying can easily be stopped by getting them interested in something else.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.troubledwith.com/stellent/groups/public/%5C@fotf_troubledwith/documents/articles/twi_012701.cfm?channel=Parenting%20Children&topic=Discipline&sssct=Questions%20and%20Answers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051212215944/http://www.troubledwith.com/stellent/groups/public/%5C%40fotf_troubledwith/documents/articles/twi_012701.cfm?channel=Parenting%20Children&topic=Discipline&sssct=Questions%20and%20Answers |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 12, 2005 |title=Discipline problems |access-date=2008-05-04 }}</ref>}}

Sociologists John Bartkowski and Christopher Ellison have stated that Dobson's views "diverge sharply from those recommended by contemporary mainstream experts" and are not based on any sort of [[Scientific method|empirical testing]], but rather are nothing more than expressions of his religious doctrines of "[[biblical literalism]] and 'authority-mindedness.{{'"}}<ref>{{cite journal |title=Divergent Models of Childrearing in Popular Manuals: Conservative Protestants vs. the Mainstream Experts |year=1995 |journal=Sociology of Religion |pages=21–34 |volume=56 |issue=1 |last1=Bartkowski |first1=John P. |last2=Ellison |first2=Christopher G. |doi=10.2307/3712036|jstor=3712036 }}</ref> In the 1980s, [[Penelope Leach]] wrote that Dobson's approach was ineffective because, rather than establishing parental authority, spanking only communicates parental frustration and weakness.{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=62}}

Although childrearing experts have discredited corporal punishment, Dobson did not change his views. In 2015, he wrote that, when spanking fails to make a child obey, the problem may be that the parent is not hitting hard enough or frequently enough.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.drjamesdobson.org/blogs/5-reasons-why-spanking-fails |title=5 Reasons Why Spanking Fails |date=November 9, 2015 |first=James |last=Dobson |website=Dr. James Dobson }}</ref>

===Views on tolerance and diversity===
In the winter of 2004–2005, the [[We Are Family Foundation]] sent American elementary schools approximately 60,000 copies of a free [[DVD]] using popular cartoon characters (especially [[SpongeBob SquarePants (character)|SpongeBob SquarePants]]) to "promote tolerance and diversity".<ref name=bbcsb>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4190699.stm |title=US right attacks SpongeBob video |work=BBC News |date=January 20, 2005 |access-date=June 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070323022539/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4190699.stm |archive-date=March 23, 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref> Dobson contended that [[Toleration|''tolerance'']] and [[Diversity (politics)|''diversity'']] were "buzzwords" that the We Are Family Foundation misused as part of a [[homosexual agenda|"hidden agenda" to promote homosexuality]].<ref name=tolerance>{{cite web |url=http://www.tolerance.org/teach/current/event.jsp?p=0&ar=625 |title='We Are Family' DVD Still Available |date=September 6, 2005 |publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]] |access-date=June 20, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114095317/http://www.tolerance.org/teach/current/event.jsp?p=0&ar=625 |archive-date=January 14, 2009}}</ref> Kate Zernik pointed out Dobson asserting: "tolerance and its first cousin, diversity, 'are almost always buzzwords for homosexual advocacy.{{'"}}<ref name=nytkz>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE1DE153BF933A05752C0A9639C8B63 |title=Buzzwords; Hello, Synergy, Begone, Crisis |date=January 30, 2005 |last=Zernike |first=Kate |author-link=Kate Zernike |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=June 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109205644/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE1DE153BF933A05752C0A9639C8B63 |archive-date=November 9, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> He said on the Focus on the Family website that "childhood symbols are apparently being hijacked to promote an agenda that involves teaching homosexual [[propaganda]] to children."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.splcenter.org/center/splcreport/article.jsp?aid=131 |title=Religious Right Attacks Tolerance Pledge |date=March 2005 |access-date=June 20, 2008 |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713225454/http://www.splcenter.org/center/splcreport/article.jsp?aid=131 |archive-date=July 13, 2007}}</ref> He offered as evidence the association of many leading LGBTQ rights organizations, including [[GLAAD]], [[Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network|GLSEN]], [[Human Rights Campaign|HRC]], and [[Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays|PFLAG]], with the We Are Family Foundation as shown by links which he claims once existed on their website.<ref name= cpost>{{cite web |url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/dobson-clarifies-pro-gay-spongebob-video-controversy-20875/ |title=Dobson clarifies Pro-Gay SpongeBob Video Controversy |last=Chang |first=Pauline J. |date=January 28, 2005 |newspaper=The Christian Post |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120721232727/http://www.christianpost.com/article/20050128/20875.htm |archive-date=July 21, 2012 |access-date=May 9, 2018 |url-status=unfit}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0035309.cfm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051005224429/http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0035309.cfm |archive-date=October 5, 2005 |url-status=unfit |title=Dr. Dobson Takes on Media over 'SpongeBob' Controversy |website=CitizenLink}}</ref>

The We Are Family Foundation countered that Dobson had mistaken their organization with "an unrelated Web site belonging to another group called 'We Are Family', which supports gay youth."<ref name=nytdk2>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/20/politics/20sponge.html?ex=1263877200&en=a1bb4268064fb8bd&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland |title=Conservatives Pick Soft Target: A Cartoon Sponge |last=Kirkpatrick |first=David D. |author-link=David D. Kirkpatrick |date=January 20, 2005 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610210042/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/20/politics/20sponge.html?ex=1263877200&en=a1bb4268064fb8bd&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland |archive-date=June 10, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> Dobson countered:

{{blockquote|I want to be clear: the We Are Family Foundation—the organization that sponsored the video featuring SpongeBob and the other characters was, until this flap occurred, making available a variety of explicitly pro-homosexual materials on its Web site. It has since endeavored to hide that fact, but my concerns are as legitimate today as they were when I first expressed them in January.<ref name=cpost />}}

In September 2005, Tolerance.org published a follow-up message advertising the DVD's continued availability, including We Are Family Foundation president Nancy Hunt's speculation that many of the DVDs may be "still sitting in boxes, unused, because of Dobson's vitriolic attack".<ref name=tolerance />

===Views on homosexuality===
In Dobson's view, homosexuality results from influences in a child's [[environment and sexual orientation|environment rather than an inborn trait]]. He said that homosexual behavior, specifically "unwanted same-sex attraction", has been and can be "[[Sexual orientation change efforts|overcome]]" through understanding developmental models for homosexuality and choosing to heal the complex developmental issues which led to same-sex attraction.<ref name=stranger05>{{cite news |first=David |last=Schmader |title=Jesus Hates You; Christians Rationalize Bigotry at "Love Won Out" |work=[[The Stranger (newspaper)|The Stranger]] |date=June 30, 2005 |volume=14 |issue=42 |page=16}}</ref>

Focus on the Family ministry sponsored<ref name="NPR-2010"/> the monthly conference [[Love Won Out]], where participants hear "powerful stories of [[ex-gay]] men and women".<ref name=msnbc05 /> [[Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays]] (P-FLAG) protested against the conference in Orlando, questioning both its [[methodology]] and supposed success.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.truthwinsout.org/pressreleases/orlando-sentinel-gay-activists-to-protest-orlando-event-notion-that-homosexuality-is-curable/ |title=Orlando Sentinel: Gay activists to protest Orlando event, notion that homosexuality is 'curable' |date=June 6, 2008 |access-date=September 5, 2008 |work=Truthwinsout.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011221908/http://www.truthwinsout.org/pressreleases/orlando-sentinel-gay-activists-to-protest-orlando-event-notion-that-homosexuality-is-curable/ |archive-date=October 11, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In regards to the conference, Dobson stated that
{{blockquote|Gay activists come with preconceived notions about who we are and what we believe and about the hate that boils from within, which is simply not true. Regardless of what the media might say, Focus on the Family has no interest in promoting hatred toward homosexuals or anyone else. We also don't wish to deprive them of their basic constitutional rights. The Constitution applies to all of us.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/gays-still-looking-for-love-from-christians-31579/ |title=Gays Still Looking for Love from Christians |newspaper=The Christian Post |last=Kwon |first=Lillian |date=March 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130102070247/http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080319/31579_Gays_Still_Looking_for_Love_from_Christians.htm |archive-date=January 2, 2013 |access-date=May 26, 2018 |url-status=unfit}}</ref>}} Dobson strongly opposed the movement to legitimize same-sex marriages.<ref>{{cite news |title=James Dobson, controversial evangelical who advised US presidents, dies |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/21/james-dobson-controversial-evangelical-who-advised-us-presidents-dies |access-date=August 27, 2025 |work=Al Jazeera |date=August 21, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250823022747/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/21/james-dobson-controversial-evangelical-who-advised-us-presidents-dies |archive-date=August 23, 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref> In his book ''Bringing Up Boys'', Dobson stated, {{blockquote|[T]he disorder is not typically 'chosen.' Homosexuals deeply resent being told that they selected this same-sex inclination in pursuit of sexual excitement or some other motive. It is unfair, and I don't blame them for being irritated by that assumption. Who among us would knowingly choose a path that would result in alienation from family, rejection by friends, disdain from the heterosexual world, exposure to sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis, and even a shorter lifespan?{{Sfn|Dobson|2001|pp=115-116}}}}

Critics have stated that Dobson's views on homosexuality do not represent the [[Homosexuality and psychology|mainstream views]] of the mental health community, with Dan Gilgoff referring to the positions of the [[American Psychiatric Association]] and the [[American Psychological Association]] on homosexuality.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gilgoff |first=Dan |title=The Jesus Machine How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America Are Winning the Culture War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MdeHmAEACAAJ |year=2008 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]] |isbn=9780312378448 |pages=56 |access-date=January 4, 2021 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119190739/https://books.google.com/books?id=MdeHmAEACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dudley |first=Jonathan |title=Broken Words The Misfortunes of Science and Scripture in Evangelical Politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UHIWXheyNuEC |year=2011 |publisher=[[Random House]] |isbn=9780385525268 |pages=69 |access-date=January 4, 2021 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119190743/https://books.google.com/books?id=UHIWXheyNuEC |url-status=live }}</ref> Sociologist [[Judith Stacey]] criticized Dobson for claiming that sociological studies show that gay couples do not make good parents. She stated that Dobson's claim "is a direct misrepresentation of my research".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Paulson |first=Steven K. |title=Gay rights group: Dobson manipulated research |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=July 17, 2006 |url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/07/17/gay_rights_group_dobson_manipulated_data/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304194456/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/07/17/gay_rights_group_dobson_manipulated_data/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 4, 2009}}</ref>

Dobson objected to a bill expanding the prohibition of [[sexual orientation]]-based discrimination in the areas of "public accommodation, housing practices, [[family planning]] services and twenty other areas". He said that, were such a bill passed, public businesses could no longer separate locker rooms and bathrooms by gender, which he claimed would lead to a situation where "every woman and little girl will have to fear that a [[sexual predator|predator]], [[bisexual]], [[transvestite|cross-dresser]] or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence".<ref name=dpost08>{{cite web |url=http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_9420864 |title=Anti-bias measure inked: Governor signs bill covering sexual orientation, religious beliefs |last=Ingold |first=John |work=[[The Denver Post]] |date=May 30, 2008 |access-date=June 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609234946/http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_9420864 |archive-date=June 9, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.coloradoconnection.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=137923 |title=Controversial ad offends transgendered community |last=Welte |first=Rachel |date=May 22, 2008 |work=Colorado Connection |access-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708175530/http://www.coloradoconnection.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=137923 |archive-date=July 8, 2011}}</ref>

In 2017, Dobson was among the first to sign the [[Nashville Statement]], written by the [[Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Meyer |first=Holly |date=August 30, 2017 |title=What is the Nashville Statement and why are people talking about it? |url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2017/08/30/what-nashville-statement-and-why-people-talking-it/616064001/ |access-date=May 23, 2025 |website=The Tennessean}}</ref> The statement specifies conservative evangelical views on gender roles and sexuality, condemning [[List of Christian denominations affirming LGBTQ people|LGBTQ-affirming Christians]]: "We affirm that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness."<ref>{{cite web |title=Nashville Statement |url=https://cbmw.org/nashville-statement/#signers |website=Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood }}</ref>

===Views on mass shootings===
In 2012, in a broadcast titled "A Nation Shaken by the [[Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting|Sandy Hook Tragedy]]", Dobson said that the mass shooting was a judgment by God because of American acceptance of gay marriage and legal abortion.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/james-dobson-connecticut-shooting-a-result-of-god-allowing-judgment-to-fall-on-america-newtown-ct-sandy-hook.html |title=James Dobson: Connecticut Shooting a Result of God Allowing Judgment to Fall on America |first=Elena |last=Garcia |date=December 18, 2012 |work=The Christian Post}}</ref> Similarly, Dobson said the [[2019 El Paso shooting]] and mass shootings in general happen because "the LGBTQ movement is closing in on the God-inspired and established institution of the family."<ref name="Dobson2019">{{cite web |first=James C. |last=Dobson |title=Dr. Dobson's September Newsletter |date=September 2019 |website=Dr. James Dobson |url=https://www.drjamesdobson.org/newsletters/dr-dobsons-september-newsletter-2 }}</ref>

===Views on abortion===
Early in his career, Dobson appeared to accept abortion. He wrote a forward for a 1973 book, ''Sex is a Parent Affair'', that takes a nonjudgmental stance toward abortion because "the Bible is silent on the subject" except for some interpretations of {{Bibleverse|Exodus|21:22–23|NRSV}} which "may indicate a developing embryo or fetus was not regarded as a full human being". In general, the evangelical movement did not speak much about abortion until the 1980s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Claiborne |first=Shane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=irx3EAAAQBAJ |title=Rethinking Life: Embracing the Sacredness of Every Person |publisher=Zondervan |year=2023 |isbn=9780310363910 |pages=193–202 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

Starting in the 1980s, Dobson became a major force in the [[anti-abortion movement]].{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=196}} His message centered upon biblically moral mothers who sacrificed for their children; he chastised unmarried mothers or "rebellious", believing pregnancy to be a sacred duty. He broadcast interviews with women who kept pregnancies because their trust in God overcame their own emotions and desires.{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=198–199}} Dobson contended that abortion invites women to reject God, diverts women from their natural role as mothers, and prevents more Christians from coming into the world. Ending abortion, in his view, would redeem society by binding women to their divine role.{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=200}} Focus on the Family and its allied lobbying organizations are among the US's most powerful advocates for restrictions on abortion access.

===Views on gender===
Dobson viewed the [[gender binary]] as fundamental to humanity; he believed God created men and women to differ "in every cell of their bodies".{{sfn|Du Mez|2020|p=82}} The [[Complementarianism|complementary]] differences make them well-suited to [[traditional gender roles]].{{sfn|Moslener|2015|p=96–98}} "Males and females differ biochemically, anatomically, and emotionally", according to Dobson. Men like to "hunt and fish and hike in the wilderness" while women prefer to "stay at home and wait for them". Because men have a fragile ego and women are emotionally vulnerable, "men derive self-esteem by being respected; women feel worthy when they are loved." Men and women are obligated to adhere to the "time-honored roles of protector and protected".{{sfn|Du Mez|2020|pp=82–83}} The effects of hormonal differences, he argues, make women more suited for the home.{{sfn|Stephens|2019|pp=36–37}}

Dobson argued that confused gender relationships in a household result in homosexuality if a child displaces their sexual feelings onto the same-sex parent. Hence, parents should model a romance-like relationship with their opposite-sex child, according to Dobson, with the ultimate goal of steering the child toward heterosexual marriage as an adult.{{sfn|Moslener|2015|p=96–98}}

Dobson encouraged "daddy–daughter dating" in which fathers and daughters set aside time for special activities together. Because he believed heterosexuality must be cultivated, Dobson intended these romanticized attachments to model proper heterosexual partnership to girls age six or younger.{{sfn|Moslener|2015|p=98}} An employee of Dobson's created the first [[purity ball]]{{mdash}}a father-daughter dance event promoting female chastity{{mdash}}in 1998. Dobson promoted the purity balls on his radio show.{{sfn|Moslener|2015|p=184}} Along with other fundamentalist figures such as [[Billy Graham]], Dobson is considered a founder of [[purity culture]], a Christian subculture in which sexual immorality by women or LGBTQ people is considered a national threat.{{sfn|Moslener|2015|p=167}}

Dobson considered [[transgender]] people a threat, writing in 2016 that "a married man with any gumption" would defend his wife's privacy in the bathroom from "a strange-looking man, dressed like a woman".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2016/6/01/james-dobson-be-man-shoot-transgender-woman-bathroom |title=James Dobson: Be a Man, Shoot a Trans Woman in the Bathroom |work=The Advocate |date=June 1, 2016 |first=Trudy |last=Ring }}</ref> He also considered feminists a threat because they question the natural leadership of men. In his 1975 book ''What Wives Wish Their Husbands Knew About Women'' he denounces the "feminist propaganda" of [[strong female character]]s in movies, complaining when men are shown as inferior to a "confident superchick".{{sfn|Du Mez|2020|p=83}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James |url=https://archive.org/details/whatwiveswishthe0000dobs/ |title=What Wives Wish Their Husbands Knew About Women |publisher=Tyndale House |year=1975 |location=Wheaton, Illinois |pages=140–141 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

====Gendered language in the Bible====
In response to a 1997 article in ''[[World (magazine)|World]]'' magazine claiming that the ''[[New International Version]]'' of the Bible was going to be printed with [[gender-neutral language]], Dobson called a meeting at Focus on the Family headquarters of influential men in the religious publishing business. The group drafted the [[Colorado Springs Guidelines]], which require Bible translations to use [[Male as norm|male-default language]] such as [[Man (word)|the word ''man'']] to designate the human race.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=LeBlanc |first1=Doug |last2=Rabey |first2=Steve |date=July 1997 |title=Bible Translators Deny Gender Agenda |magazine=[[Christianity Today]] |page=62 |volume=41 |issue=8}}</ref><ref name="Olasky2021">{{cite magazine |last=Olasky |first=Susan |date=July 2021 |title=Translation manipulation: In 1997 WORLD uncovered a plan to reshape the most popular English translation of the Bible |url=https://wng.org/articles/translation-manipulation-1624941058 |magazine=World}}</ref>{{Sfn|Stephens|2019|pp=44–45}}{{Unreliable source?|date=May 2025}} As a result, plans for the gender-neutral Bible version were halted. When Dobson discovered his own ''Odyssey Bible'' used gender-neutral language, he discontinued it and offered refunds.<ref name=Olasky2021 /> According to ''World'', Dobson's 1997 meeting eventually led to the publication of the ''[[English Standard Version]]'' in 2001, which avoids gender-neutral language.<ref>{{cite web |title=The English Standard Version |url=https://www.tbsbibles.org/page/EnglishStandardVersion?hh=&srsltid=AfmBOoqi5AvIuHaOnXMox38Fe8OMIDceeGXx2Ev8zN4tHk1XjIMoIr_B |website=Trinitarian Bible Society |access-date=August 27, 2025}}</ref> Along with over a hundred other evangelical figures, in 2002 Dobson opposed publication of ''[[Today's New International Version]]'' because of the "[[political correctness]]" of the translation and the publisher's rejection of the Colorado Springs Guidelines.<ref>{{citation |title=James Dobson joins critics of gender-neutral NIV revision |first=Art |last=Toalston |date=February 6, 2002 |work=Baptist Press |url=https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/james-dobson-joins-critics-of-gender-neutral-niv-revision/ }}</ref>{{Sfn|Stephens|2019|pp=44–45}}

==Political and social influence==
Dobson's social and political opinions were widely read among many evangelical church congregations in the United States, and he accrued substantial influence in the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gibbon |first=Jeani Hunt |date=September–October 2005 |title=Listening to Dr. Dobson |journal=[[Tikkun (magazine)|Tikkun]] |volume=20 |issue=5 |page=11 |quote=Dobson is one of the single most important religious intellectuals and political leaders in America today, and many people take his words very seriously. When Dobson makes such a statement, it is the Evangelical equivalent of a Vatican Decree that is meant to communicate a policy position not only to church goers, but to social conservatives as a whole-specifically, the Republican Party.}}</ref> Among other conservative causes, his lobbying significantly contributed to numerous state-level bans on same-sex marriage.<ref name="Soule2004">{{cite journal |last=Soule |first=Sarah A. |date=November 2004 |title=Going to the Chapel? Same-Sex Marriage Bans in the United States, 1973–2000 |journal=Social Problems |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=469 |doi=10.1525/sp.2004.51.4.453 }}</ref>

===Social influence===
Dobson's books on [[corporal punishment]] helped to legitimize the practice, providing it with theological grounding for Christian readers. When opposition to physical discipline became widespread in the 1980s and 1990s in American society, conservative Protestants emerged as perhaps the most ardent remaining supporters of corporal punishment. This support was bolstered by "authority-centered" parenting techniques advised in Dobson's books.<ref name="Bartkowski1995" />

Dobson frequently cautioned parents to use corporal punishment in a limited way. Theologian [[Donald Eric Capps]] and psychologist Adah Maurer argued in the 1990s that, in practice, parents frequently use indiscriminate violence against children. They argue Dobson's work provides parents with self-serving theological rationalizations for their violent outbursts. Capps and Maurer conclude that the popularity of corporal punishment in this era damaged children in ways that may last into adulthood.<ref name="Bartkowski1995" />

Throughout his career at Focus on the Family, Dobson argued for [[gender role]] instruction. He believed that gender and sexuality were not fixed from birth, but required careful cultivation. He sought to provide boys with outlets for their natural aggression, and to teach girls how to develop romantic partnerships, which they use to channel and refine male destructive impulses into civilized behavior. Thus the [[feminism|feminist]] and [[LGBTQ rights]] movements, because they seek to disturb gender roles, are a threat not only to family harmony but to national strength.{{sfn|Moslener|2015|p=99}} To preserve pious gender roles, Dobson distributed Christian-targeted psychological advice. His daily radio program ''Focus on the Family'' was (according to his organization) broadcast in more than a dozen languages and on over 7,000 stations worldwide, and reportedly heard daily by more than 220 million people in 164 countries.<ref name="aboutFF">{{cite news |url=http://www.focusonthefamily.com/press/focusvoices/A000000025.cfm |publisher=[[Focus on the Family]] |title=Press Biographies > Dr. James Dobson |access-date=May 9, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070329151712/http://www.focusonthefamily.com/press/focusvoices/A000000025.cfm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=March 29, 2007}}</ref><ref name="PFAW">{{cite news |year=2004 |title=Focus on the Family |url=http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=4257 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061011205753/http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=4257 |archive-date=October 11, 2006 |access-date=October 10, 2006 |publisher=[[People For the American Way]]}}</ref>

During the 1960s and 1970s effort to legalize abortion, journalism often reported the plight of women in need of abortion, such as [[Sherri Finkbine]]. Dobson, together with [[Francis Schaeffer]] and others, shifted the public conversation away from the suffering of women, toward the suffering of the fetus and the selfishness of women who seek abortion.{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=196}}

Through his books and broadcasts, Dobson sought to prepare parents to fight in the American [[culture war]]s, a conflict in which Dobson described that "parents of faith are at war with culture"<ref name="Perkes-1995">{{Cite news |last=Perkes |first=Sue Lia |date=August 12, 1995 |title=Search & rescue: James Dobson's Christian ministry seeks to deliver families from 'destruction' at the hands of a liberal society |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123413811/ |access-date=November 11, 2024 |work=[[The Arizona Republic]] |location=Phoenix, Arizona |pages=D6–D7}}</ref> and which he labeled a "Civil War of Values".{{sfn|Moslener|2015|p=101–102}} Dobson wielded significant influence over parents and politically conservative Christians, and, in the 1990s, a reportedly significant segment of this dedicated following were women who worked inside the home.<ref name="Perkes-1995" />

Around two thousand radio stations aired Dobson's program to an audience of six to ten million by the early 2000s. With over two million addresses on his mailing list, his organization launched a publishing house. [[Richard Land]] called him "the most influential evangelical leader in America" at that time, saying his influence was comparable to [[Billy Graham]] in the 1960s and 1970s.{{sfn|Du Mez|2020|p=86}}

He was a founder of [[purity culture]], a nationwide chastity movement through which he significantly shaped American attitudes about sex and gender,{{sfn|Moslener|2015|p=102–108,167}} and [[Alliance Defending Freedom]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Hara |first=Mary Emily |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/law-firm-linked-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills-across-country-n741106 |title=This Law Firm Is Linked to Anti-Transgender Bathroom Bills Across the Country |date=April 8, 2017 |work=NBC |archive-date=August 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805060139/http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/law-firm-linked-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills-across-country-n741106 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |title=Alliance Defending Freedom |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/alliance-defending-freedom }}</ref> Dobson was a member of the [[Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood]]. He supported the evangelical men's parachurch organization [[Promise Keepers]] and contributed to their 1994 book ''The Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper''.<ref name=Johnson1998>{{cite journal |first=Eithne |last=Johnson |title=Dr. Dobson's Advice to Christian Women: The Story of Strategic Motherhood |journal=Social Text |year=1998 |number=57 |pages=55–82 |doi=10.2307/466881 |jstor=466881 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/466881 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Political influence===
[[File:James Dobson-01.jpg|thumb|Dobson at the [[Values Voter Summit]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], October 2007]]

Dobson chose to exercise political influence behind the scenes, as a "political fixer".{{sfn|Gilgoff|2007|p=8}} It may have helped him maintain his credibility with his audience. He never ran for office or acted as the public head of a primarily political organization.{{sfn|Gilgoff|2007|p=7–10}}

Starting in 1980, Dobson built a network of conservative activists.{{sfn|Stephens|2019|p=4–5}} In 1981, he founded the [[Family Research Council]] as a political arm through which "[[Social conservatism|social conservative]] causes" could achieve greater political influence.<ref name="nyt04">{{cite news |first=David D. |last=Kirkpatrick |title=The 2004 Campaign: Evangelical Christians—Warily, a Religious Leader Lifts His Voice in Politics |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02EED9113CF930A25756C0A9629C8B63 |work=The New York Times |date=May 13, 2004 |page=A22 |access-date=February 16, 2017 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119190728/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/13/us/2004-campaign-evangelical-christians-warily-religious-leader-lifts-his-voice.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Dobson was appointed by [[Ronald Reagan|U.S. President Ronald Reagan]] to the [[Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention|National Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention]] in 1982, where he served for two years.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cook |first=Judith A. |date=August 5, 1984 |title=Focus on the Family grows by leaps, bounds |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/606230999/ |work=Monrovia News-Post |location=Monrovia, California |page=A-2 |quote=In addition, Dr. Dobson has been appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and serves in various other consulting positions.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Barna |first=Mark |date=February 25, 2010 |title=Timeline of James Dobson's career |url=https://gazette.com/news/timeline-of-james-dobsons-career/article_7e7e2ac1-e349-50c1-a23b-0583eaba5508.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241111220716/https://gazette.com/news/timeline-of-james-dobsons-career/article_7e7e2ac1-e349-50c1-a23b-0583eaba5508.html |archive-date=November 11, 2024 |access-date=November 11, 2024 |website=[[The Gazette (Colorado Springs)|The Gazette]]}}</ref> Through the 1980s, he coordinated the creation of [[Family Policy Council]]s in most US states, lobbying organizations that act on the level of state politics.{{sfn|Gilgoff|2007|p=4}}

By the 1990s, Dobson had amassed a sizable network of conservative politicians, many of whom he met with regularly.<ref name="Perkes-1995" /> Beginning in the same decade, Dobson and his vast activist organization helped pass state-level bans on gay marriage across the US.{{sfn|Gilgoff|2007|p=4}} His top legislative goal was prohibiting gay marriage at the federal level, with a constitutional amendment. In 2005, he told his biographer "my greatest concern is for the relentless attack by homosexual activists who are determined to destroy the institution of marriage."{{sfn|Gilgoff|2007|p=11}}

Dobson was an ally of Judge [[Roy Moore]] starting in the early 1990s.<ref name=Gattis2017 /> He rallied his audience in support of the judge in 1997{{sfn|Ridgely|2016|p=29}} and again in 2003<ref>{{cite news |work=CBS News |title=Commandments In The Closet |date=August 29, 2003 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/commandments-in-the-closet/ }}</ref> because of the Moore's refusal to remove a [[Ten Commandments]] display from the [[Alabama Judicial Building]]. Viewing Moore as "a man of proven character and integrity" Dobson endorsed Moore's political campaigns until 2017,<ref name=Gattis2017>{{cite news |title=Evangelical leader James Dobson makes endorsement in Alabama Senate race |date=August 12, 2017 |first=Paul |last=Gattis |website=AL.com |url=https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/2017/08/evangelical_leader_james_dobso.html}}</ref> when allegations came to light of Moore's sexual misconduct toward teen girls.

In late 2004, Dobson led a campaign to block the appointment of [[Arlen Specter]] to head of the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] because of Specter's [[Abortion-rights movements|pro-abortion rights]] stance.<ref name="cnnspecter">{{cite news |title=Conservative leader targets Specter |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/07/specter.judiciary/index.html |date=November 9, 2004 |publisher=CNN |access-date=June 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080417183706/http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/07/specter.judiciary/index.html |archive-date=April 17, 2008}}</ref> Responding to a question by [[Fox News]] personality [[Alan Colmes]] on whether he wanted the [[U.S. Republican Party|Republican Party]] to be known as a "big-tent party", he replied, "I don't want to be in the big tent ... I think the party ought to stand for something."<ref name="fox1">{{cite web |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138571,00.html |title=What Will a New Bush Term Mean for the American Family? |date=November 15, 2004 |publisher=[[Fox News]] |access-date=June 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611051624/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138571,00.html |archive-date=June 11, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2006, Focus on the Family spent more than a half million dollars to promote a [[constitutional amendment]] to ban [[same-sex marriage]] in its home state of [[Colorado]].<ref name="gazette">{{cite news |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-2781250.html |title=$500,000 to fight gay marriage Focus backing state amendment |newspaper=[[The Gazette (Colorado Springs)|The Gazette]] |via=[[Highbeam]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181110080414/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-2781250.html |archive-date=November 10, 2018}}</ref>

Dobson founded a fundraising and lobbying arm of FotF called Focus on the Family Action, now called [[Family Policy Alliance]]. As a [[501(c)(4)]] organization, it faces fewer IRS restrictions on political activity than FotF. In the organization's first six months of existence, it raised nearly nine million dollars in support of six Republican candidates for competitive [[US Senate]] seats. All six won their races.{{sfn|Gilgoff|2007|p=14–15}} A May 2005 article by [[Chris Hedges]] in ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'' described Dobson as "perhaps the most powerful figure in the [[Dominion theology|Dominionist]] movement" and "a crucial player in getting out the Christian vote for [[George W. Bush]]".<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Harper's|Harper's Magazine]] |date=May 2005 |first=Chris |last=Hedges |url=http://www.harpers.org/archive/2005/05/0080541 |title=Feeling the hate with the National Religious Broadcasters |access-date=April 11, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011175831/http://harpers.org/archive/2005/05/0080541 |archive-date=October 11, 2007 |url-status=live}}(subscription required, reprinted [http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/FeelingTheHate.html here.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211040635/http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/FeelingTheHate.html |date=December 11, 2007}})</ref>

In November 2004, Dobson was described by the online magazine ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' as "America's most influential evangelical leader".<ref name="slate04" /> The article stated "Forget [[Jerry Falwell]] and [[Pat Robertson]], who in their dotage have marginalized themselves with gaffes ... Dobson is now America's most influential evangelical leader, with a following reportedly greater than that of either Falwell or Robertson at his peak ... Dobson may have delivered Bush his victories in [[Ohio]] and [[Florida]]."<ref name="slate04"/> Further, "He's already leveraging his new power. When a thank-you call came from the [[White House]], Dobson issued the staffer a blunt warning that Bush "needs to be more aggressive" about pressing the [[Christian right|religious right]]'s [[anti-abortion]], anti-[[gay rights]] agenda, or it would "pay a price in four years". Dobson sometimes complained that the Republican Party may take the votes of [[social conservative]]s for granted, and has suggested that evangelicals may withhold support from the GOP if the party does not more strongly support conservative family issues.<ref name="PFAW" />

However, in 2006, Dobson said that, while "there is disillusionment out there with Republicans" and "that worries me greatly", he nonetheless suggested voters turn out and vote Republican in 2006.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kirkpatrick |first=David D. |date=September 25, 2006 |title=Christian Conservatives Look to Re-energize Base |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/us/politics/christian-conservatives-look-to-reenergize-base.html |access-date=May 27, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119190735/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/us/politics/christian-conservatives-look-to-reenergize-base.html |url-status=live }}</ref> "My first inclination was to sit this one out", but according to ''[[The New York Times]]'', Dobson then added that "he had changed his mind when he looked at who would become the leaders of [[Congressional committee]]s if the [[U.S. Democratic Party|Democrats]] took over."<ref name="nyt04" />

Dobson garnered national media attention once again in February 2008 after releasing a statement in the wake of Senator [[John McCain]]'s expected success in the so-called "[[Super Tuesday (2008)|Super Tuesday]]" Republican [[Partisan primary|primary election]]s. In his statement, Dobson said: "I cannot, and will not, vote for Senator John McCain, as a matter of conscience", and indicated that he would refrain from voting altogether if McCain were to become the Republican candidate, echoing other conservative commentators' concerns about the Senator's conservatism.<ref name="REUTBLOG">{{cite news |last=Stoddard |first=Ed |url=http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/02/05/dobson-delivers-blow-to-mccain-candidacy/ |work=Reuters |title=Super Tuesday: Dobson delivers blow to McCain candidacy |date=February 5, 2008 |access-date=June 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512170414/http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/02/05/dobson-delivers-blow-to-mccain-candidacy/ |archive-date=May 12, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He endorsed [[Mike Huckabee]] for president.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gorski |first=Eric |date=February 8, 2008 |title=Evangelical leader James Dobson endorses Mike Huckabee for GOP presidential nod |url=https://www.starnewsonline.com/story/news/2008/02/08/evangelical-leader-james-dobson-endorses-mike-huckabee-for-gop-presidential-nod/30340108007/ |access-date=May 23, 2025 |website=Wilmington Star-News |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> After McCain selected an anti-abortion candidate, [[Sarah Palin]], as his running mate, Dobson said that he was more enthusiastic in his support for the Republican ticket.<ref>{{cite news |last=MacAskill |first=Ewen |author2=Ed Pilkington |title=US politics: McCain defends running mate's experience |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/01/johnmccain.palin |date=September 1, 2008 |access-date=September 1, 2008 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902224440/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/01/johnmccain.palin |archive-date=September 2, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> When Palin's [[Bristol Palin|17-year-old daughter]]'s pregnancy was revealed, Dobson issued a press release commending Palin's stance, saying,

{{blockquote|We have always encouraged the parents to love and support their children and always advised the girls to see their pregnancies through, even though there will of course be challenges along the way. That is what the Palins are doing, and they should be commended once again for not just talking about their pro-life and pro-family values, but living them out even in the midst of trying circumstances.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/dobson-on-brist.html |title=Dobson on Bristol Palin's Pregnancy |last=Tapper |first=Jake |date=2008-09-01 |access-date=2008-09-01 |publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080902030643/http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/dobson-on-brist.html |archive-date=2008-09-02}}</ref>}}

On June 24, 2008, Dobson criticized statements made by U.S. presidential candidate [[Barack Obama]] in Obama's 2006 "Call to Renewal" address. Dobson said that Obama was "distorting the traditional understanding of the [[Bible]] to fit his own world view".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/24/evangelical.vote/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710151521/http://articles.cnn.com/2008-06-24/politics/evangelical.vote_1_obama-bible-presumptive-democratic-presidential-nominee |url-status=live |archive-date=July 10, 2012 |title=Dobson accuses Obama of 'distorting' Bible |last=Mooney |first=Alexander |date=June 24, 2008 |access-date=January 1, 2012 |publisher=CNN}}</ref><ref name="calltorenewal">{{cite web |last=Obama |first=Barack |date=June 28, 2006 |title='Call to Renewal' Keynote Address |url=http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060628-call_to_renewal/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104231501/http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060628-call_to_renewal/ |archive-date=January 4, 2009 |access-date=June 25, 2008}}</ref> On October 23, 2008, Dobson published a "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America" that proposed that an Obama presidency could lead to: mandated homosexual teachings across all schools; the banning of firearms in entire states; the end of the [[Boy Scouts of America|Boy Scouts]], [[home schooling]], Christian school groups, Christian adoption agencies, and [[talk radio]]; [[pornography]] on prime-time and daytime television; mandatory bonuses for gay soldiers; [[terrorist]] attacks across America; the [[nuclear bomb]]ing of [[Tel Aviv]]; the conquering of most of [[Eastern Europe]] by [[Russia]]; the end of [[health care]] for Americans over 80; out-of-control [[gasoline]] prices; and complete economic disaster in the United States, among other catastrophes.<ref name="Letter from 2012">{{cite web |url=http://focusfamaction.edgeboss.net/download/focusfamaction/pdfs/10-22-08_2012letter.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081031013511/http://focusfamaction.edgeboss.net/download/focusfamaction/pdfs/10-22-08_2012letter.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 31, 2008 |title=Letter from 2012 in Obama's America |last=Dobson |first=James |date=October 23, 2008 |access-date=November 26, 2008 |publisher=[[Focus on the Family Action]]}}</ref> In the days after the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 presidential election]], Dobson stated on his radio program that he was mourning the Obama election, claiming that Obama supported [[infanticide]], would be responsible for the deaths of millions of unborn children, and was "going to appoint the most [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]] justices to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]], perhaps, that we've ever had".<ref name="Dobson mouns Obama Victory">{{cite web |url=http://www.lifenews.com/nat4557.html |title=James Dobson Mourns Obama Victory, Forecasts Significant Abortion Promotion |last=Ertelt |first=Steven |date=November 7, 2008 |access-date=November 26, 2008 |website=LifeNews.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081127100508/http://www.lifenews.com/nat4557.html |archive-date=November 27, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Dobson claims Obama election sets pro-lifers back severely|url=https://baptistnews.com/article/dobson-claims-obama-election-brsets-pro-lifers-back-severely/|date=November 6, 2008|accessdate=November 10, 2021|work=[[Baptist News Global]]|archive-date=January 19, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119190731/https://baptistnews.com/article/dobson-claims-obama-election-brsets-pro-lifers-back-severely/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Dobson supported [[intelligent design]] and spoke at conferences on the subject frequently criticizing [[evolution]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Forrest |first1=Barbara |author-link1=Barbara Forrest |title=Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design |title-link=Creationism's Trojan Horse |last2=Gross |first2=Paul R. |author-link2=Paul R. Gross |date=2004 |pages=270}}</ref> In 2007, he was one of 25 evangelicals who called for the ouster of [[Richard Cizik]] from his position at the [[National Association of Evangelicals]] because Cizik had taken a stance urging evangelicals to take [[global warming]] seriously.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/02/AR2007030201442.html |title=Evangelical Angers Peers With Call for Action on Global Warming |last=Cooperman |first=Alan |date=March 3, 2007 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=June 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007173547/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/02/AR2007030201442.html |archive-date=October 7, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On June 13, 2007, the [[National Right to Life Committee]] ousted [[Colorado Right to Life]] after the latter ran a full-page ad criticizing Dobson.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/cq/2007/07/10/cq_3042.html |title=A Right-to-Life Rift in Colorado |last=Zeller |first=Shawn |date=July 10, 2007 |website=The New York Times |access-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226230651/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/cq/2007/07/10/cq_3042.html |archive-date=February 26, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.coloradorighttolife.org/openletter |title=Open Letter to Dr. James Dobson |website=Colorado Right to Life |access-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100918130331/http://www.coloradorighttolife.org/openletter |archive-date=September 18, 2010}}</ref> On May 30, 2010, Dobson delivered the pre-race invocation at the [[NASCAR]] [[Coca-Cola 600]] automobile race, raising criticism about his association with a sport associated with sponsors and activities which would not meet his definition of [[family-friendly]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.denverpost.com/sports/2010/05/26/no-coca-cola-600-for-me/ |title=No Coca-Cola 600 for me |last=Chambers |first=Mike |date=May 26, 2010 |website=Denver Post |access-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602030335/http://blogs.denverpost.com/sports/2010/05/26/no-coca-cola-600-for-me/ |archive-date=June 2, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sportsgrid.com/nascar/dr-james-dobson-coca-cola-600/ |title=Controversial Evangelical Leader Conducts Prayer At Coca-Cola 600 |last=Fogarty |first=Dan |date=May 30, 2010 |website=Sports Grid |access-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601174834/http://www.sportsgrid.com/nascar/dr-james-dobson-coca-cola-600/ |archive-date=June 1, 2010}}</ref>

At a [[National Day of Prayer]] event in the [[United States Capitol|U.S. Capitol]], Dobson called [[Barack Obama]] "the abortion president". He said, "President Obama, before he was elected, made it very clear that he wanted to be the abortion president. He didn't make any bones about it. This is something that he really was going to promote and support, and he has done that, and in a sense he is the abortion president." Among others, Rep. [[Janice Hahn]] complained because Dobson used the National Day of Prayer for partisan purposes. She said, "Dobson just blew a hole into this idea of being a nonpartisan National Day of Prayer. It was very disturbing to me ... and really a shame. James Dobson hijacked the National Day of Prayer—this nonpartisan, nonpolitical National Day of Prayer—to promote his own distorted political agenda."<ref>Ashtari, Shadee (May 1, 2014) "Janice Hahn Walks Out Of Event After James Dobson Calls Obama The 'Abortion President'". ''The Huffington Post''. (Retrieved January 5, 2014.)</ref>

Dobson endorsed [[Ted Cruz]] in the [[2016 Republican primaries]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Eschliman |first1=Bob |title=Dr. James Dobson Makes His Presidential Endorsement |url=https://www.charismanews.com/politics/primaries/53926-dr-james-dobson-makes-his-presidential-endorsement |website=Charisma News |access-date=August 27, 2020 |language=en |archive-date=March 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306140544/https://www.charismanews.com/politics/primaries/53926-dr-james-dobson-makes-his-presidential-endorsement |url-status=live}}</ref> as well as Trump in the [[2016 United States presidential election|general election]] against [[Hillary Clinton]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Zylstra |first1=Sarah Eekhoff |date=August 4, 2016 |title=Dobson Explains Why He Called Trump a 'Baby Christian' |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2016/august/james-dobson-explains-why-donald-trump-baby-christian.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802050959/https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2016/august/james-dobson-explains-why-donald-trump-baby-christian.html |archive-date=August 2, 2020 |access-date=August 27, 2020 |website=Christianity Today}}</ref> In 2016, Dobson was one of the [[First presidency of Donald Trump|Trump Administration]]'s evangelical faith advisors.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Shellnutt |first1=Kate |last2=Eekhoff Zylstra |first2=Sarah |date=June 22, 2016 |title=Who's Who of Trump's 'Tremendous' Faith Advisers |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/2016/06/whos-who-of-trumps-tremendous-faith-advisors/ |access-date=May 24, 2025 |website=Christianity Today}}</ref> In 2020, Dobson worked alongside other conservative evangelicals and evangelical organizations, including [[Jim Daly (evangelist)|Jim Daly]] and [[Focus on the Family]], to support the [[2020 United States presidential election|reelection]] of President Donald Trump.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rabey |first1=Steve |title=Focus on the Family, James Dobson Family Institute among Colorado Springs ministries pushing to reelect Trump |url=https://gazette.com/premium/focus-on-the-family-james-dobson-family-institute-among-colorado-springs-ministries-pushing-to-reelect/article_c7cab60e-0395-11eb-ba20-b3dcb16dd2be.html |newspaper=[[The Gazette (Colorado Springs)|The Gazette]] |access-date=October 5, 2020 |date=October 4, 2020 |archive-date=October 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201005100021/https://gazette.com/premium/focus-on-the-family-james-dobson-family-institute-among-colorado-springs-ministries-pushing-to-reelect/article_c7cab60e-0395-11eb-ba20-b3dcb16dd2be.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He echoed his support of Trump throughout the [[First impeachment of Donald Trump|impeachment proceedings]] earlier that year.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gore |first=Leada |date=December 23, 2019 |title=Dr. James Dobson responds to 'Christianity Today's' call for Trump removal |url=https://www.al.com/news/2019/12/dr-james-dobson-responds-to-christianity-todays-call-for-trump-removal.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201012134229/https://www.al.com/news/2019/12/dr-james-dobson-responds-to-christianity-todays-call-for-trump-removal.html |archive-date=October 12, 2020 |access-date=October 5, 2020 |website=AL.com}}</ref>

Dobson praised the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court case ''[[Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization]]'', which overruled ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' and ''[[Planned Parenthood v. Casey]]'', saying, "Praise God! We have just received the news for which we have been praying and working!"<ref>{{cite web |last1=Olmstead |first1=Molly |title=How the Christian Right Is Responding to the Supreme Court Decision Overturning Roe |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/06/dobbs-ruling-christian-right-roe-wade-overturned.html |website=Slate Magazine |access-date=July 5, 2022 |language=en |date=June 24, 2022 |archive-date=July 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705191212/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/06/dobbs-ruling-christian-right-roe-wade-overturned.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Ecumenical relations==
Dobson and [[Charles Colson]] participated in a 2000 conference at the [[Holy See|Vatican]] on the global economy's impact on families. During the conference, the two [[Protestant]]s met with [[Pope John Paul II]]. Dobson later told the [[Catholic News Service]] that although he had theological differences with [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]], "when it comes to the family, there is far more agreement than disagreement, and with regard to moral issues from abortion to premarital sex, safe-sex ideology and homosexuality, I find more in common with Catholics than with some of my evangelical brothers and sisters."<ref>{{cite web |last=Olsen |first=Ted |date=December 2000 |title=James Dobson Charles Colson Head to Vatican Meet with Pope |url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/decemberweb-only/22.0a.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907221907/http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/decemberweb-only/22.0a.html |archive-date=September 7, 2009 |access-date=October 10, 2009 |website=Christianity Today}}</ref>

In November 2009, Dobson signed an ecumenical statement known as the ''[[Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience|Manhattan Declaration]]'' calling on evangelicals, Catholics and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] Christians not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters that go against their religious consciences.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://demossnews.com/manhattandeclaration/press_kit/manhattan_declaration_signers |title=Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience |date=2009 |website=DeMoss News |access-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901171332/http://demossnews.com/manhattandeclaration/press_kit/manhattan_declaration_signers |archive-date=September 1, 2013}}</ref>

==Criticism==
U.S. Surgeon General [[C. Everett Koop]], a fellow evangelical Christian who wanted Dobson as an ally in his battle to stem the [[AIDS crisis]], was deeply disappointed when Dobson embraced [[pseudoscientific]] and homophobic claims about AIDS. "The Christian activity in reference to AIDS of both [[D. James Kennedy]] and Jim Dobson is reprehensible", Koop said in 1989. He viewed the AIDS crisis as "an opportunity for Christian service" which Dobson was squandering.<ref>{{cite news |title=Koop Criticizes Evangelical Leaders on AIDS Stands |date=June 10, 1989 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-06-10-me-1321-story.html }}</ref>

In her 2020 book ''[[Jesus and John Wayne]]'', [[Kristin Kobes Du Mez]], a professor at [[Calvin University]] in [[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] criticizes the ideal of Christian [[masculinity]] created by Dobson, [[Mark Driscoll]] and others: "It was a vision that promised protection for women but left women without defense, one that worshiped power and turned a blind eye to justice, and one that transformed the [[Jesus]] of the [[Gospel]]s into an image of their own making."{{sfn|Du Mez|2020|p=294}}

Gil Alexander-Moegerle, a former Focus on the Family executive and radio show co-host, wrote the highly critical book ''James Dobson's War on America'' in 1997. In it, he says that Dobson's loving, caring public persona is a sham; the real Dobson is racist, sexist, homophobic, materialistic, power-hungry, and shameless. He says that the [[Church of the Nazarene|Nazarene]] religious concept of [[entire sanctification]] is key to understanding Dobson's views: "James Dobson believes that he has been entirely sanctified, morally perfected, that he does not and cannot sin. Now you know why he and moralists like him make a life of condemning what he believes to be the sins of others. He is perfect."<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[5280]] |title=And on the Eighth Day, Dr. Dobson Created Himself |first=Eileen |last=Welsome |date=August 28, 2010 |url=https://www.5280.com/and-on-the-eighth-day-dr-dobson-created-himself/ }}</ref>

Some fundamentalist Christians consider Dobson a [[heretic]] for presenting secular concepts from psychology and self-help literature as though they are justified by the [[Bible]].<ref name=Johnson1998 />

Theologian [[Donald Eric Capps]] contends that Dobson's corporal punishment techniques exploit children by turning their natural need to be loved against them. Dobson's advice to "break the will" of the child is a recipe for child abuse, according to Capps, and is antithetical to loving one's child. Capps also argues that corporal punishment may sexualize children. For evidence of this, he points to Dobson's vivid childhood recollection of being beaten with his mother's girdle. Capps believed that using physical pain to heighten a child's relationship to God is "perverted".<ref name=Johnson1998 />

Dobson has been criticized for recommending [[conversion therapy]] advocate [[Joseph Nicolosi]]'s methods of preventing homosexuality in children, including quoting Nicolosi's suggestion that "[a] boy's father ... to mirror and affirm his son's maleness ... can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger."<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]] |title=James Dobson's Patented Cure for the Gay
 |first=Julian |last=Sanchez |date=August 11, 2005 |url=https://reason.com/2005/08/11/james-dobsons-patented-cure-fo/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Feldman |first=Jeffrey |date=July 9, 2009 |title=Raising Children the Right Way |url=https://religiondispatches.org/raising-children-the-irighti-way/ |access-date=August 23, 2025 |website=[[Religion Dispatches]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Snyder-Hall |first=R. Claire |url=http://archive.org/details/voicesofdissentc0000unse_p4m6 |title=Voices of Dissent: Critical Readings in American Politics |date=2013 |publisher=Pearson |isbn=978-0-205-25171-1 |location=Upper Saddle River |pages=283 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

==Publications==
Dobson authored or co-authored 36 books including:

===Books as sole author===
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=Dare to Discipline |url=https://archive.org/details/daretodiscipline00jame |date=1970 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=0-842-3063-0-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=What Wives Wish Their Husbands Knew About Women |date=1975 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=0-84237-8960 |url=https://archive.org/details/whatwiveswishthe00dobs}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James |title=Preparing for Adolescence |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0884490459 |url-access=registration |date=1980 |publisher=Vision House |ref=none |isbn=0-88449-112-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James |title=Dr. Dobson Answers Your Questions About Raising Children |year=1982 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=0-8423-0620-X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/drdobsonanswersy0000dobs}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=Emotions: Can You Trust Them? |date=1984 |publisher=[[Bantam Books]] |ref=none |isbn=0-553-25751-X |url=https://archive.org/details/emotions00jame}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=Dr. Dobson Answers Your Questions about Feelings and Self-Esteem |date=1986 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=0-8423-0621-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/drdobsonanswersy00jam_jd3}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=Temper Your Child's Tantrums |date=1986 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=0-8423-6994-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/temperyourchilds00dobs}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James |title=Parenting Isn't for Cowards: Dealing Confidently With the Frustrations of Child-Rearing |date=1987 |publisher=Word |ref=none |isbn=0-8499-0630-X |url=https://archive.org/details/parentingisntfor00dobs}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=The Strong-Willed Child |date=1992 |publisher=Living Books |ref=none |isbn=0-8423-2335-X}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James |title=Straight Talk: What Men Should Know, What Women Need to Understand —Rev.and exp.ed. |date=1995 |publisher=[[Thomas Nelson (publisher)|Thomas Nelson]]  |ref=none |isbn=0-8499-3858-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/straighttalk00jame}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=The New Dare to Discipline |year=1996 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=0-8423-0506-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/daretodiscipline00dobs_0}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=Solid Answers |date=1997 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=0-8423-0623-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/solidanswersamer00dobs}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=The Complete Marriage and Family Home Reference Guide |date=2000 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=0-8423-5267-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James |title=Straight Talk to Men |date=2000 |publisher=[[Thomas Nelson (publisher)|Thomas Nelson]] |ref=none |isbn=0-8499-4210-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James |title=Life on the Edge |date=2000 |publisher=[[Thomas Nelson (publisher)|Thomas Nelson]] |ref=none |isbn=0-8499-0927-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James |title=The New Hide or Seek: Building Confidence in Your Child |date=2001 |publisher=Revell |ref=none |isbn=0-8007-5680-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/newhideorseekbui00dobs_0}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=When God Doesn't Make Sense |date=2001 |publisher=Living Books |ref=none |isbn=0-8423-7062-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=Bringing Up Boys: Practical Advice and Encouragement for Those Shaping the Next Generation of Men |year=2002 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=0-8423-5266-X |url=https://archive.org/details/bringingupboys00dobs}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=Parents' Answer Book |date=2003 |publisher=Living Books |ref=none |isbn=0-8423-8716-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=Romantic Love: How to Be Head Over Heels and Still Land on Your Feet |date=2004 |publisher=Regal Books |ref=none |isbn=0-8307-3238-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James |title=Dr. James Dobson on Parenting |date=2004 |publisher=World Publishing |ref=none |isbn=0-88486-339-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/drjamesdobsononp00jame_0}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James |title=Love for a Lifetime: Building a Marriage That Will Go the Distance |date=2004 |publisher=Multnomah Books |ref=none |isbn=1-59052-087-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=Love Must Be Tough: New Hope for Families in Crisis |date=2007 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=978-1-4143-1745-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=The New Strong-Willed Child |year=2007 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=978-1-4143-1363-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=Stories of Heart and Home |date=2007 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=978-1-4143-1747-2}}
* {{cite book |first=James C. |last=Dobson |title=Bringing Up Girls: Practical Advice and Encouragement for Those Shaping the Next Generation of Women |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |year=2010 |ref=none |isbn=978-1-77036-544-5}}

===Books with others===
* {{cite book |author=Paul C. Reisser |editor1=Melissa R. Cox |editor2=Vinita Hampton Wright |title=The Focus on the Family Complete Book of Baby and Child Care |date=October 1, 1999 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=0-8423-3512-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780842335126}} (Foreword)
* {{cite book |author2=William J. Federer |author3=[[Roy Moore]] |author4=James Dobson |author5=[[Alan Keyes]] |author6=[[Ed Meese]] |author7=[[Phyllis Schlafly]] |author8=Matthew D. Staver |author9=[[Alan E. Sears]] |last=Sutherland |first=Mark I. |title=Judicial Tyranny The New Kings of America |date=July 4, 2005 |publisher=Amerisearch |ref=none |isbn=0-9753455-6-7}}
* {{cite book |author2=Shirley Dobson |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=[[Marriage Under Fire]]: Why We Must Win This Battle |date=April 16, 2007 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=978-1-4143-1756-4}}
* {{cite book |author2=Shirley Dobson |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=Night Light A Devotional for Couples |date=April 16, 2007 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=978-1-4143-1749-6}}
* {{cite book |author2=Shirley Dobson |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=Night Light for Parents A Devotional |date=April 20, 2007 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |ref=none |isbn=978-1-4143-1751-9}}
* {{cite book |author2=Kurt Bruner |last=Dobson |first=James C |title=Fatherless |date=January 15, 2013 |publisher=FaithWords |ref=none |isbn=978-1-4555-1311-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/fatherlessnovel00dobs}}
* {{cite book |author2=Kurt Bruner |last=Dobson |first=James C |title=Childless |date=October 1, 2013 |publisher=FaithWords |ref=none |isbn=978-1-4555-1315-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/childlessnovel0000dobs_g0d9}}
* {{cite book |author2=Kurt Bruner |last=Dobson |first=James C |title=Godless |date=May 6, 2014 |publisher=FaithWords |ref=none |isbn=978-1-4555-1316-1}}

===Notable articles and reports===
* Dobson served on the committee which wrote the [[Attorney General's Commission on Pornography|Meese Report]] on [[pornography]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.porn-report.com/101-meese-commissioner-biographies.htm |title=Commissioner Biographies |date=July 1986 |access-date=June 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518081936/http://www.porn-report.com/101-meese-commissioner-biographies.htm |archive-date=May 18, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* {{cite news |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=Two Mommies Is One Too Many |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568485,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061213042410/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568485,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 13, 2006 |date=December 12, 2006 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=June 21, 2008}}

== References ==

===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Brenneman |first=Todd |date=2014 |title=Homespun Gospel: The Triumph of Sentimentality in Contemporary American Evangelicalism |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199988983
}}
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=James C. |title=The strong-willed child |year=1978 |publisher=Tyndale House |isbn=0842359249 |oclc=1036957322 |url=https://archive.org/details/strongwilledchil00dobs_0/ |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dobson |first=James |url=https://archive.org/details/bringingupboys0000dobs_l3b9/ |title=Bringing up Boys |date=2001 |publisher=Tyndale House |isbn=978-0-8423-5266-6 |location=Wheaton, Ill. |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dobson |first=James |url=https://archive.org/details/marriageunderfir00dobs/ |title=Marriage Under Fire: Why We Must Win This War |date=2004 |publisher=Multnomah Publishers |isbn=9781590524312 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{cite book |last=Du Mez |first=Kristin Kobes |year=2020 |title=Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation |title-link=Jesus and John Wayne |publisher=Liveright Publishing Corporation |author-link=Kristin Kobes Du Mez |isbn=9781631499050 |oclc=1120090251 }}
* {{cite book |last=Gilgoff |first=Dan |year=2007 |title=The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America Are Winning the Culture War |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=9781429917094 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=okQ-4YOQ4kAC |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite book |last=Moslener |first=Sara |year=2015 |title=Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/27496/ |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199987764.003.0007 |isbn=9780199987764 }}
* {{cite book |last=Ridgely |first=Susan B. |year=2016 |title=Practicing What the Doctor Preached: At Home with Focus on the Family |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199755073.001.0001 |isbn= 9780190619107 |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/25438 }}
* {{cite book |last=Stephens |first=Hilde Løvdal |year=2019 |title=Family Matters: James Dobson and Focus on the Family's Crusade for the Christian Home |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa |isbn=9780817320331
|oclc=1096236320 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oPTKDwAAQBAJ |via=[[Google Books]]}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* Apostolidis, Paul. ''Stations of the Cross: Adorno and Christian Right Radio'' (2000). [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004JZX0GI/ excerpt and text search], analysis of Dobson's radio programs
* {{cite book |last=Alexander-Moegerle |first=Gil |title=James Dobson's War on America |year=1997 |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Amherst, NY |isbn=1-57392-122-X |url=https://archive.org/details/jamesdobsonswaro00alex}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|James Dobson}}
{{Wikiquote|James Dobson}}
* {{Official website}}
* {{IMDb name| 5711248}}
* {{C-SPAN|14866}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060718221216/http://www.5280.com/issues/2006/0607/feature.php?pageID=400 "And on the Eighth Day, Dr. Dobson Created Himself"] – article by Eileen Welsome in ''5280 Magazine''

{{Focus on the Family}}
{{Alliance Defending Freedom}}
{{Andrews McMeel Universal}}
{{American social conservatism}}
{{Authority control}}

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