Thanks for this, Thom. What is, in fact, happening in the Religious Right movement is the conflation of conservative political ideology with conservative Christian ideology. In other words, they are cherry-picking biblical doctrine and repackaging it, to sell the idea that the Conservative political agenda is God-ordained - endorsed by God. Separation of Church and State - it got a lot of attention from our country's founders - it is a fundamental concept in our Constitution. And yet, more than two centuries later, we have elements who continue to use religion to advance their political agendas. Bademous shared an article yesterday that suggested that this issue is receiving attention and generating discussion within Christian circles. I hope so.

The theological element of the religious conviction articulated by Dobson and other fundamentalists is obviously weak as you correctly point out.

However, the scary aspect of their religious conviction is their belief that God reveals the divine plan to them. Having received at least a portion of the divine plan, Dobson and other are able to point out the many ways in which God punishes America for the wicked ways of American culture. Their followers accept their conclusions without ever considering why God would choose a fundmentalist as the modern day Moses.

How can anyone claim to have the skinny on the divine who does not worship His Noodliness, the Flying Spaghetti Monster? How can Dobson profess knowledge of the One Book when he has probably never read, let alone studied, the Gospel of the FSM?

O foul, pagan apostate! Arrrgh!

Those of us who have been touched by His Noodly Appendage know that Pastafarianism is the Only True Faith. Repent! Repent! before it is too late.

Make marinara, not war!

"insofar" is one word. Otherwise, I am in total agreement with you.

I think it's likely that God has a really big problem with those who assume to know what he would do if he were in X situtation.

With a blazing cross held high, they have succeeded in turning the message of the Christ into a political manifesto.

(emphasis added)

Thom, I think you've made a deeper, relevant point here than you even intended.

I fully concur. This is what I emailed to Dobson yesterday.

It is unfortunate, Dr. Dobson, that you have this outsized influence among conservative evangelicals, and quite a money machine based in Colorado Springs.

Some of your early work, such as "Dare to Discipline," was pretty good stuff. As a parent I benefited from it when raising our kids in the 80s and 90s. I also shared your lectures in film with various church groups, so other parents could benefit from your insights. And this early work fit with your training (your Doctorate
in child development). If only you had stuck with what you knew best.

But I fear that the influence you began to garner during that time went to your head, and you began to expound on stuff that you are often dead wrong, including urging Christian to try to force their values into US government laws. Jesus didn't do that, neither did any of his Apostles. But that doesn't matter to you, does it, Dr Dobson; I fear power and influence is the name of the game for you.

And so you keep making a mess of yourself and of Christianity when you expound on things you don’t
know all that much about. As far as I know, you do not have any theological training, nor are you a scholar in Biblical studies.

I'm a conservative evangelical myself, with a Master of Divinity degree, and a lifelong student of the Bible (which I suspect, on a personal level, so are you). But you do not speak for me nor for many of us who may be conservative in personal values, and strong in our belief that God is our Creator, and that through the
Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian New Testament, we are able to gain a glimpse of His will for our lives.

But I challenge you, Dr Dobson, to indicate chapter and verse in these Holy Scriptures where we are called upon to use our vote to make the United States of America a Christian nation.
Besides, any student of religious history within this country knows that this has been tried before from time to time, and fortunately failed. One of those times was in the late 1880s and during the 1890s, when laws were introduced to indeed make of this country a Christian nation.

But Jesus, whom you claim to follow, told Pilate, just before he was to be crucified, he said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my followers would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. As it is, my kingdom comes from and is based elsewhere.”

If you want to obey a command of Jesus, Dr Dobson, stick with seeking to make disciples FROM ALL nations (not just from within the USA), as Jesus commissioned His followers to do (Matt 28:19,20).

At the same time, Jesus DID NOT COMMAND ANY (and that includes you, Dr Dobson) TO MAKE THE
NATIONS THEMSELVES INTO FOLLOWERS OF JESUS.
Religious history is replete with the abuse and atrocities carried out by Christians against fellow believers and against so called "infidels" when they had control of armies and the reins of government.

Dr Dobson, you might be surprised to know that some of us conservative Bible believing Christians fear more from the repression people like you would create were the US to become a Christian nation in your likeness, than from honest of heart followers of Muhammad, Buddha, or even from atheists. Not that these other groups have not repressed Christians and other believers when they've had control of national powers. Unfortunately, that is human nature. We want to control, and to control what everybody else is
supposed to do and believe.

The point is, governments have their appropriate role to fulfill, and so do believers. And sometimes believers, like Daniel & Joseph, have served in high positions within the preeminent political power of their time. They faithfully discharged their appointed duties beyond reproach. But they didn't try to make Egypt
or Babylon (respectively) into (in those days) Hebrew nations. Yet Daniel in his post was instrumental in leading King Nebuchadnezzar to become a humble servant of the Lord, to recognize Daniel's God as the true God, eventually.

In my humble opinion, as a fellow believer, how about not belittling a fellow believer (Senator Barack Obama) over issues beyond your area of expertise (funny thing that one of our pastors shared much the same thing with us in church the other day, raising similar questions which Senator Obama was raising; how we are to conduct ourselves in our personal lives and in the public arena, and how we are to apply what at times appear to be contradicting commands and laws, and or at other times very difficult to carry out standards imposed on us by Jesus Himself).

Instead how about praying that God will give him wisdom,should he be elected President of our country, that he might lead our country with justice and wisdom. (And I would hope the same if John McCain is elected our president.)

Marcellus Antonio

I hold a Masters of the Universe degree.