77 Facts About James Dobson

James Dobson seeks to equip his audience to fight in the American culture war, which he calls the "Civil War of Values".

James Dobson's writing career started as an assistant to Paul Popenoe.

James Dobson has 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 Councils.

James Dobson was born to Myrtle Georgia and James C Dobson Sr.

James Dobson 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.

James Dobson is the son, grandson, and great-grandson of Church of the Nazarene ministers.

James 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 James Dobson a "massive blow" with a girdle outfitted with straps and buckles.

James Dobson studied academic psychology and came to believe that he was being called to become a Christian counselor or perhaps a Christian psychologist.

James Dobson attended Pasadena College as an undergraduate and served as captain of the school's tennis team.

In 1967, James Dobson received his doctorate in psychology from the University of Southern California.

James Dobson 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 James Dobson viewed as "a sudden disintegration of moral and ethical principles" among Americans his age and the younger people he saw in clinical practice.

James Dobson spent 17 years on the staff of the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles in the Division of Child Development and Medical Genetics.

Under Popenoe, James Dobson published about male-female differences and the dangers of feminism.

James Dobson sent a representative around the country to solicit funding from Evangelical businessmen and distribute the videos.

James Dobson 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 faxing suggested sermon topics and bulletin fillers to thousands of churches every week.

James Dobson objected to the fact that he was not invited to the planning for the event.

At James Dobson's urging, his listeners wrote 80,000 letters to the White House asking for James Dobson to be invited, which he eventually was.

James Dobson nurtured relationships with conservative politicians, such as Ronald Reagan.

James Dobson was among the founders of Family Research Council in 1981, a federal lobbying organization classified as a hate group, and Family Policy Councils 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 of the Religious Right" with James Dobson imagined as an evangelical pope.

James 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.

James Dobson's arguments caused large evangelical turnouts in support of the gay marriage prohibitions, resulting in defense of marriage amendments to thirty US state constitutions.

James 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.

James 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 whom he directly appointed as his replacement.

Free to become more explicitly political without imperiling Focus on the Family's tax exemptions, James Dobson rededicated himself primarily to lobbying instead of advice to families.

James Dobson interviewed serial killer Ted Bundy on-camera the day before Bundy's execution on January 24,1989.

In May 1989, during an interview with John Tanner, a Republican Florida prosecutor, James Dobson called for Bundy to be forgiven.

In 2004, James Dobson founded Family Policy Alliance, a lobbying arm of his media empire.

James Dobson stepped away from leadership of the Dr James Dobson Family Institute in 2022, naming Joe Waresak the new president.

James Dobson frequently appears as a guest on the Fox News Channel.

James Dobson turned control of some of Focus on the Family's youth-oriented magazine titles over to his son Ryan James Dobson in 2009.

At the invitation of Presidents and Attorneys General, James Dobson has served on government advisory panels and testified at several government hearings.

James Dobson was given the "Layman of the Year" award by the National Association of Evangelicals in 1982, "The Children's Friend" honor by Childhelp USA in 1987, and the Humanitarian Award by the California Psychological Association in 1988.

In 2005, James 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.

In 2008, James Dobson's Focus on the Family program was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame to controversy from secular listeners opposed to James Dobson's views, along with those supporting LGBTQ rights.

James Dobson is 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 homemaker mother and breadwinner father.

James Dobson recommends that married women with children under the age of 18 focus on mothering, rather than work outside the home.

James Dobson writes that "every civilization in the world" has been built upon marriage.

James Dobson believes that homosexuality is neither a choice nor genetic, but is caused by external factors during early childhood.

James Dobson anecdotally cites as evidence the life of actress Anne Heche, who was previously in a relationship with Ellen DeGeneres.

James Dobson supports student-led prayer in public schools, and believes that allowing student-led Christian prayer in schools does not violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

In James Dobson's view, homosexuality results from influences in a child's environment rather than an inborn trait.

Sociologist Judith Stacey criticized James Dobson for claiming that sociological studies show that gay couples do not make good parents.

In 2017, James Dobson was among the first to sign the Nashville Statement, written by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

In 2012, in a broadcast titled "A Nation Shaken by the Sandy Hook Tragedy," James Dobson said that the mass shooting was a judgement by God because of American acceptance of gay marriage and legal abortion.

James Dobson contends that abortion invites women to reject God, diverts women from their natural role as mothers, and prevents more Christians from coming into the world.

The roles must be taught, James Dobson says, and must be defended from anyone who questions them.

James Dobson encourages "daddy-daughter dating" in which fathers and daughters set aside time for special activities together.

James Dobson considers feminists a threat because they question the natural leadership of men.

When James Dobson discovered his own Odyssey Bible used gender-neutral language, he discontinued it and offered refunds.

James Dobson opposed publication of Today's New International Version in 2002 because of the "political correctness" of the translation and the publisher's rejection of the Colorado Springs Guidelines.

James Dobson 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.

James Dobson has 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.

James Dobson is a member of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

James Dobson is a supporter of the Promise Keepers and was a contributor to their 1994 book The Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper.

James Dobson has never run for office or acted as the public head of a primarily political organization.

James Dobson was appointed by US President Ronald Reagan to the National Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in 1982, where he served for two years.

James Dobson was an ally of Judge Roy Moore starting in the early 1990s.

James Dobson rallied his audience in support of the judge in 1997 and again in 2003 because of the Moore's refusal to remove a Ten Commandments display from the Alabama Judicial Building.

In late 2004, James Dobson led a campaign to block the appointment of Arlen Specter to head of the Senate Judiciary Committee because of Specter's pro-abortion rights stance.

James Dobson founded a fundraising and lobbying arm of FotF called Focus on the Family Action, now called Family Policy Alliance.

James Dobson is America's most influential evangelical leader, with a following reportedly greater than that of either Falwell or Robertson at his peak.

However, in 2006, James 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.

James Dobson garnered national media attention in February 2008 after releasing a statement in the wake of Senator John McCain's expected success in the so-called "Super Tuesday" Republican primary elections.

When Palin's 17-year-old daughter's pregnancy was revealed, James Dobson issued a press release commending Palin's stance, saying,.

On June 24,2008, James Dobson criticized statements made by US presidential candidate Barack Obama in Obama's 2006 "Call to Renewal" address.

In 2007, James Dobson was one of 25 evangelicals who called for the ouster of Rev Richard Cizik from his position at the National Association of Evangelicals because Cizik had taken a stance urging evangelicals to take global warming seriously.

On May 30,2010, James 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.

Janice Hahn complained because James Dobson used the National Day of Prayer for partisan purposes.

James Dobson endorsed Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican primaries as well as Trump in the general election against Hillary Clinton.

In 2016, James Dobson was named by Christianity Today as one of the Trump Administration's top "Evangelical Faith Advisers".

In 2020, James Dobson worked alongside other conservative Evangelicals and Evangelical organizations, including Jim Daly and Focus on the Family, to support the reelection of President Donald Trump.

James Dobson echoed his support of the President throughout the impeachment proceedings earlier that year.

In November 2009, James Dobson signed an ecumenical statement known as the Manhattan Declaration calling on evangelicals, Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters that go against their religious consciences.

James Dobson viewed the AIDS crisis as "an opportunity for Christian service" that Dobson was squandering.

James 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.