Are IRS officials on crack? They even have a ‘political arm’ with the same name – and probably the same people, so that when they have to be involved in politics all they do is document their activity under ‘Focus on the Family Action’, whereas in order to get TAX EXEMPT funding as a non profit they document all their other activity. This is called dishonesty.

This article seems to lack the most important information—what, exactly, did Mr. Dobson say? That his organization lobbies for conservative issues is obvious; but, if I’m understanding the law correctly, as long as they never endorse a certain CANDIDATE, it’s perfectly legal, and Mr. Dobson—as a private citizen—can endorse whoever he wants. Both of which make the law kind of ridiculous, but assuming Focus on the Family itself never endorsed a specific person, then they really did nothing illegal.
God bless.

I agree, Joey. What did Dobson say and where? Not enough info. to comment.

I agree; the IRS must be on crack. But then again, who didn’t know that already? They audit a hard-working farmer to death, while “celebrities” hide millions in foreign bank accounts.
To list the amount of highly politicized comments Dobson has mentioned over the years would take far too long. But I’ll mention some highlights!
Here is one interesting transcript/report. I love the title: <a href=" http://mediamatters.org/items/200610180018 “>“Dobson vs. Dobson: Moments after saying liberals “despise this country and its freedoms,” he claimed Focus on the Family is “not political”
The comment was not made as a private citizen* (more on that in a minute), it was voiced while sitting as the president of FoF on their radio show.
Dobson has attacked many political figures, called ‘endorsements’ of some, blasted others, attacked political parties as both a private citizen* and head of FoF repeatedly. (<a href=" http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070328/28dobson.htm “> Another Source) I’m positive that if just about any other so-called “non-profit organization” did/said half of what he has over time, they’d have had their non-profit status yanked so fast they’d get whiplash. Of course, it helps that his organization is in bed with more law-makers than you can shake a stick at.
* Okay, about this whole “private citizen” comment; Dobson can’t have his cake and eat it too. He has appointed himself as the Head and Founder of a Church/Ministry/Political Group with thousands of followers. He owns a freekin’ University that is continuing to churn out little drones who worship him as the second coming. He can’t be allowed to make inflammatory, attacking comments of a political nature and then hide behind the ‘private citizen’ shield. He isn’t a private citizen. Everything he does it public and, once more, calculated. He is laughing about this right now, mark my words. He has just been given a license to continue politicizing his rants and snubbing it in the face of the IRS, and however many other religious organizations who want to follow in his footsteps.
For Gods sake, the man advocates whipping children with sticks until they cry, he is a Nazi apologist, he is obsessed with gay people – and accused SpongeBob Squarepants of being a covert gay propaganda tool, he freely admits to beating his DOG… <a href=" http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/08/08/073923.php “>Quotes here.
Oh ya, and recently he accused Senator Patrick Leahy of being “An Enemy of Gods People” – but clearly this isn’t political enough for the IRS.
Sheesh!

James Dobson is such a decent man. It is wonderful that he was given the due justice he deserved in the innocence he pursues. The First Amedment gives him the right to say anything he wants in a religious way anyway. Though, I wish he would stop commenting on the immorality that some people embrace (Liberals, Progressives, Secular Humanists and Democrats “The Leftist Ilk”) and start caring exclusively for Christians that are willing to follow the Gospel the way the Apostles taught that we should. Look to the example of the Church in Acts.
Shaking the dust off of his feet is the next political action Dobson should undertake. If Jesus wanted these people dealt with on judgment day, Dobson should start to teach on that. Who cares what reprobates do and what laws they inflict on the populace. Lefties do have to uphold their “do what thou wilt” dogma, and that means that a Christian can do without them and their ways.
It is time for Mr. Dobson to head in an exclusively Christian direction and stop trying to make people something they do not desire to be.

As Lincoln said, You can fool all of the people some of the time, …” Dobson dodged this one – but I am sure a person with monetary motivation like his (so carefully camouflaged in patriotic righteousness) he or a minion will slip up.
Donny,
Just to anticipate you. ..
I do not like Dobson, either his beliefs or the way he presents his thoughts. I do not trust him, and i do not think he is a fair or accurate representativde of Christianity in any form but his own rarefied version.

I agree; the IRS must be on crack. But then again, who didn’t know that already? They audit a hard-working farmer to death, while “celebrities” hide millions in foreign bank accounts.
To list the amount of highly politicized comments Dobson has mentioned over the years would take far too long. But I’ll mention some highlights!
One of the more poignant articles I’ve read was entitled: “Dobson vs. Dobson: Moments after saying liberals “despise this country and its freedoms,” he claimed Focus on the Family is “not political”. Feel free to Google it.
The comment was not made as a private citizen* (more on that in a minute), it was voiced while sitting as the president of FoF on their radio show.
Dobson has attacked many political figures, called ‘endorsements’ of some, blasted others, and he has attacked political parties as both a private citizen* and head of FoF repeatedly. I’m positive that if just about any other so-called “non-profit organization” did/said half of what he has over time, they’d have had their non-profit status yanked so fast they’d get whiplash.
* Okay, about this whole “private citizen” comment; Dobson can’t have his cake and eat it too. He has appointed himself as the Head and Founder of a Church/Ministry/Political Group with thousands of followers. He uses this position to make inflammatory comments of a political nature and then he hides behind the ‘private citizen’ shield. Give me a break. Everything he does it public and, once more, calculated. He is laughing about this right now, mark my words. He has just been given a license to continue politicizing his rants and snubbing it in the face of the IRS, and however many other religious organizations who want to follow in his footsteps.
For God’s sake, this is a man who advocates whipping children with ‘switches’ until they “genuinely cry” as an acceptable form of punishment, he is a Nazi apologist, he is obsessed with gay people – and accused SpongeBob Squarepants of being a covert gay propaganda tool, he freely admits to beating his DOG… Oh ya, and recently he accused Senator Patrick Leahy of being “An Enemy of Gods People”! But clearly this isn’t political enough for the IRS.
Sheesh!
If Dobson is the type of “decent man” Christians must rely on to lead them, than the movement is already dead.

NightLad-
“If Dobson is the type of “decent man” Christians must rely on to lead them, than the movement is already dead.”
Please do not be insulting by suggesting that Dobson leads/speaks for Christians. While he purports to speak for Christians/Christianity, in reality, only prejudice-suportive Christians follow him. Prejudice-supportive Christians are proportionally a small percentage of all Christians.
Peace!

Well, private citizen Dobson has certainly profited through the recognition he has gained as head of his nonprofit.
God must truly love leaders of prejudice-supportive Christians for so many of them have accumulated so much worldly wealth. Focus on the Family is another family dynasty in the making. Falwell, Robertson, Graham, Crouch, Olsteen, Dobson, and others have certainly created impressive family buinesses by marketing discrimination, bigotry, and prejudice.
Peace!

JohnQ
I was not suggesting it; the quote you mentioned was my reply to another posters suggestion.
I agree with everything you said.
Be blessed.

I’d like to think the IRS did an objective study and reached supportable conclusions, but with the Republican administration so beholden to Dobson and his ilk, and with they way the Republican administration politicized US prosecutors, it’s hard for me to be confident they haven’t also politicized the IRS investigators.
Oh, and the IRS does audit a higher percentage of poor people than of rich people because a Republican congress told it to audit a lot of people who take the earned income tax credit, but has de-funded the IRS so much they can’t audit a lot of the people who have enough money to be worth auditing.

Just because Dobson and others have spoke out against homosexual promoting some people want something bad to happen to him/them, but God has provided Dobson, Olsteen, and Graham with all they need to take stands that are unpopular to many liberal Americans some who call themselves Christian some that only adhere to some of Christ’s teachings.
Dobson is a good man with higfh moral and Christian standards, don’t hate him because he dares to tell the truth.

JohnQ:
My comment you responded to was not my suggestion, but rather my response to that very suggestion by another poster. I agree completely with what you have said.
Also, excuse my double-post. Despite the fact that I did write the HTML links to my sources correctly, they did not seem to work on the first message, so I reposted without them for easier reading.
Cknuck:
He speaks The Truth, eh? So… you do believe SpongeBob is a secret agent of the “gay agenda” trying to “convert” kids? *blink*

As a Christian, I do not want bad things to happen to Dobson nor, anyone else. I do not hate Dobson nor, anyone else.
I would certainly welcome truth from Dr. Dobson. However, sadly that is often not what he is speaking.
Peace!

Although I do not subscribe to Dr. Dobson’s publications, nor watch his TV shows, nor listen to his radio broadcasts, nor support him with financial gifts, I do respect the man and his ministry. The so-called law under which the IRS investigated Dr. Dobson is not really a law at all as I understand it. It is simply an IRS ruling made in response to President Lyndon Johnson’s irritation with an opponent who criticized him from a tax-exempt base. Johnson asked the IRS to rule that tax-exempt organizations could not keep their status if they made “political” statements. The IRS responded, and, of course, once the IRS makes a ruling it is not subject to alteration without Congress passing a new law. This ruling has been challenged by many as unconstitutional in that it violates the right to free speech. The Constitution does not specify that a person or organization must pay taxes in order to enjoy free speech.
Personally, I believe every religious leader has the Constitutional right to express his or her own views on any subject at any time, subject to the laws of libel and slander. It is only an arbitrary IRS ruling that prohibits them from doing so.

Quote, Cknuck–God has provided Dobson, Olsteen, and Graham with all they need to take stands that are unpopular to many liberal Americans some who call themselves Christians some that only adhere to some of Christ’s teachings.
God has provided Wallis, Spong, Stroud, Robinson, Dammann, with all they need to take stands that are unpopular to many conservative Americans, some who call themselves Christians, some that only adhere to some of Christ’s teachings.
See, it works both ways Cknuck.

I teach a class for nonprofit organizations on how to lobby legally. Nonprofit organizations serve specific constituencies. If they don’t stand up for those constituencies in the legislatures, congress and city councils, then those folks are arguably being cheated out of a voice in government.
Nonprofits represent a rainbow of groups. Why should the only lobbyists in Austin or Washington be the corporate guys in the Gucci loafers and some Hollywood actors? If I (as I do) work with seniors, why is it wrong for me to testify before a subcommittee on public transportation issues about senior transport issuse? Just so I don’t use government grant money to fund it, I have every right to represent my agency before our representatives in government.
If Sierra Club can do it, so can Focus on the Family. Gay Rights Groups are often nonprofits. Just because an organization is religious doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a right to endorse candidates it believes will support its views. Everyone does it. Everyone has a right. Focus on the Family has arguably more liberty to do that than some since it receives no government funding anyway, other than the percentage of its income that represents the tax savings its donors receive by donating to the organization.
Organizations like Focus are careful to fund political activities with non deductible funds. There is nothing wrong with that. People who belong to the organization as staff or donors expect that the organization will serve as a lobbying agent on their behalf. It is no difference than the corporations hiring lobbyists to represent their interests.
I went up against a transit provider lobbyist last legislature on behalf of seniors in my region. I worked for a nonprofit. We received unrestricted funding for it through another organization to avoid tax problems. Everywhere that lobbyist showed up, we were right behind him giving our view on the matter and since the truth was on our side, we won the fight. Old people got more transit funding in or neighborhood that would have been funneled away from us by the bully boys in a larger metro area that had been using lobbyists for years to reduce our appropriation in favor of their own organization.
What really hacks some of the folks who post here is that a religious voice has any voice at all. How can you say you are interested in justice if that justice only extends to your narrow little group. When I advocated for senior transit, we built a coalition of conservatives, liberals, Christians, non-Christians, wealthy and poor. Turns out we all wanted the same thing – to make sure older East Texans were able to get where they needed to go after they can no longer drive. We figured out some solutions we all could get on board with and got them pushed through the legislature.
We pissed off a bunch of bureaucrats and folks who thought they had bought special privilege by paying lobbyists and contributing to campaigns. We weren’t supposed to be there. We’d never been there before.
If you support the idea that congressmen and senators and presidents represent all people, then you sure as heck better defend everyone’s right to lobby and to endorse whoever they want. Their right is your right too.
Tom

Tom King,
Your class and approach to non-profits is intriguing. In that I cannot attend your class )at least I doubt it), can you pass along suggestions for reading and inspiration? Many clergy and church members are asked to serve on the boards of community non-profit groups and might benefit from your insights and resources. Congratulations on your success, and I wish for you many more.
Groups like Focus do benefit from who they know in certan political environments. Is it any wonder that they were much smaller and less vocal in the 90′s than they are today? I also wonder about their connection to some of the problems the Air Force Academy and base is having with over zealous “christians” in their midst.

“Personally, I believe every religious leader has the Constitutional right to express his or her own views on any subject at any time, subject to the laws of libel and slander.”
So do I, mostly. But to make it seem as if their church is advocating a candidate turns the church from a religious (and thus donations are deductible) agent into a political one. If you donate to candidates you may have noticed there’s no tax deduction for that. Of course the simplest thing would be to just make donations to churches non-tax-deductible. Then the preachers could say whatever they wanted whenever they wanted.

When I made my first comment on Dobson, I didn’t know much about him. Well, that has changed. From many of the reliable posters here and having read more from other sources, have given me much information. Having read them….this Dobson fellow reminds me of the late Jerry Falwell. I had absolutely NO Respect for Jerry, a person who promoted hatred. Seems Dobson is the same, and perhaps, if possible, worse.

pagansister-
Yes, I do think that Dr. Dobson has caused far more misery by creating and perpetuating even more prejudice, discrimination, and bigotry than Rev Falwell.
There is no way to know how many lgbt youth have committed suicide as a result of his ministry.
Peace!

JohnQ:
“There is no way to know how many lgbt youth have committed suicide as a result of his ministry.”
What a great example of “Christian Love”, when it causes people to take their lives. Fortunately he dosn’t represent ALL Christianity!! Unfortunately he has a lot of influence.

Yes H22 you ur right it does work both ways that’s one of the reasons I cannot understand, why all of the crying?

Do you mean just my crying or yours too? I’ve been crying for the lgbt since 1980, it does seem I can soon put my kleenex away.As far as womens choice, 1970 brought freedom of choice to my sisters in America, that’s 37 yrs. ago, how time flys! I’ve never cried about that one, just seemed justice in action, actually.

Why no mention of Tony Perkins, the political attack dog, of Focus on the Family? He always makes up and twists things about Democrats in order to make them look bad. Hardly says a bad word about Republicans. So this is more a political organization than religious one.
Groups like this can not usher in the kingdom of God by endorsing or supporting the Republican Party and its candidates. What they do is split the group of faithful flock and that will not make God happy. I know in my state one of their candidates was even promoted by the largest mega church in the state. This Republican candid lost his election for the state House. Shortly thereafter he was indicted and plead guilty for child sexual abuse. Six different counts against the little girls in his mega church. Now he serves a 50 year prison sentence. Promoting candidates is wrong Mr. Dobson, because they are always fallible a la conservative U.S. Larry Craig of men’s restroom fame.

To Tom King, can you give us your contact information so we can learn more about your class and maybe take it in the form of distance learning? Do you have a syllabus or report we can read to learn from you?