I think it’s a mistake to count Dr. D or the Religious Right out – just as they rose again to take over Congress in ’94 when everyone thought they were DOA, like Arnold, they will be back. What’s uncertain though is what the face of the new religious right will be … who will be the new standard bearers now that Falwell is dead, Robertson is deemed nutso and Ralph Reed couldn’t even get himself elected Lt. Governor of Georgia – I’ve seen lists floating around – I wouldn’t rule out Sarah Palin fashioning herself as the RR darling (assuming she has a lot more media coaching and perhaps finds a more mainstream church).
I haven’t been following Dr. D’s whereabouts as he was a bit quiet during this election season but I am wondering how they are planning the transfer of power – that will determine if this is a personality cult driven by Dr. D. or an organization with its own legs. Also, look out to see how their DC arm The Family Research Council is able to position themselves as the conservative watchdog over Obama.

I think that the people at FOTF need to read the US Constitution and perhap actually research the religious practices and morality of the founding fathers. We live in a democracy, okay a respresntative democracy and not a narrowly define evangelical version of a Christian nation.
Render unto Cesar or you may render yourself out of business.

Perhaps there is more than one type of Christian out there whose faith is not solely defined homosexuality and anti-choice.

If Focus on the Family were to disappear, a lot of us would have to find something new to despise. Still, it would be fun to find something new to despise.

I don’t know if there’s one single factor for any of the questions you asked. These are complex issues and the only certainty is that there’s certainly not a clear-cut good/bad dichotomy about Focus’ ministry outreach, reasons for job cuts, or the rest of the thoughts you include here.
I do believe Focus’ reach is expanding, even while it’s contracting, even while membership to their young families program is growing and donations are shrinking and Internet presence is expanding and staff is contracting. All of this is happening. The bigger question to me is, has public sentiment begun to shift away from Dr. Dobson. And I believe the writing has been on the wall for many years here. Yes. People are tired of the agenda. We want to hear that God loves homosexuals and abortionists and Bill Maher without any social agenda attached. That would speak loudly. But that isn’t the message you hear from Dr. D. And so he has been losing credibility with the younger demographic who doesn’t value such absolutist views of the world so highly.
I loved your comments in the article and felt they spoke to this reality well. I don’t use Focus’ products and they aren’t on my radar as a barometer of the Christian world any longer. More and more, I’m seeing them as a gauge of the extreme right conservatives than anything else.

I think that Dobson is an arrogant, scary man, and I resent his and his organization’s attempts to engineer a theocracy in this country.

I think Dr. Dobson is evil incarnate — both in his politics and in his child-reading advice.
But of course, I’m prejudiced — not because I’m a liberal, but because I’ve actually read his bragging account of beating his little dachshund half-to-death. (And modeling it as a behavior to be duplicated with young children.)
Did I mention my username on the social networking side is “doxieman122″?

(Rearing, not reading …)

Growing up in interaction with Focus on the Family materials–reading Dr. Dobson’s books and church bulletin inserts, hearing him on the radio, watching his videos–eventually led to me strongly disagreeing with both the ministerial and political wings. There are a whole host of reasons why this happened, but a simplified answer would be: 1) Dobson’s insistence on conflating the kingdom of God with grassroots social conservatism, and 2) his insistence on demonizing those who aren’t on his side, sometimes to the point of outright dualism.

Dobson’s various public presences (Focus on the Family, Family Research Council inter alia) seem to be focused on galvanising support for his political agenda rather than constructive work on helping families or nurturing Christian of love and tolerance. The political agenda includes a self-interested push for lower taxes for high income earners, enshrining the tax-exempt status of FoTF despite its transparent partisanship, fighting health care reform (while plugging a “Christian” non-insurance — read non-regulated!— health scheme whereby one pays into a pool with no guarantee of any assistance) — the list of hypocrisy and conflict goes on.
The ploy of FoTF and FRC seems use fear and intolerance to attack anybody they disagree with politically– even of the target is a Christian devoted to public service. Conversely, Dobson happily links arms with groups with a vastly different theological perspective (Mormons, Jews) if it furthers FoTF’s political aims. I conclude that Dobson is focused on power and money, not families or Jesus.

I have 2 theories when it comes to the layoffs at FOTF:
1. They are bad at budgeting; underestimating the costs associated with their involvement in the Prop 8 campaign in California while at the same time lacking the ability to reign in expenditures.
2. They prayed to God for financial help and guidance. God heard their prayers and the answer was no.

Mick’s point–”all of this is happening”–is very salient.
I’ve received a fair amount of criticism about this post, which is understandable. I apologize for any snark in my tone. I’d like to emphasize, however, that my series of questions at the end of the post are sincere. I’m really asking. Those aren’t leading questions, they are actual inquiries. So, to those of you who have written to say “I’m a young Christian and I really appreciate Focus,” thanks for letting me know.

I attempt that in the fact the company, “Focus on the Family” doesn’t support Deaf communities. So God won’t bless them after all.