CONTROVERSY
James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family publications, has threatened to pull his publications out of the 315-member Evangelical Press Association (EPA) because of a controversial article in the association’s March–April newsletter, Liaison. The lengthy piece, written by EPA executive director Gary Warner, consisted mainly of an attack on Republican political views. Warner calls the past eight years in this country an “unmitigated political disaster.”
Dobson, noting his own activities in the fight against pornography, told Evangelical Press (EP) News Service that he took some of Warner’s remarks as a personal affront. Warner called antipornography campaigns “the latest religious cottage industry in a culture of one-issue-at-a-time concentration,” and said that picketing convenience stores to have Playboy removed is “a waste of time.”
In the article, Warner also implied that evangelicals subscribe to too narrow a definition of “family.” He urged caution about “giving blanket approval to individuals and groups that spout ‘pro-family’ slogans.” Dobson told EP that this comment “seemed rather specific to our situation as well.”
Warner denied that his editorial was “aimed at any organization or individual.” He said Christians “raise money and establish ministries on the basis of a lot of catch slogans and catch phrases, and I simply wanted to lift our thinking beyond that level.”
Tom Minnery, senior editorial director of Dobson’s publications, raised the issue at EPA’S annual convention in May. The association responded with a new policy calling for the executive director’s articles to be reviewed by the association president. Also, opinion articles in Liaison must be labeled as such.
In the July–August Liaison, EPA President John Stapert expressed the hope that the new policy would lay the controversy “permanently to rest.” But according to Focus on the Family’s Minnery, Dobson is waiting to see if stronger actions will be taken at the EPA board meeting next month before deciding whether to pull out.
Warner said he doubted there would be a significant change in the policy since it was approved overwhelmingly by the EPA membership in May. He said it was likely a few publications would pull out, but that it would have virtually no effect on the association.
