Focus on the Family founder James Dobson is scheduled to appear tonight on Fox’s “Hannity” to debunk an article from the London’s Telegraph article titled “US religious Right concedes defeat.”
This week on The Bulletin, host Russell Moore flies solo while Mike Cosper is in Israel and Nicole Martin is away preaching. The conversation continues with lively engagement around bad behavior and how we can apply all of the gospel to the darker corners of our lives—our unhealthy addiction to pornography, our tendency toward argumentation, and our lackluster support for a truly whole life pro-life ethic. Special guests include Sam Black of Covenant Eyes, Rick Kardos of The Nathan Project, CT’s new political correspondent Harvest Prude, and attorney Kelly Rosati.
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Joining us this week:
Sam Black is a renowned author and expert in the field of pornography recovery. As the director of recovery education at Covenant Eyes, he brings a wealth of experience to his work, having joined the organization in 2007 after a distinguished 18-year career as an award-winning journalist. Sam is the author of two groundbreaking books: The Healing Church: What Churches Get Wrong About Pornography and How to Fix It and The Porn Circuit: Understand Your Brain and Break Porn Habits. He has also edited 16 other books on the impact of pornography and regularly speaks at parenting, leadership, and men’s events across the country. Sam’s deep knowledge and compassionate approach have helped countless individuals and families find healing and hope.
Rick Kardos is the founder and executive director of The Nathan Project, a ministry providing hope, leadership training, and a place of recovery for men who struggle with the compulsive use of pornography and sexual addiction, the spouses and ex-spouses of these men, and the families trapped in the menacing cycle of addiction. Rick is a certified pastoral sexual addiction specialist through AACSAS and a trained Genesis counselor through Michael Dye’s Genesis Process Program. Through The Nathan Project, he builds and oversees For Men Only (FMO) small groups from Pure Desire Ministries International.
Harvest Prude is a CT’s national political correspondent and a congressional reporter based in Washington, DC. She is a former reporter for The Dispatch and World magazine, having served there as political reporter for their Washington bureau.
Kelly Rosati is the CEO of KMR Consulting. Rosati’s firm offers clients innovative, practical insights and action steps to achieve their strategic goals in communications and community and government relations. Prior to this role, Rosati was the vice president of community outreach for the organization Focus on the Family, where she served as the ministry spokesperson on child advocacy issues. Rosati received her undergraduate degree from Marquette University and graduated cum laude from the University of Nebraska College of Law. Rosati and her husband have been married since 1991 and live with their four children in Monument, Colorado.
Resources Referenced:
Covenant Eyes
PureHOPE
Read More from Christianity Today About Today’s Topics:
Kids’ Access to Porn Is a Problem. Are State Laws the Solution?
Porn Is Plotless
Why Haven’t There Been Any Evangelicals on the Supreme Court?
The Supreme Court Isn’t All Powerful
2024 Sets the Stage for a New Kind of Abortion Debate
For Some Christians, Ohio’s Issue 1 Wasn’t All About Abortion
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A CitizenLink alert says Dobson intends to “set the record straight about media reports indicating he has ‘conceded defeat’ in the so-called culture war.”
Here’s the Telegraph article Dobson plans to debunk.
“We tried to defend the unborn child, the dignity of the family, but it was a holding action,” he said.
“We are awash in evil and the battle is still to be waged. We are right now in the most discouraging period of that long conflict. Humanly speaking, we can say we have lost all those battles.”
Here’s how Citizenlink responds:
Dr. Dobson requested the opportunity to appear on the show to clarify erroneous media reports that have gained nationwide attention in recent days claiming he has given up fighting for pro-family causes like the sanctity of human life and the defense of marriage. The misinformation stems from a story in London’s Telegraph newspaper, which quoted Dr. Dobson’s comments to Focus on the Family staff in February announcing his resignation from the ministry’s board of directors. His actual words were truncated and not put in their proper context to create the impression the paper wanted to create – that he was “throwing in the towel” on standing for principles that have been his passion for more than three decades.
CitizenLink says the newspaper intentionally dropped words from his statement: “We are right now in the most discouraging period of that long conflict. Humanly speaking, we can say that we have lost all those battles, but God is in control and we are not going to give up now, right?“
He plans to make clear that he has not necessarily “retired” from the public square.
