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to preach and pastor, not to hobnob
with political and media elites.
SEPTEMBER
resistance be measured not by whether Phisney
itselt is crippled financially, but in terms of the
number of people who have decided to forgo
“the kind of viciously anti-religious, and specif
ically anti-Christian, entertainment that Disney
1s spewing out these days.
Wovrich's strategy is a three-part variation
on the rallving cry of sixties radicals. Christian
[the television
conservatives should “turn oft
setst, tune out” Chereate alittle stillness”, and
“drop out” tof the culture. He conduded by
calling tor a roundtable meeting to discuss his
now strategy.
Coming out at roughly the same time as
Wevrich's letter was Blinded Dy Might: Can the
'd Dobson became haunted by the
belief that he was really called
Relrgrons Richie Save Americas a book coau-
thored by syndicated columnist Cal Thomas
and pastor Ld Dobson. The two authors argued
a theme similar to Wevrich’s and, therefore,
quickly became linked with Weyrich against the
Rehigious Right political activists. Television
host Lesley Stahl even called the book "an obit
uary for the Christian Right.”
Like Wevrich, both Thomas and Ed Dobson
were associates with Jerry Falwell in the carly
days of the Moral Majority. Thomas was vice
president for communications, then executive
director of that organization in the 1980s,
Dobson served as an associate pastor at Falweli's
Thomas Road Baptist Church and was coau
thor The Fundamentalist
Phenomenon: The Resurgence of Conservative
with Falwell of
Christianity, For many vears since leaving the
Moral Majority, Thomas has been athhiated
with the Los Angeles Times. Those who read his
widely circulated columns should not have been
Blinded by Might
Several years ago Thomas began to criticize
surprised by the book
what he called “wrickle-down morality.” the
beliet that culture could be changed through
political activity geared toward electing
Christians and passing the right kind of legisla
tion. This was the underlying premise of the
Moral Majority in the 1980s and exactly what
Wevrich had criticized mn his letter.
Gur oBz Foran
[In Blinded by Might Thomas and Dobson
wrote, UI the so-called Religious Right focuses
mainly on politics to deliver us, we will never wet
that right because politics and government can-
not reach into the soul” Even more pointedly,
the authors Challenged, “Those conservatives
who argue that liberals used government to
undermine what the Founders began should not
now seek to arab the reigns of government from
liberal hands in order to use government solely
to fix problems that are bevond its reach and
power to solve Throughout the book Thomas
and Dobson argue that the Rehgious Right, of
which they were both part, was seduced bys
proximity to power and thereby compromised
in ats ability to serve as a
prophetic voice within
American culture. As an
alternative, theve like
Wevrich, advocate that
conservative Christians
seek to be salt and light
within the darkness that
pervades American soci-
civ, rather than the ones
who control the reins of political power.
For more than a decade now, Dobson has
consistently lived out this apolitical stance,
admittedly to a tault. After being feted on the
Phil Donohue show and many other television
and radio programs of the 1980s, he became
haunted by the belief that he was really called
to preach and pastor. not to hobnob with polit-
wal and media elites. Eleven vears ago he lett
Falwell's church and the Moral Majority and
became pastor of Calvary church in Grand
Rapids. Michigan. Since then he has studiously
avoided all political alliances and eschewed
political activism. Instead he has ted his church
ina varieiv of ministries that combine evangel-
ical evangelism with a serious concern lor the
poor and marginalized of the Grand Rapids
communitv—all while maintaining conserva-
tive theology.
Perhaps the degree to which Dobson has
broken ranks with the Religious Right can best
be seen in how he now deals with the issue of
homosexuality. While much of the Religious
Right pours its energy and resources into hight
ing the gay lobby, he and Calvary church have
developed a ministry to victims of AIDS, Much
lke Tim Wallis's Sojourners Community in
Washington, LC, an organization that could be
classified as part of the Evangelical Let
Dobson's Calvary church has several different