James Dobson doesn't speak for me

I think that would be pretty obvious to anyone who's ever visited this blog. I still think it's worth saying.

Saying this, loudly and clearly, is a group of pastors led by Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, a pastor who led the benediction at Dubya's first inaugural. They've started a web page titled James Dobson Doesn't Speak For Me, and it's a simple, perfectly stated point by point refutation of every piece of nonsense that came out of Dobson's mouth regarding Obama's Christianity.

I just found out about this website when it was mentioned in a piece on Time magazine's website: Is Dobson's Obama Hit Backfiring?

By way of background, Dobson referred to a speech Obama made in 2006 at a Call To Renewal event, sponsored by Sojourners. Dobson accused Obama, the constitutional scholar, of having a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution. He also accused Obama of "deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view, his own confused theology" and "dragging biblical understanding through the gutter." Jim Wallis, the president of liberal Christian Sojourners, also responded with a good statement that you can read here.

I'll be honest. I'm a terrible Christian. I pray for a loving and forgiving God, because if you name the 7 deadly sins, I got most of them covered. "Backsliding" would be a polite way of referring to how badly I've fallen. But I do try, and believe it or not there are a few bible passages that I cling to and try to live up to. I especially love the Sermon on the Mount (ever notice how right wing fundamentalists love to refer to the blood thirstiest parts of the Old Testament but hardly ever refer to the Beatitudes?) and there's a passage from the book of Micah (6:8) that has always been a favorite since the first time I heard it:

"He has showed you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

So you can imagine how pleased I was to see this referenced on the James Dobson Doesn't Speak For Me website. Here is the entire statement:

James Dobson doesn't speak for me.

He doesn't speak for me when he uses religion as a wedge to divide;

He doesn't speak for me when he speaks as the final arbiter on the meaning of the Bible;

James Dobson doesn't speak for me when he uses the beliefs of others as a line of attack;

He doesn't speak for me when he denigrates his neighbor's views when they don't line up with his;

He doesn't speak for me when he seeks to confine the values of my faith to two or three issues alone;

What does speak for me is David's psalm celebrating how good and pleasant it is when we come together in unity;

Micah speaks for me in reminding us that the Lord requires us to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with Him;

The prophet Isaiah speaks for me in his call for all to come and reason together and also to seek justice, encourage the oppressed and to defend the cause of the vulnerable;

The book of Nehemiah speaks for me in its example to work with our neighbors, not against them, to restore what was broken in our communities;

The book of Matthew speaks for me in saying to bless those that curse you and pray for those who persecute you;

The words of the apostle Paul speak for me in saying that words spoken and deeds done without love amount to nothing.

The apostle John speaks for me in reminding us of Jesus' command to love one another. The world will know His disciples by that love.

These words speak for me. But when James Dobson attacks Barack Obama, James Dobson doesn't speak for me.

I don't think I have anything to add to that.