Focus on the Family

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Focus on the Family
50p
Abbreviation FOTF
Formation 1977
James Dobson
Website FocusOnTheFamily.com

Focus on the Family (FOTF, or FotF) is an American evangelical tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s. A component of the American Christian right, it is active in promoting interdenominational work toward its views on social conservative public policy.

Focus on the Family is "dedicated to nurturing and defending families worldwide" and protecting family values. Some of the core promotional activities of the organization include a daily radio broadcast by Dobson and his colleagues, providing free resources and family counseling according to Focus on the Family views, and publishing a variety of magazines, videos, and audio recordings. The organization also produces specialized programs for targeted audiences, such as Adventures in Odyssey for children, dramas, and Family Minute with James Dobson.

Contents

[edit] History and organization

Focus on the Family's Visitor's Welcome Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Since its start in 1977 leadership for the organization was provided by Dobson alone until 2003. In 2003, Donald P. Hodel became president and chief executive officer, tasked with the day-to-day operations. This left Dobson as chairman of the Board of Directors, with chiefly creative and speaking duties.

In March 2005, Hodel retired and Jim Daly, formerly the Vice President in charge of Focus on the Family's International Division, assumed the role of president and chief executive officer.

In November 2008, the organization announced that it was eliminating 202 jobs, representing 18 percent of its workforce. The organization also cut its budget from $160 million in fiscal 2008 to $138 million for fiscal 2009.[1]

On February 27, 2009, Dobson officially announced he was stepping down as chairman of the Board of Directors, but would continue to serve as host of the Focus on the Family broadcasts and write a monthly column.[2]

[edit] Ministries

[edit] Marriage & family

The primary ministry of Focus on the Family is to strengthen marriages and families. Much of the underlying theory comes from the published works of Dr. James Dobson, who has written a number of books on subjects ranging from raising children to taking steps to prevent divorce by helping couples with conflict management. One key theme of this ministry is helping couples understand the negative consequences of divorce on their children. The organization maintains a toll-free telephone counseling service available to anyone in a family crisis.

[edit] Radio theater

Main article: Father Gilbert Mysteries
Main article: Adventures in Odyssey
A wall in Whit's End at the visitor's center showing the Adventures in Odyssey voice actors, challenging viewers to match them with the characters.

Focus on The Family Radio Theatre is a series of audio dramas adapting classic literature, mystery mini-series and biographical productions, extending its reach to the mainstream as well as the Christian audience. The endeavor began through the efforts of former Adventures in Odyssey producers Dave Arnold and Paul McCusker, along with casting director Philip Glassborow based in England.

Radio Theater began with historical biographies of Squanto ("The Legend of Squanto"), Jesus ("The Luke Reports") and Dietrich Bonhoeffer ("Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom"), and in 1996, a 90-minute radio drama based on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was produced and aired as a broadcast special.

In 2003, Focus on the Family Radio Theater released an audio dramatization of C. S. Lewis' epic novel series The Chronicles of Narnia, with David Suchet providing the voice of Aslan, and over 100 English actors rounding out the cast. Lewis' stepson, Douglas Gresham, serves as host—sharing his personal stories at the beginning of each audio drama.

The Visitor's Center contains an indoor children's play area that includes a Whit's End ice cream shop.

Radio Theatre also also released an original miniseries, the Father Gilbert Mysteries, which tells of the spiritual mysteries encountered by Louis Gilbert, a cop-turned-Anglican-priest, who lives in Stonebridge, Sussex, and ministers to the people of the town from St. Mark's Church. Nine episodes have been produced in four volumes available on cassette and CD.

FOTF also produces a children's radio drama entitled Adventures in Odyssey. It began in 1987 as Family Portraits, starring an elderly Christian gentleman named John Avery Whittaker (aka "Whit"), who runs an ice cream shop/"discovery emporium" called Whit's End; and he imparts Christian wisdom to the children of the town of Odyssey. It was renamed "Odyssey USA" in November 1987 and took on its present name, "Adventures in Odyssey" in April 1988. [3]

FOTF also produced a radio miniseries based on their videos,The Last Chance Detectives.

[edit] Love Won Out

Main article: Love Won Out

The purpose of Focus on the Family's Love Won Out ministry is to exhort and equip the church to respond to homosexuality in a Christ-like way.[4] Along with Exodus International and NARTH, Love Won Out works with people who seek freedom from an ego-dystonic homosexual orientation and assists those who have participated in homosexual behavior to experience forgiveness for sin.[5] Love Won Out teaches that "[t]he foundation of society for the family is marriage of a man and a woman for life" and that "Scripture is very clear in its condemnation of homosexual conduct, for such sin is a deviation from God's creation and design."[6].

[edit] Other ministries

Focus on the Family has a number of additional ministries. Many are aimed at specific demographics including teenage boys and girls, children, college students, families, young adults, parents, while others are aimed at specific concerns, such as sexual problems, entertainment, and politics. Many have their own regular publications. The ministry for college students and young adults is Boundless Webzine.

[edit] Political positions and activities

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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2009)

As a 501(c)(3) corporation, Focus on the Family is not permitted to advocate any individual political candidate. However, in its radio broadcast, it often discusses political issues and current events, usually through a Christian conservative point of view. Dobson is among the Christian conservative leaders who met with and advised former President George W. Bush. Focus on the Family's magazine Citizen is exclusively devoted to politics. The FOTF also has an affiliated group, Focus on the Family Action (a.k.a. Focus Action), though the two groups are legally separate. As a 501(c)(4) social welfare group, Focus Action has fewer political lobbying restrictions. FoTF's revenue in 2005 was USD $142M, and that of FoTF Action was $14.7M.[7][8]

The Administration Building is one of four on the campus.

The group supports the teaching of "traditional family values". It advocates school sponsored prayer and supports corporal punishment.[9] It strongly opposes abortion, so-called militant feminism, homosexuality, pornography, and pre-marital and extramarital sexual activity. Focus on the Family also embraces and reflects the wider political agenda of its audience, for instance promoting a religiously-centered conception of American identity and the support of Israel.

The group's message has been controversial. In particular, groups who support homosexual rights, including some educational, medical, and mental health organizations, have criticized the organization for its stance on homosexuality and related legislation and for its Love Won Out ministry, an ex-gay movement in cooperation with Exodus International and NARTH.[10] Additionally, Focus on the Family has been charged with manipulating research to support their stance on homosexuality.[11][12][13][14][15][16]

Focus on the Family maintains a strong pro-life stand against abortion, and provides grant funding and medical training to assist crisis pregnancy centers (also known as pregnancy resource centers) in obtaining ultrasound machines. According to the organization, this funding, which has allowed CPCs to provide pregnant women with live sonogram images of the developing fetus, has led directly to the birth of over 1500 babies who would have otherwise been aborted.[17][18]

FOTF's bookstore at their headquarters contains a variety of material on Christian living, Bibles, etc.

Focus on the Family also supports prohibition of all gambling[19] in America, a position which has created some controversy within the Christian community as gambling is not explicitly prohibited in the Bible,[citation needed] and many churches hold minor gambling contests, especially bingo, to raise funds.[citation needed] Focus’ insistence on this position, as a result, has been interpreted as “extra-Biblical doctrine” that was created by some within the Christian Right who are personally opposed to gambling.[citation needed]

Focus on the Family broadcasts a national talk radio program of the same name hosted by Dobson or his aides. The program has a range of themes, such as Christian-oriented assistance for victims of rape or child abuse; parenting difficulties; child adoption; husband/wife roles; family history and traditions; struggles with gambling, pornography, alcohol, and drugs; and many other themes. When programs deal with civic issues, listeners often respond to these programs by contacting political leaders.

Focus on the Family has been a prominent supporter of intelligent design, publishing pro-intelligent design articles in its Citizen magazine and selling intelligent design videos on its website.[20][21] Focus on the Family co-published the intelligent design videotape Unlocking the Mystery of Life with the Discovery Institute, hub of the intelligent design movement.[22] Focus on the Family employee Mark Hartwig is also a fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, a connection which has helped to publicize intelligent design extensively; James Dobson often features intelligent design proponents on his Focus on the Family radio program. Focus on the Family's Family.org is a significant online resource for intelligent design articles.[23][24]

[edit] 2008 Presidential campaign

In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, it shifted from support of Mike Huckabee to not supporting any candidate, to finally accepting the Republican ticket once Sarah Palin was added to the ticket. Prior to the election, a television and letter campaign was launched predicting terrorist attacks in four U.S. cities and equating the U.S. with Nazi Germany. This publicity was condemned by the Anti Defamation League.[25] Within a month before the general election, Focus on the Family began distributing a 16 page fictitious letter titled Letter from 2012 in Obama's America, which describes an imagined American future in which "many of our freedoms have been taken away by a liberal Supreme Court of the United States and a majority of Democrats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate."[26] According to USA Today, the letter "is part of an escalation in rhetoric from Christian right activists" trying to paint Democratic Party presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama in a negative light.[27] Other Evangelicals like Jim Wallis and various progressive Christians denounced the letter as fearmongering.[28][29][30] Focus on the Family was also instrumental in the successful December 2, 2008, runoff election win by Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.). The organization, according to the Colorado Independent, donated $35,310 in radio ads to the Chambliss runoff campaign effort. As the Independent reports, the Focus-sponsored ads were aired in about 12 Georgia markets. The commercials were produced in the weeks after Focus laid off 202 employees — some 20 percent of its workforce — because of the national economic crisis."[31]

[edit] Recognitions and awards

In 2008, Dobson's "Focus on the Family" program was nominated for induction into the Radio Hall of Fame.[32] Nominations were made by the 157 members of the Hall of Fame and voting on inductees was handed over to the public using online voting.[33] The nomination drew the ire of gay rights activists, who launched efforts to have the program removed from the nominee list and to vote for other nominees to prevent "Focus on the Family" from winning.[34][35] However, on July 18, 2008, it was announced that the program had won and would be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in a ceremony on November 8, 2008.[36] TruthWinsOut.org, a gay rights group, has said they will protest the ceremony.[37]

[edit] International associates and regional offices

[edit] New Zealand

Focus on the Family New Zealand logo.

Focus on the Family New Zealand is an organisation promoting a conservative Christian ideology. It has a similar agenda to the Focus on the Family organisation in the United States. Focus on the Family supported a Citizens Initiated Referendum on the repeal of section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961.[38]

See also: Christianity in New Zealand

[edit] Other countries

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bill Reed. "Focus on the Family eliminating 202 jobs". Colorado Springs Gazette. http://www.gazette.com/news/focus_43586___article.html/lays_eliminationg.html. 
  2. ^ http://christianpost.com/Society/Family_issues/2009/02/dobson-resigns-as-chairman-of-focus-on-the-family-27/index.html
  3. ^ "Adventures in Odyssey online". http://oneplace.com/ministries/Adventures_in_Odyssey/. Retrieved on 2007-10-11. 
  4. ^ Love Won Out Website (July 2009) http://www.lovewonout.com
  5. ^ Love Won Out Guide, Pg 7 "The sin of homosexual behavior, like all sins, can be forgiven and healed"
  6. ^ Focus on the Family's Love Won Out Conference Guide Copyrighted 2005–2006Archive copy at the Internet Archive
  7. ^ Focus of the Family Form 990s tax filing
  8. ^ Focus of the Family Action Form 990s tax filing
  9. ^ Focus on the Family Defends Parents' Right to Discipline Archive copy at the Internet Archive
  10. ^ SPLCenter.org: Straight Like Me
  11. ^ http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/publications/justthefacts.html American Psychological Association: Just the Facts About - Sexual Orientation & Youth "was developed and is endorsed by the following organizations:American Academy of Pediatrics, American Counseling Association, American Association of School Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, American Psychological Association, American School Health Association, Interfaith Alliance Foundation, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers and the National Education Association"
  12. ^ http://www.psych.org/psych_pract/copptherapyaddendum83100.cfm American Psychiatric Association Position Statement on Therapies Focused on Attempts to Change Sexual Orientation (Reparative or Conversion Therapies)
  13. ^ Paulson, Steven K. (2006-08-17). "Gay Rights Group: Dobson Manipulated Data". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/17/AR2006071701530.html. Retrieved on 2008-05-21. 
  14. ^ Scientists fume after Focus on the Family chief Dobson 'misrepresents' work on gays Raw Story, December 15, 2006.
  15. ^ James Dobson Slammed By Professor For Distorting Her Research In Time Magazine, news release from Truth Wins Out, retrieved December 15, 2006.
  16. ^ Yale Professor Says James Dobson 'Cherry Picked' His Research in Time Magazine Article, news release from Truth Wins Out, retrieved December 15, 2006.
  17. ^ Sanctity of Human Life
  18. ^ The New York Times > National > Church Groups Turn to Sonogram to Turn Women From Abortions
  19. ^ [1]May 6, 2003, Moral Crusader Says He Will Gamble No More, New York Times
  20. ^ Inferior Design Chris Mooney. The American Prospect Online, September 2005
  21. ^ Expert Witness Report Barbara Forrest. Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. (PDF file)
  22. ^ Unlocking the Mystery of Life Stephen C. Meyer and W. Peter Allen. Center for Science and Culture July 15, 2004
  23. ^ Feature Articles Focus On Social Issues - Origins. CitizenLink, Focus on the Family
  24. ^ Recommended Reading List Focus On Social Issues - Origins. CitizenLink, Focus on the Family
  25. ^ [2]
  26. ^ http://www.newsweek.com/id/165599
  27. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-10-27-christian-right-obama_N.htm
  28. ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-wallis/james-dobsons-letter-from_b_139253.html
  29. ^ http://www.matthew25.org/fotf_response.php
  30. ^ http://blog.beliefnet.com/progressiverevival/2008/10/join-us-in-responding-to-dobso.html
  31. ^ [3]
  32. ^ Williams, Devon (2008-05-01). "Dr. Dobson's Broadcast Nominated to Radio Hall of Fame". Citizenlink.org. http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000007319.cfm. Retrieved on 2008-07-25. 
  33. ^ Barna, Mark (2008-07-21). "Dobson garners hall of fame honor". The Gazette. http://www.gazette.com/articles/radio_38491___article.html/dobson_fame.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-25. 
  34. ^ "Dr. Dobson Blasted by Gay Activist". Citizenlink.org. 2008-07-11. http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000007803.cfm. Retrieved on 2008-07-25. 
  35. ^ Besen, Wayne (2008-07-09). "TWO Launches Drive to Keep James Dobson Out of the Radio Hall of Fame". PR Newswire. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/two-launches-drive-keep-james/story.aspx?guid=%7B689964E1-58B4-447C-8035-A4E5A019854E%7D&dist=hppr. Retrieved on 2008-07-25. 
  36. ^ Cuprisin, Tim (2008-07-20). "FCC commissioner wants more concessions in satellite merger". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=774479. Retrieved on 2008-07-25. 
  37. ^ "Religion News in Brief". Associated Press. 2008-07-25. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gVVkhOROBhtmO0erIagBCwlYOFpAD924RBS00. Retrieved on 2008-07-25. 
  38. ^ Focus on the Family (2007-05-17). "Lobby group offers help through smacking mess". Scoop. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0705/S00294.htm. Retrieved on 2008-06-30. 

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