Update: Dr. Dobson's Staff Responds To My Query
On July 1, I wrote a reaction to Dr. James Dobson’s letter on immigration. He had posted the letter to his website and it was widely shared on social media.
A friend of mine encouraged me to send my reaction directly to Dr. Dobson, so I did. I contacted him through his website and I asked him all the questions I had listed for him at the end of my blog post.
On Friday, August 9, a staff member at Dr. Dobson’s organization “Family Talk” emailed me a response. Here is the full text of the email:
Hello Hawk, thanks for your message in response to Dr. Dobson's July newsletter. Our apologies for taking so long to get back to you. It has been rather hectic here at the ministry with high volumes of mail. We appreciate the feedback we have received and have been working diligently to catch up with our back-log.
We appreciate the time you’ve taken to share your honest thoughts and questions with us. It’s good to know that many of our constituents feel comfortable enough to ask for additional feedback from Dr. Dobson. As much as he might light to address your questions, his current schedule meeting the everyday demands of running a ministry, recording programs, traveling, spending time with his family keeps him busy. It is our hope that you can understand the limitations on his time.
Having said that you might be pleased to know that the feedback we've received in response to Dr. Dobson's letter have expressed an overall concern for the individuals seeking to immigrate, but have also conveyed a deep concern for the welfare of our nation's economy to sustain the hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking to enter legally. In short, the majority agree with Dr. Dobson's statement made towards the end of his newsletter "America has been a wonderfully generous and caring country since its founding. That is our Christian nature. But in this instance, we have met a worldwide wave of poverty that will take us down if we don't deal with it. And it won't take long for the inevitable consequences to happen."
Again, we appreciate hearing from you. Keep us in your prayers. Grace and peace to you in the coming days.
Sincerely,
Manny Wells
Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk
Before I wrap up this update, I will leave you with a few thoughts I had about the email:
1. Mr. Wells seems to be saying that I’ve been outvoted. He mentions that out of all the people who have provided feedback, “the majority agree with Dr. Dobson’s statement.”
The majority rules, then? Are we now deciding matters of morality based on public opinion polls? Is Dr. Dobson aware that this new strategy is being used?
Is he, therefore, now in favor of same-sex marriage? After all, public opinion polls show that the majority of Americans approve of same-sex marriage.
2. Mr. Wells also mentions that people who provided Dr. Dobson with feedback on his letter "expressed an overall concern for the individuals seeking to immigrate, but conveyed a deep concern for the welfare of our nation’s economy to sustain the hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking to enter legally.”
In other words, these respondents consider the economy to be more important than the immigrants, even those who are “seeking to enter legally.”
That reminds me of the story of Ruth and Boaz. Was Boaz chiefly concerned about the profitability of his farm or the well-being of an immigrant? Is our primary concern as Christians supposed to be the economy, or is it supposed to be people? Does the Bible say, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love the economy as yourself”?
First, we’re rewriting the rules about how to determine morality (see point #1 above), and now we’re rewriting the Bible itself to fit a more Trumpian worldview? Again, has Dr. Dobson been notified of all this?
3. Mr. Wells quotes a key line from Dr. Dobson’s July newsletter: “But in this instance, we have met a worldwide wave of poverty that will take us down if we don't deal with it.”
According to Dr. Dobson, we are dealing with a worldwide wave of poverty. Poor people are flooding our borders and asking for help.
I’m not sure that the immigration patterns are much different than they were ten or twenty years ago, but let’s leave aside the facts and figures for a moment and give Dr. Dobson the benefit of the doubt.
Let’s say the wave of poverty is upon us. We must “deal with it.” The Bible suggests that the way to deal with it would be: gleaning, charity, hospitality, jubilee. Sharing. Ever heard of the Good Samaritan? Or Abraham and his three visitors? Or the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:35? “I was a stranger and you invited me in.”
The point that Dr. Dobson made in his newsletter, though, was that we can’t take any more immigrants. Taking them in would bankrupt our economy. The immigrants will “take us down,” he says.
Dr. Dobson doesn’t seem to be drawing from the Bible when he talks about how to deal with the worldwide wave of poverty. As he made clear in his July newsletter, he wants the immigrants out, not in. He supports the practice of locking immigrants in overcrowded cages, depriving them of basic necessities, separating children from their parents, and ultimately sending them away.
In short, he supports everything that the Trump administration has been doing. This is the same administration that argued in court that the government should not have to provide incarcerated immigrant children with soap or toothpaste.
How does Dr. Dobson reconcile his views on how to “deal with” the current influx of immigrants with what the Bible clearly teaches? If he’s not being guided by the Bible on this issue, then what is guiding his thinking, exactly? I would like to know.
4. Finally, Mr. Wells quotes a supremely ominous line from Dr. Dobson’s newsletter: “And it won’t take long for the inevitable consequences to happen.”
He’s referring here to the inevitable consequences of letting immigrants come into our country through the southern border. I would like for Dr. Dobson to expound on what he sees as the inevitable consequences.
I expect he should be able to be pretty specific on this. After all, the consequences are inevitable. They are fixed in place. We are sure to run into them down the road if we choose to go in that direction.
He said earlier that the influx of immigrants will ruin our economy if we let them in. Are there any other consequences we should be wary of?
To me, it just doesn’t seem fair to end a letter with a sentence like that. “And it won’t take long for the inevitable consequences to happen.”
Imagine that in a movie, the main character is approaching a closed door. She doesn’t know what’s behind the door. She turns the knob, and just as the door begins to open, the picture fades to black. A sentence scrolls across the screen: “The inevitable consequences happened. The end.” And the credits roll.
It doesn’t seem fair. I’d like to know what happens.
That’s why I think Dr. Dobson should spell out clearly what the inevitable consequences are going to be. I hope that “political correctness” will not hold him back one iota. I’d really like him to lay it all out for us.
Those are my thoughts on the email response I received. In addition to posting them here on my blog, I have sent them via email to Mr. Manny Wells at Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk. I will keep you updated if I hear anything back.
