James Dobson Doesn't Speak For Me....

I happened upon a web site today called...as the title of this post suggests.... James Dobson Doesn't Speak For Me. It is a web site birthed because of controversial remarks made by James Dobson in reference to  Barack Obama's 2006 Call To Renewal Speech.  An article on NPR.org called Evangelical Leader Blasts 2006 Obama Speech describes Obama's remarks:

The future Democratic presidential candidate told the group that the United States is a highly diverse nation, and no one religious belief has a monopoly on moral values. Even within Christianity, he said, there are many ways to apply the Bible's moral principles.

"Would we go with James Dobson's [interpretation] or Al Sharpton's?" Obama asked the cheering crowd, referring to the two widely different religious leaders. "Which passages of Scripture would guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which says that slavery is OK but eating shell fish is an abomination… Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount — a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application?"

Apparently, Dr. Dobson didn't know he made honorable mention in the speech back in 2006...but recently became aware of it because the speech had "gone viral" (in Dobson's words) and was "all over the internet." He felt he should comment so he devoted a large portion of one of his shows to dissing  the content of the speech.....and Obama.  There are links at the NRP.org page to audio links of both the speech and Dr. Dobson's comments. 

What Dobson had to say, in my opinion,  was inflammatory and disrespectful.  Apparently so did  Kirbyjon Caldwell.  In response, he founded the James Dobson Doesn't Speak For Me website. 

Lest anyone think this guy (who I've never heard of before my research for this post) is a die hard Democrat....NOT.  Here is what Wikipedia has to say about his links to the conservative side of the political coin:

Caldwell offered the official benediction at Bush's inauguration in 2001. 

Caldwell again offered the official benediction at Bush's 2005 inauguration. When asked to offer the prayer again at Bush's second inauguration.

On May 10, 2008, he officiated at the wedding of Jenna Bush and Henry Hager in Crawford, Texas.

According to some reports, Bush and Caldwell speak regularly on the telephone for spiritual counseling and prayer.

Caldwell's work at the Power Center was one of the inspirations for Bush's "faith based initiatives" and Caldwell was influential in Bush's decision to create the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

The web site describes its mission as follows:

We are a coalition of pastors and other Christians, led by Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell who are standing up for our Christian faith and supporting Barack Obama. We are signing in our individual capacities and not on behalf of our churches or denominations.

There was recently a Time Magazine article that implies this website was part of a premeditated plan to attack Dr. James Dobson. Unfortunately, I was never contacted or given an opportunity to comment on the article. Nothing could be further from the truth. This website was created to directly respond to comments made by Dr. Dobson in his June 24 broadcast and to set the record straight about Senator Obama and his deep Christian faith. It was created to respond to Dr. Dobson in a spirit of love and lift up a candidate we think is the best choice for our country. The reason over 10,000 individuals have signed up is because they believe in a positive, affirming vision of the United States, not because they believe in attacking Dr. Dobson.

To date 12,000 Christians have signed the statement on the web site.