They're Very Focused On The Family Around Here
Whenever I eat in the IHOP here in the greater Denver area, I am reminded by the conversations of those in adjoining booths that I am near the headquarters of Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson.
You have probably heard of this organization as a leader of the Dominionist movement in America. Dr. Dobson's has a Focus on the Family show on nearly every Christian radio station in the country. I used to listen to it regularly. If there is any such thing as a nerve center for such a fiercely independent collection of local churches and private schools, Colorado Springs could be considereed the ideological nerve center of the brand of fundamentalist Christianity in which I was raised.
I tend to argue with them in my head. It is distracting. In a way, I almost wish one of them would get into an argument with me. Then I could get it all out and have done with it. But I depart in a couple of hours.
Comments
dek9 on Feb. 27, 2009 4:48 PM
Living there was pretty bad - I did that for 5 years. I was asked - while still pregnant - if we would join someone's church and their youth ministry. I hadn't even had my oldest yet - still in the womb - but they wanted him as part of THEIR club.
I can't even imagine being a single mom in Colorado - Illinois is bad enough. People are passive aggressive about dealing with single mom's, especially churches and local government. Here's a for instance: there is a church by us that has a used children's clothing sale. You can sell old, gently used clothes your kids have grown out of, and pick up clothes dirt cheap. Seems like the perfect thing for a single mom, right?
And yet, in subtle ways, they make it as difficult for single mom's as possible. Registration is on two different days to sell stuff - both are Tuesdays (typically, visitation allows the fathers the kids on Wednesday night). So if you want to register, you must drag your children with you. The sale itself takes place on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday - with the best stuff being available on Friday night. Except that no children are allowed on Friday night. So either you're lucky enough that they have the sale on a weekend your ex has the kids, or you have to try and find a babysitter. On a Friday night. In the suburbs. Also, you get special perks if you're willing to volunteer to help. Which means being available Thursday night (see above about Wednesdays) or for long hours over the weekend (see above on ex's weekends).
The local park district is just as bad - if you have a job, you're screwed. Almost all of the kids programs are during the day. There are rarely Saturday programs, which 1) fill up quickly and 2) kids of divorced parents can only make it to every other week, unless the other parent is willing to take them as well.
I guess my point, in reference to your post, is that groups like Focus just make it easier for organizations to quiet make life harder for divorced families, and single moms. It's no wonder so many women start dating shortly after divorce and marry within a year or two - they need the support, and the legitimacy, because fighting this kind of prejudice is a full time job.
Lots of people believe the same things that Focus does, they just don't come out and say it.
matt-arnold on Feb. 28, 2009 5:40 AM
It's stereotypical of Bible-believers to care more about abstractions than people. We went on this trip because, even though my friend's family cannot stand granny and don't want her around, they are deeply concerned that granny must eat and take her meds and carry on somewhere out of the way. They're showing love for life as a biological process, but not the person.
drkelso on Feb. 27, 2009 10:49 PM
Wow...you made him quit. Good work.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/27/dobson.steps.down/index.html
matt-arnold on Feb. 28, 2009 5:28 AM
So he's quitting the day-to-day administration but staying on the radio show and Dominionist political action. Whoop-dee-doo.
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