News and commentary on Religion, especially Southern religion.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Will Dobson drive his former self out of business?

The new James Dobson on the Family will compete head-to-head with the "Focus on the Family" Dobson built and from which, after 30 years, he is retiring.
His reasons for going into competition with his business offspring, rather than hanging up his bullhorn, are fairly clear.
Just take him at his word.
He's starting the new enterprise, Dobson explains, “because I have felt since the turn of the century that I needed to begin passing along the leadership of the ministry to a younger generation.”
That "younger generation" has a Castle Rock Radio talk show called KOR Kast, and is the elder Dobson's son Ryan. The show is named for Ryan's ministry, KOR, about which he blogs. Moreover, son Ryan's social and theological views are a close match with his father's. If you doubt that last, read Ryan's right-in-your-face book, “Be Intolerant: Because Some Things are Just Stupid.”
It's a sweet father-to-son handoff, perhaps creating a family tradition. But son Ryan apparently could not be brought on board at "Focus on the Family." As Barry Noreen of the Colorado Springs Gazette summarized:
Dobson wants to pass the torch to his son, Ryan, and couldn’t do it at Focus because Ryan Dobson went through a divorce in 2001. Ryan Dobson, 39, is reputed to be quite a skateboarder and surfer, with tattoos from here to there — not the sort of fellow who normally ascends the organizational chart at Focus on the Family.

Father Dobson & son are scheduled to launch their new/old enterprise together in March. Meanwhile, father Dobson is avidly promoting his son via Facebook and so suggesting to us one broadcast-audience question, now that the familial goal of their joint enterprise seems clear:
Will the son also rise?

1 comment:

  1. No, not likely. If this is about promoting the son, why is it called James Dobson on the Family?? This is a horribly misguided, self-serving venture. Dr. Dobson should listen to some of his own previous statements about how he was going to pass the torch the right way and be a model for others.

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