December 7, 2004 by s.z.

Focusing on the Dobson Family

Remember our friend Ryan Dobson, son of James and author of Be Intolerant: Because Some Things Are Just Stupid, the book that urged Christians to just stop being so damned nice and stone a few sinners?   

Well, today we are going to talk about his sister, Danae Dobson, who also has a new book out.  Hers is called Let's Talk! Good Stuff for Girlfriends About God, Guys, and Growing Up, and it was published by Tyndale House, the Focus on the Family publisher.  (And, in a strange coincidence. it seems that her father is head of Focus on the Family!) 

Here, read more about it:

Description: Calling all girls ages 10 to 16! Grab a chair and prepare for 40 fun gab-session devotions that will help you hash out the questions you're asking. Filled with advice, prayers, Scripture verses, action points, and reflection questions, these teen-friendly chats take on such issues as dating, body image, "surviving" parents/siblings, growing in faith, and more.

Yup, girlfriend, the book apparently advocates using "hash" to resolve your problems, which I don't think is exactly appropriate advice for girls.  But what the heck, here's an excerpt from the gab-session about not watching unwholesome movies:

You might be asking, "What's the big deal, anyway? It's only entertainment-why does it matter what we expose ourselves to?" Let me try to explain with a story.

A father of three teenagers set a rule that the family could not watch R-rated movies. This created a problem when a certain popular movie opened in local theaters. All the teens were bent on seeing the film, despite its "R" rating.

So, the teens talked to people who had seen the movie, and came up with a list of "pros and cons" to convince their Dad to let them see it. 

The cons were a few bad words, some violence, and one act of implied sex.  The pros were that it had a good plot, good acting, good special effects, everybody else liked it, and it would probably be nominated for some awards. 

The father looked at the list and asked if he could have a day to think about it before making his decision. The teens were thrilled. Now we've got him! they thought. Our argument is too good! Dad can't turn us down!So they agreed to give him a day to think about their request.

The next day the father called his three teenagers, who were smiling smugly, into the living room. They were puzzled to see a plate of brownies on the coffee table. The father said he had decided that if they would eat a brownie, then he would let them go to the movie. But just like the movie, the brownies had pros and cons.

The pros were that they had been made with fresh walnuts and the finest chocolate. These moist frosted brownies had been created with an award-winning recipe. Best of all, they had been made with care by the hands of the teens' own father.

The brownies had only one con. They had a little bit of dog poop in them. But the dough had been mixed well-the teens probably would not even be able to taste it. And their father had baked the brownies at 350 degrees, so any bacteria or germs had probably been destroyed. Therefore, if any of his children could stand to eat a brownie that included "just a little bit of poop," then they also would be permitted to see the movie with "just a little bit of smut." By now the teens had lost their smug expressions. They turned down the tainted brownies, and only Dad was smiling smugly as they left the room.

And then the kids threated to report Dad to Social Services for trying to feed them dog poop unless he allowed them see the movie.  This time, only the teens were smiling smugly.

The story ends with the father killing the kids to spare them from a world which, while it has a lot of good things in it, also contains dog poop. 

At least, that's the way I think it should end.  This is the way Danae ends it:

Now when his teenagers ask permission to do something he is opposed to, the father just asks, "Would you like me to whip up a batch of my special brownies?"

Dad keeps dog poop in the fridge at all times, just in case.  

And just what was that R-rated movie that the teens wanted to see? The Passion of the Christ, of course!

Okay, it probably wasn't.  But Danae did write a enthusiatic piece about St. Braveheart's movie that was widely published on the web.  Here's some info about it from Truth Miners:.

The following letter is was put out by Danae Dobson, daughter of Dr. James Dobson.  When the letter first came out, there was some question as to its authenticity.  After receiving confirmation from Focus On The Family that it was by Dobson, it was posted as true in this article.  However, I have since learned that a good deal of the letter was plagiarized by Dobson from a Cal Thomas article on August 5, 2003.  Below is a side by side comparison of the letter and article as well as the link to the Cal Thomas article. Verbatim passages are highlighted in yellow.  As anyone can see, there is no question that Ms. Dobson lifted over 3/4's of her letter from Thomas' article without quotes or source.

Ooops!  Danea said that she only intended the letter to go out to "a few friends."  However, Cal Thomas said, "Theft if theft."  Frankly, we blame Danae's parents for not raising her to know that.  (I wonder if brother Ryan preaches intolerance towards thieves?)

In any case, maybe it's time we learned a little bit more about Danae from her Tyndale bio:

Danae was born in Southern California and wroted her first children’s manuscript at the age of twelve. The book was entitled, Woof! A Bedtime Story About A Dog. Upon publication, she became the youngest author in the twenty-five year history of Word, Inc.

Word, Inc. is James Dobson's former publisher.  What another incredible coincidence that they would discover a 12-year-old author, and she would turn out to be the daughter of James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family!

She has authored twenty children’s books to date, including the popular Woof series that was spun off her original story.

There's no word on how many of those 20 children's books were plagiarized from Cal Thomas's columns.

In 1990 she received her BA in Communications from Azusa Pacific University

Here's a little bit about Azusa Pacific:

"Azusa Pacific University is an evangelical Christian community of disciples and scholars who seek to advance the work of God in the world through academic excellence in liberal arts and professional programs of higher education that encourage students to develop a Christian perspective of truth and life."

We sure wouldn't expect a Dobson child to go anywhere else.

Danae Dobson has appeared on the 700 Club, Time For Hope, and has been a guest on over one hundred radio broadcasts including Minirth Mier, Duffy and Company, and Focus on the Family.

I'm betting that most of those hundred radio broadcasts were Focus on the Family.

And from a Christianity Today article we learn:

Danae, who is thirtysomething and single, lives in southern California but travels extensively as part of her ministry.

Uh oh.  She's not focusing on the family, is she?

Whatever else the Dobsons did as a family, it all worked together to bear healthy fruit in their offspring.

Well, just because she's over 30 and still single, I wouldn't say that Danae (and the also single Ryan) are necessarily fruits.  I mean, LOTS of kids from dysfunctional homes never want to get married themselves.

For the daughter of such a well-known and at times controversial father, Danae lists few drawbacks to living in the limelight. Her Sunday school teachers may have scrutinized her a bit more, a few college classmates may have whispered her father's name as she walked by, and a couple of potential boyfriends may have acted somewhat guarded the first time they met her dad,

But then James horse whipped the young men, and Danae was never again troubled by potential boyfriends.

... but the advantages of "growing up Dobson"—which, coincidentally, is the title of a book she and Ryan are co-writing—have far outweighed the disadvantages.

I KNEW that Ryan would write a tell-all book some day!

Anyway, here's another excerpt from Danae's book, courtesy of Brio Magazine (you know, the Focus on the Family publication for teen girls which also publishes our favorite advice columnist, Dear Susie):

God Is Cool! by Danae Dobson 

I use the word cool to describe everything from cars to movies. It’s a reliable way to reveal how much we like something. If I say something is cool, that means it’s extraordinary — at the top of my A-list.

Go, God! 
Well, you know what? God is cool! In fact, He’s so cool that there aren’t enough words to describe Him! I know He’s an awesome being to be feared and worshiped. His wrath can be a terrible thing. (Just skim the Old Testament.) His power is infinite, and we are always to honor Him in reverence. But when you get right down to it, He’s also really cool.

And that's why you should buy this book for your daughters: because of the sophisticated and profound theology it presents.

God’s Creativity 
Snow is created by God, too. Who else could have thought of something you can ski on one day and drink the next?

Um, the laws of thermodynamics? (BTW, here's a "Science in Christian Perspectives" explanation of thermodynamics which holds that steam, water, and ice represent the holy trinity -- or something like that.  I'm guessing that this is the kind of Christian Perspective they teach at Azusa Pacific University.)

Let’s move on to food. One of my favorites is a watermelon — an event in itself. You put your whole face into it as the sweet juice runs down your neck, and then you get to spit out the seeds! Avocados are creative, too. They have their own little traveling case, and they taste great in guacamole.

To summarize: snow is great, watermelon is awesome, avocados are creative, and God is cool.  Amen.

Next time, a little bit from the Publisher's Weekly review of James Dobson's War on America"

In this often strident expose of James Dobson, founder and president of Focus on the Family, an ultraconservative Christian organization, former Focus vice-president Alexander-Moegerle issues a call to all politically concerned Americans to beware of Dobson's political agenda. It's no secret that Dobson, as Alexander-Moegerle writes, advocates "smaller government, larger defense, the elimination of the Department of Education and the NEA, and the barring of women and homosexuals from military service." [...] According to the author, Dobson's Nazarene belief that he is sinless and morally perfect results in Dobson's stance that he is morally superior to others, even his employees. Such a stance, combined with Dobson's apparent sexism, racism and homophobia, and his ability to lobby Capitol Hill with "500,000 to 1 million phone calls and letters within hours," according to Alexander-Moegerle, seem to make Dobson a tremendous political threat to the pluralism and diversity of political views in America.

But I'm sure he's a great Dad, as we will learn from Growing up Dobson.

3:36:27 AM