[ExI] A letter to Dobson

[artillo at comcast.net]

I thought I'd share a little email I wrote to James Dobson about his recent comments on one of Obama's prerecorded speeches. I wonder if it will even reach him directly (I had to go through his Focus on Family website which doesn't list any direct email addresses). My bet is that it will be like pissing in the wind. If it does actually reach him, I wonder if it will infuriate him, and I wonder if I will even see a response! :D 

Onward!
Artillo

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Dear Mr. Dobson,

I have a few questions, comments, and criticisms for you regarding your recent reaction published today to some of Senator Obama's comments reviewed from a prerecorded speech.
(reference article http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20080624/REL.Dobson.Obama/ )

Do you think that Christians have cornered the market on morality?

Do you believe that unless a person is Christian, they can't possibly share high moral standards?

I don't consider myself to be among the "lowest common denominator of morality", in fact, I have very high moral standards compared to most of the people I know, Christians and non-Christians alike.

Name calling is a VERY low tactic and saying that someone has a "fruitcake interpretation" of the bible is both immature and condescending. It is an attack on someone's character and not an attack on their position, and you should understand that doing such only makes YOU look like the one swinging the low blows.

Each individual is entitled to their own interpretation of the Bible, and regardless of whether or not you agree with one person's interpretations, it does NOT give you the moral high ground to participate in name calling or disparaging remarks, ESPECIALLY in the public spotlight.

I think that before you jump up and declare that someone running for political office "...is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter" you need to take a step back and actually listen to what they are saying in the context of their speech. Obama was saying that he aspires to politics of INCLUSION, and simply suggested that if we are to have useful political discourse that ALL opinions on the matter be considered in phrasing of a problem.

As for your statement, "What he's (Obama) trying to say here is unless everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe."

That statement does nothing except deliberately try to put words in someone's mouth, and you need to be called out on it. Perhaps if you stated it as your opinion rather than as a 'fact', you might be a bit less subject to my criticism, but that is not the case.

If you are going to continue a public discussion on anything relating to politics and religion, I suggest you learn how to parse a proper argument before resorting to ridiculous leaps of logic and substituting your opinions for what you think someone meant instead of understanding exactly what they said and the context in which it was said.

I don't anticipate a response from you, but I definitely do encourage a well thought out one.

Sincerely,

Brian S.
A concerned citizen