A few good men

If you’ve been following the news lately, it won’t surprise you to learn that our country is currently in a crisis of leadership.

The beloved Republicans, for instance, are desperately flailing around and have settled on talk show host Rush Limbaugh as their new ideological hero.

I’m delighted by this development, given Limbaugh’s massive unpopularity among a large swath of the American public and his penchant for making racist and sexist statements.

2012 is going to be far too easy for Democrats.

The religious right also suffered a huge loss last week after it was announced that James Dobson would be stepping down as the chairman of Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group. Dobson founded the organization 32 years ago, and despite its religious origins, Focus on the Family members have been deeply involved in political campaigns, most notably the 2004 presidential run of George W. Bush.  
Dobson’s followers were at the heart of Bush’s white evangelical mobilization and helped propel him to victory in swing states such as Ohio.

Fast forward to 2008 when Dobson was forced to support Sen. John McCain after his favored candidates, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, were defeated in the Republican primaries.

Times have changed.

Filling the Christian leader’s shoes will undoubtedly take a while because when it came to zealotry and pure hate, no one did it quite like Dobson. In addition to advocating the “spanking” of children, he likened embryonic stem cell research to Nazi experiments and once attacked the Girl Scouts for making a religious oath optional for membership, thereby promoting “humanism and radical feminism.” The horror!

And let’s not forget the evil gays. Apart from claiming that gay marriage would lead to marriage between “a man and his donkey” and quite literally “destroy the Earth,” Dobson denounced the lovable cartoon character SpongeBob Squarepants for promoting homosexuality and tolerance.

Perhaps, then, it isn’t too optimistic to note that Dobson’s departure from public life could restore some civility in our national discourse. Especially within the right wing, values like tolerance and acceptance have become dirty words, their espousal usually eliciting some snickering.

At the same time, these very people are outraged when the rest of civilized society refuses to “tolerate” their own bigotry towards gays.

More than anything, however, Dobson’s resignation forces the religious right to examine its priorities and whether it is counterproductive to demonize millions of Americans for their sexual orientation or personal religious beliefs.

Indeed, the Christian right’s muted stance on important social justice issues such as poverty, homelessness and hunger is disappointing and not supported by historical record, since religious groups have traditionally fought for civil rights and peace.

Dobson’s resignation now places the onus on young leaders to shape its own unique brand of Christian ideology. With an estimated 7 million devout followers, Dobson’s heir apparent has a unique opportunity to direct more national attention to the plight of the ignored.

The question is, who will rise to the challenge?