Advocate of traditional Christian morality leaves complicated legacy

Some people, when they die, leave complicated legacies. James Dobson, who died at age 89 on Aug. 21, was one of those people.

Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, was known across North America for his strong advocacy of a brand of conservative Christian morality that he packaged as “family values.” He shared these values through his popular radio shows — he was carried by over 4,000 stations — and over 70 books. His views on disciplining children shaped generations of children, especially in evangelical families.

His most famous book was his 1970 best-selling book Dare to Discipline, which he wrote to counter what he saw as permissive parenting trends of the times. In it, Dobson argued that children need firm, loving discipline — including spanking children as young as 15 months old — so they might grow into adults who loved and obeyed God.

For some, Dobson was a positive force. Franklin Graham hailed him as a “staunch defender of the family” and for standing for biblical morality. “His legacy and impact for Jesus Christ will continue on for generations,” he said.

“The world has lost a mighty voice for truth and an incredibly influential servant of Christ today,” said Kristen Waggoner of the Alliance Defense Fund, which helped overturn Roe v. Wade in the U.S.

But others viewed him in a very different light.

Zach Lambert, pastor of a church in Austin, Texas, and author of Better Ways to Read the Bible, spoke about counselling “hundreds and hundreds of people who experienced severe trauma because of his teachings.”

Anthea Butler, a professor of religion at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote that Dobson’s views were about “discipline rooted in fear, not love … Dobson built a legacy on conservative biblical beliefs about children and family life at the expense of others in American society.”

One group of people who felt Dobson’s harsh discipline more than others is the LGBTTQ+ community. Dobson saw homosexuality as sin and he opposed LGBTTQ+ rights and same-sex marriage. At the same time, he promoted the discredited idea of conversion therapy to change LGBTTQ+ people into heterosexuals.

One person who knows the negative impact of Dobson’s teaching is Lucas Wlson of Toronto. Wilson, 34, is a member of the LGBBTQ+ community and a survivor of conversion therapy.

For Wilson, who lives in Toronto, Dobson’s view that homosexuality was sinful and something to be “fixed” was harsh and cruel to people like him.

“Though he was certainly not the first to promote the idea that queers could pray the gay away, he nonetheless popularized the idea that one could, through the sanctifying power of Jesus, change one’s sexuality,” Wilson said.

Dobson’s teachings “helped create the conditions for what led me, as an 18-year-old, into conversion therapy,” he added.

Wilson went to a Baptist church as a teen and then attended Liberty University, an evangelical Christian university located in Lynchburg, Va. While at that school he was subjected to conversion therapy.

The experience has haunted Wilson ever since. “When people come to realize that they cannot change and begin to blame themselves for their inability to change, they often turn on themselves and see themselves as the problem, as was the case for me,” he said, adding that he blamed himself for his “inability to become straight.”

Wilson’s experience led him to study the practice and its impact on LGBTTQ+ people. This year he published the book Shame-Sex Attraction: Survivors’ Stories of Conversion Therapy (Jessica Kingsley Publishers), a collection of 17 stories from survivors of conversion therapy.

“Had I had a book like Shame-Sex Attraction, I might have been able to sort through my experience with more clarity,” he said.

Today, conversion therapy is illegal in Canada. Despite that, Wilson said it is still being practised in the shadows in some churches under the name of “biblical counselling” even though studies continue to show it is ineffective and harmful to people who go through it, leading many to feel guilt, shame and to consider suicide.

He is also worried about what might happen in the U.S., where it is banned in 20 U.S. states. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to that ban this fall. If it is overturned, it might emboldened supporters of the practice in Canada. “What happens in the U.S. can have influence here,” he said.

Wilson hopes the book will find its way into the hands of people in ministry and mental health professionals, so they understand the impact of conversion therapy on people. He also hopes survivors of conversion therapy will read it, so they can see they aren’t alone.

“I hope it helps them find solace in the fact that they are part of a community that has persisted despite numerous attempts to erase us,” he said. “And I hope this book reminds them that they are beautiful, strong, and resilient, that they are indeed survivors.”

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