Don't mistake James Dobson for a Minister

Don't worry, I won't:

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, is in the news as of late for ripping Sen. Barack Obama over a 2006 speech dealing with faith and public policy.

My issue isn't the speech or Dobson's criticism. I want to know why in the world we in the media keep holding Dobson up as an influential Christian leader or evangelical leader when the guy says with his own mouth that is nothing of the sort?

In a radio interview discussing the speech, Dobson was critical of Obama for saying: "And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would it be James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's?"

Dobson took offense to that and made this interesting comment: "I am not a reverend. I'm not a minister. I'm not a theologian. I'm not an evangelist. I'm a psychologist. I have a Ph.D. in child development from the University of Southern California. And there is no equivalence to us."

Yeah. I had the same reaction you likely did. Here is a guy who is often declared a religious leader who now says: "Nope. Not me."

Now, if the guy who is held up as an evangelical leader says he's not, then why do we even care what he has to say about religion? Why even play up his reaction to an Obama speech -- or even his criticism of McCain -- in a religious discussion, when that's where it shouldn't be?

Exactly. Why do we care?

Dobson's just a psychologist with a doctorate in child development. So his views on religion are just his; he's not a faith leader of millions

The millions who've given him billions think he's some kind of Christian morals expert. Millions trust his every last word. I don't trust the first word out of his mouth.