James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, syndicated newspaper columnist and radio talk show host – ah, that liberal media – has clarified his comments on Sponge Bob Square Pants.
He said he never meant to single out the cartoon character. He meant to focus on the We Are Family Foundation, producer of a video for schools that "promotes the acceptance of homosexuality." A Newsday story in this morning’s Albuquerque Journal attributes the quote to the Focus on Family web site. (More liberal media!)
So Dobson makes it clear he does not "accept" homosexuality. He wouldn’t say that if he believed it was in-born, so he must think it a choice and, almost certainly, a sinful choice.
Why mention this in a web log dedicated, mostly, to critiquing the news business? First, to remind readers that the terrible, powerful "liberal media" is a political tool wielded by the political Right. (The reality is too complex to sum up in a phrase, but "liberal media" is laughable.)
Also, to raise a question outside of journalism – namely, is progress what happens when we redefine "sins" to some other category? In my youth, alcoholism was a moral failing. Today it is a disease. Many individuals use that redefinition to overcome alcoholism; that sounds like progress to me. I tend to think that when we agree homosexuality is genetic, or mostly so, that will constitute progress. And so on?
Meanwhile, we ought to appreciate Mr. Dobson - I believe but am not certain he is "the Rev. Dobson," a Protestant cleric - for helping us think. Oh, and for reminding us that invincible ignorance and cruelty in the name of religion did not end with the Inquisition.