FOCUS ON THE FAMILY

'Focus on the Family' ('FOTF', or 'FotF') is an American evangelical political group, promoting the policies of the Christian right. The non-profit organization was founded in 1977 by Dr. James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the last decade. A major component of the American Christian right, it is active in promoting interdenominational work for a social conservative public policy. The organization describes itself as "dedicated to nurturing and defending families worldwide" and protecting family values. Some of the core promotional activities of the organization include a daily radio broadcast by Dobson and his colleagues, providing free family counseling and resources, and publishing a variety of magazines, videos, and audio recordings.

Contents

History and facilities

Leadership

Adventures in Odyssey

Radio Theatre

Father Gilbert Mysteries

Political positions and activities

International affiliates

Controversy and criticism

See also

References

External links

Websites Published by Focus on the Family

History and facilities

Focus on the Family began on March 26, 1977 out of a small office in Arcadia, California. It soon outgrew that facility and began acquiring space in both Arcadia and in nearby Monrovia as its radio program grew in listenership. By 1990, the group needed even more space, and relocated to a new office complex in Pomona, California, that was supposed to last the organization for many years. Further growth caused by increased listenership of the radio program and readership of its books and magazines caused the organization to look for even more. In September 1993, having relocated to temporary quarters in various locations in Colorado Springs in the previous months, Focus on the Family dedicated its main building on an expansive 49 acre (200,000 m²) site.
Currently its three office buildings have a combined space of over 526,000 square feet (49,000 m²) housing over 1,300 employees. One of the buildings is largely used for receiving telephone calls from listeners and providing requested assistance; this activity engages the largest segment of its employees. The organization's facilities are open for tours by the public Monday through Saturday, excepting certain holidays. A bookstore and cafeteria are onsite, as is the child-oriented Whit's End Soda Shoppe which serves ice cream and "Wodfamchocsod" (chocolate soda) made famous by the ''Adventures in Odyssey'' children's radio theatre show produced by Focus on the Family.

Leadership

Leadership for the organization was provided by Dobson alone until 2003. In 2003, Donald P. Hodel became president and chief executive officer, tasked with the day-to-day operations. This left Dobson as chairman of the Board of Directors, with chiefly creative and speaking duties. A former leader was John Paulk.
In March 2005, Hodel retired and Jim Daly, formerly the Vice President in charge of Focus on the Family's International Division, assumed the role of president and chief executive officer.

Adventures in Odyssey

Main articles: Adventures in Odyssey

FOTF also produces a children's radio drama entitled Adventures in Odyssey. It began in 1987 as Family Portraits, starring an elderly Christian gentleman named John Avery Whittaker (aka "Whit"), who runs a popular ice cream shop/"discovery emporium" called Whit's End; and he imparts Christian wisdom to the children of the town of Odyssey. It was renamed "Odyssey USA" in November 1987 and took on its present name, "Adventures in Odyssey" in April 1988.

Radio Theatre

'Focus on The Family Radio Theatre' is a series of audio dramas adapting classic literature, mystery mini-series and biographical productions, extending its reach to the mainstream as well as the Christian audience. At its peak, the weekly broadcasts aired on 240 stations nationwide, reaching audiences in excess of 350,000. The endeavor began through the efforts of former ''Adventures in Odyssey'' producers Dave Arnold and Paul McCusker, along with casting director Philip Glassborow based in England.
''Radio Theatre'' began with historical biographies of Squanto ("The Legend of Squanto"), Jesus ("The Luke Reports") and Dietrich Bonhoeffer ("Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom"), and in 1996, a 90-minute radio drama based on Charles Dickens' ''A Christmas Carol'' was produced and aired as a broadcast special.
In 2003, Focus on the Family Radio Theatre released an audio dramatization of C. S. Lewis' epic novel series ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', with David Suchet providing the voice of Aslan, and over 100 English actors rounding out the cast. Lewis' stepson, Douglas Gresham, serves as host--sharing his personal stories at the beginning of each audio drama.
Focus on the Family Radio Theatre has won many awards from major professional organizations.

Father Gilbert Mysteries

Radio Theatre also had a successful original miniseries, the Father Gilbert Mysteries, which tell of the strange spiritual mysteries encountered by Louis Gilbert, a cop-turned-Anglican-priest, who lives in Stonebridge, an English village in the shire of Sussex, and ministers to the people of the town from St. Mark's Church. Nine episodes have been produced in four volumes available on cassette and CD.

Political positions and activities

As a 501(c)(3) corporation, Focus on the Family is not permitted to advocate any individual political candidate. However, in its radio broadcast, it often discusses political issues and current events, usually through a Christian point of view. Focus on the Family's magazine ''Citizen'' is exclusively devoted to politics. The FOF also has an affiliated group, Focus on the Family Action (a.k.a. Focus Action), though the two groups are legally separate. As a 501(c)(4) social welfare group, Focus Action has fewer political lobbying restrictions.
The group supports the teaching of traditional family values. It advocates school prayer and supports corporal punishment.^[1] It strongly opposes abortion, so-called militant feminism, homosexuality, discrimination against people of religion, pornography, and pre-marital and extra-marital sexual activity. Focus on the Family also embraces and reflects the wider political agenda of its American Christian audience, for instance promoting a religiously-centered conception of American identity and the support of Israel.[1][2]
Focus on the Family broadcasts a national talk radio program of the same name hosted by Dobson or his aides. The program has a range of themes, such as Christian-oriented assistance for victims of rape or child abuse; parenting difficulties; child adoption; husband/wife roles; family history and traditions; struggles with gambling, pornography, alcohol, and drugs; and many other themes. When programs deal with civic issues, listeners often respond to these programs by contacting political leaders.
The organization broadcasts to over 1.5 million listeners daily in the United States. They also have offices worldwide, and a worldwide audience of over 200 million for their daily radio broadcast.
Focus on the Family also produces ten monthly magazines with a combined circulation of about 2.3 million subscribers, and a wide variety of books and films. Magazines include ''Focus on the Family'', ''Plugged In'', ''Brio'', ''Breakaway'', ''Clubhouse'', ''Clubhouse Jr.'', and ''Citizen''.
Focus on the Family has been a prominent supporter of intelligent design, publishing pro-intelligent design articles in its ''Citizen'' magazine and selling intelligent design videos on its website.^[2][3] Focus on the Family co-published the intelligent design videotape ''Unlocking the Mystery of Life'' with the Discovery Institute, hub of the intelligent design movement.^[4] Focus on the Family employee Mark Hartwig is also a fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, a connection which has helped to publicize intelligent design extensively; James Dobson often features intelligent design proponents on his Focus on the Family radio program. Focus on the Family's Family.org is a significant online resource for intelligent design articles.^[5][6]

International affiliates

★ Australia: Focus on the Family Australia, Clayton, Victoria

★ Belgium: Focus on the Family Belgium, Oud-Heverlee

★ Canada: Focus on the Family Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia

★ Costa Rica: Enfoque a la Familia Costa Rica, San José

★ Egypt: Focus on the Family Egypt, Cairo

★ Ireland: Focus on the Family Ireland, Dublin

★ Japan: Family Focus Japan, Yokohama

★ Korea: Open Family Korea, Seoul

★ Malaysia: Focus on the Family Malaysia, Selangor

★ Netherlands: Focus on the Family Netherlands, Dordrecht

★ New Zealand: Focus on the Family New Zealand, Auckland

★ Philippines: Focus on the Family Philippines, Makati City

★ Singapore: Focus on the Family Singapore

★ South Africa: Focus on the Family Southern Africa, Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal

★ Taiwan: Focus on the Family Taiwan, Taipei

Controversy and criticism

On July 17, 2006, Soulforce, a gay rights group, "accused Focus on the Family founder James Dobson of manipulating research data to say gays and lesbians are not good parents."[3] Judith Stacey, a sociologist at New York University, said Focus on the Family "manipulated" her work "in an attempt to show gays and lesbians do not make good parents."[4] Focus on the Family officially denied the allegation.[5] In December 2006, two more scientists alleged that Dobson misrepresented their research. In a guest column published in Time Magazine titled Two Mommies is One Too Many, Dobson argued that same-sex couples are unsuitable parents, citing research by New York University educational psychologist Carol Gilligan, Ph.D, and Kyle Pruett, M.D. of the Yale School of Medicine.^[7] After the article's publication, Gilligan accused Dobson of "twisting" and "distorting" her research.^[8] Pruett also disagreed with Dobson's representation of his work, saying in a letter to Dobson, "You cherry-picked a phrase to shore up highly (in my view) discriminatory purposes...This practice is condemned in real science, common though it may be in pseudo-science circles. There is nothing in my longitudinal research or any of my writings to support such conclusions." It was reported that Pruett's work suggests the opposite of Dobson's assertions. Truth Wins Out called on ''Time'' magazine to renounce Dobson's article. Gilligan asked Focus on the Family to never quote from her work again, and to issue an apology.^[9] Pruett requested that Focus on the Family seek his permission before using his work in the future.^[10] Dobson has defended his usage of the research.^[11]
On August 11, 2006, James Dobson publicly defended Mel Gibson after Gibson made anti-Semitic remarks to police officers during a DUI traffic stop.[6] In a statement, Dobson announced he supported "Mel Gibson and his film, ''The Passion of the Christ''," saying Gibson's anti-Semitic remarks had nothing to do with "one of the finest films of this era." He explained further that "we certainly do not condone that racially insensitive outburst," but added, "Mel has apologized profusely for the incident and there the matter should rest." On the movie, "Our endorsement of it stands as originally stated. We did not believe it was anti-Semitic in 2004, and our views have not changed," Dobson said.

See also

★ Culture war

★ Focus on the Family Action

★ Focus on the Family Canada

★ Focus on the Family Institute

★ Family Research Council

★ Christian Right and Christian right in United States politics

★ James Dobson

★ Adventures in Odyssey - Episode Guide

References

1. Focus on the Family Defends Parents' Right to Discipline
2. Inferior Design Chris Mooney. The American Prospect Online, September 2005
3. Expert Witness Report Barbara Forrest. Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. (PDF file)
4. Unlocking the Mystery of Life Stephen C. Meyer and W. Peter Allen. Center for Science and Culture July 15 2004
5. Feature Articles Focus On Social Issues - Origins. CitizenLink, Focus on the Family
6. Recommended Reading List Focus On Social Issues - Origins. CitizenLink, Focus on the Family
7. Dobson, James Two Mommies is One Too Many, ''Time'', December 18 2006, retrieved online December 15 2006.
8. Scientists fume after Focus on the Family chief Dobson 'misrepresents' work on gays Raw Story, December 15 2006.
9. James Dobson Slammed By Professor For Distorting Her Research In Time Magazine, news release from Truth Wins Out, retrieved December 15 2006.
10. Yale Professor Says James Dobson 'Cherry Picked' His Research in Time Magazine Article, news release from Truth Wins Out, retrieved December 15 2006.
11. While the Debate Rages on, Children Pay the Price Dr. Dobson's Monthly Letter, retrieved January 30 2007

External links

★ Official website

★ FOTF Programs via Streaming Audio

Websites Published by Focus on the Family

★ Focus on the Family in Spanish

★ Official Press Releases

★ Books, CDs and Materials offered by FOTF

★ BeAVoice.net Understanding the Sanctity of Human Life

★ CitizenLink.org Daily cultural and political news for the family

★ ClubhouseJr.com For kids ages 4-7

★ WhitsEnd.org Adventures in Odyssey Official Site

★ ClubhouseMagazine.com For kids ages 8-12

★ BrioMag.com For teen girls

★ BreakawayMag.com For teen guys

★ FocusInstitute.org 1-semester training program for college students

★ TrueU.org For college students

★ Boundless.org For young adults

★ TruthProject.org Christian Worldview Seminar

★ FocusOnYourChild.com For parents

★ RadioTheatre.org Radio Theatre Official Site

★ PluggedInOnline.com Movie, DVD, music, and television reviews for parents