The Vent Pipe

I actually read this little tidbit from USNews.com yesterday, but when I returned to the Drudge reports this morning, the link was still at a prevalent position on that page, and so I felt compelled to read it again. Here are some clips from James Dobson’s views on Fred Thompson’s relgiousity:

“Everyone knows he’s conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for,” Dobson said of Thompson. “[But] I don’t think he’s a Christian; at least that’s my impression,” Dobson added, saying that such an impression would make it difficult for Thompson to connect with the Republican Party’s conservative Christian base and win the GOP nomination.

Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Thompson, took issue with Dobson’s characterization of the former Tennessee senator. “Thompson is indeed a Christian,” he said. “He was baptized into the Church of Christ.”

[...]

[A spokesperson from Thompson] said that, while Dobson didn’t believe Thompson to be a member of a non-Christian faith, Dobson nevertheless “has never known Thompson to be a committed Christian—someone who talks openly about his faith.”

“We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians,” Schneeberger added. “Dr. Dobson wasn’t expressing a personal opinion about his reaction to a Thompson candidacy; he was trying to ‘read the tea leaves’ about such a possibility.”

I’m very disturbed by all this. What right does Dobson have to comment about whether or not Fred Thompson meets Dobson’s own definition of a Christian? “Christian” is not synonymous with “evangelical.” It means, instead, as I think most Christians know, one who has accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. Does Dobson know whether Thompson has done this? No. He does not.

Dobson goes one, while not declaring support for him directly, to praise Newt Gingrich saying:

that Gingrich was the “brightest guy out there” and “the most articulate politician on the scene today.”

Gingrich recently appeared on Dobson’s daily Focus on the Family radio program, carried by upward of 2,000 American radio stations, where he made headlines by discussing an extramarital affair he was having even as he pursued impeachment against President Bill Clinton for his handling of the investigation into the Monica Lewinsky affair.

I’m not minimizing Gingrich, but Dobson, like the rest of us, knows about the affair that he had during the Clinton years. Does this diminish his Christianity? This whole article is enough to make somebody furious, and any Christian should critically examine what Dobson is saying before he or she buys into it. Dobson needs to remember that, “Though shalt not judge,” and that questioning–in a public forum at that!!–whether or not somebody is a “real Christian” is nothing more but casting judgment on said individual. Back of, Jim, and keep your nose out if it!

technorati tags: Religion, 2008Election, Fred Thompson, James Dobson