Again.

As this post at Race 4 2008 summarizes, condemnation of James Dobson for his comments about Senator Fred Thompson is legion across the conservative blogosphere — and with good reason.  A quick read of most Dobson’s critics come from the perspective that Dobson has no right judging who is a Christian and who is not.

While I understand the offense taken by non-evangelicals, that is not my chief concern with Dr. Dobson’s “I don’t think he’s a Christian” statement about the former Tennessee Senator.  As a fellow believer, I share Dobson’s definition which, I believe, is the one defined by scripture.  That said, I am not the least bit offended when someone offers a different definition of what it means to be a Christian.  I was deeply moved, for instance, when a prominent Catholic conservative activist told me over breakfast a year or so ago that she was praying that I would join the Holy Roman Church so I could die ”in a state of grace”.  That demonstrated, to me, that she was deeply concerned for the state of my soul and I considered it a profound gesture of friendship even if I find those beliefs to be incongruent with scripture.

The reason evangelicals should be as offended as non-evangelicals about Dobson’s comments regarding Senator Thompson is the idea that orthdox believers of any stripe — evangelical or otherwise — should support only fellow believers for elected office.  It should be noted that if the majority of U.S. Catholics who voted for President Bush in 2004 used that same standard, we would be just past the midway point of President Kerry’s first term. 

Now a caveat.  Would it be my preference that my president adhere, broadly speaking, to the belief that he or she will one day stand before the throne of a God who will judge the living and the dead?  Sure.  But it doesn’t mean only such a person is capable of governing in such a way that will best protect my family, seek to limit the power of the state in my life, grow the economy, and maintain the United States as the last, best hope on earth.  And when you consider that the two most outspoken evangelicals to hold the highest office in the land in the last half century were the ineffectual duo of James Earl Carter and George Walker Bush, you might conclude we should run away screaming from anyone who claims to be an evangelical seeking the presidency. 

In his defense, Dr. Dobson has helped millions of families with their marriages and child rearing over the last few decades.  The nation is significantly better off because of his powerful ministry.  But as his support in late 2005 of the misbegotten Harriet Miers nomination demonstrated — followed by this most recent episode — Dobson should forget politics and keep his, um, focus on the family.