Dear Mr. Dobson

Dear Mr. James Dobson,
Regarding your theory of a wider Satanic conspiracy against the "traditional" family, I'd like to add to your list of the top two (and seemingly only) threats, that being abortion and gay marriage, some other forces at work against the family you fail to mention. You might want to consider putting these at the top of your little list of the works of Satan.

Minimum wage forces countless mothers and fathers to work longer hours, away from their children (who are likely in mediocre daycare, if at all) to provide the bare necessities of living, usually not including health care or having access to good schools. It creates familial tensions, fuels rage and depression linked to domestic violence. Well, what about domestic violence? I hear no protestations from your party about the epidemic of women and children suffering and fearing for their lives in their own homes. Though, perhaps like in many other cultures where women are second class citizens, dependent primarily upon their husbands for survival, you might think a little abuse is good for the lady, a little fear of the head of the household is Biblically blessed.

Linked to the problem of minimum wage is poverty. Poverty often times creates home environments inhospitable to self-fulfillment, self-definition and peace of mind. Poverty can lead to incarceration. I am working with some women in prison who tried to make ends meet for their families but had to turn to illicit means to survive. Now they are sitting in prison, dreaming about the children they cannot touch or read to or help nurture into adulthood. The number of women in prison keeps growing and they are leaving their children behind. Your anti-gay focus is not helping them to keep their families together, their households intact.

This brings me to your sacred household. How is it that so many women, previously living in the sacred heterosexual marriages, are now single mothers left almost entirely with the job of raising their children? Where are the fathers? Why are you not exposing their sins to the world? Is their rejection and abandonment of their children, financially and emotionally, that much lesser of an evil than gay marriage? Your rote cry for the "45 million unborn children" says your heart is more with them than for those who are already here, already searching for stability, a future, reprieve for a parent, a way out, joy and someone to give them a voice.

Furthermore, considering the fact that more than half of all heterosexual marriages now end in divorce one might think they have it wrong. Is abortion and gay marriage to blame for the failing heterosexual marriages in the United States?

Though doth protest too much! Your obsession with gay marriage and abortion signals your own fears of internal conflicts, your own aversion to mystery and beauty, to equality, to ambiguity and life's inevitable chaos. You prefer, as Chris Hedges states, the "petrified, binary world of fixed, immutable roles..." This you believe will provide you with personal security, salvation and ultimately power.

Jesus never spoke about homosexuality. He did speak about poverty, charity and love of one's enemy though. Do you value your cause of an anti-gay agenda more so than the words of Jesus? It appears to be so. You strive for salvation not through living the words of your Savior but by acting on your biases, cultivating your hatred and that of your followers.

Please reconsider your list of evil things. Reconsider your life's message to the millions who listen to you for guidance, for comfort. It will help you to find your soul again and, as Susan Thistlethwaite says, "live a truthful life".

Amen