Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson has called Tom DeLay "one of America's leading advocates of family values" and "a consistent voice of reason and clarity in America's moral debates."
But did you know Dr. Dobson not only played a pivotal role in DeLay dedicating his life to defending the family, but also in the former House majority leader dedicating his life to Christ?
How watching one of Dr. Dobson's early videos convicted him of neglecting his family and his faith is just one of the intimate anecdotes the former congressman shares in his new memoir, No Retreat, No Surrender: One American's Fight. In his trademark straightforward style, DeLay explains the degree to which his Christianity informs his politics.
"I soon came to understand that there was a whole movement of people like me who had for years been crying out to God for their country," he writes of how he viewed his role as a lawmaker after returning to the faith of his youth. "They wanted to see healing in their land. They wanted to see the age-old covenants renewed and righteousness restored. They believed that America had a unique mission in the world, and it wasn't to be the largest exporter of pornography and abortion on earth.
"It was to be a model of freedom and prosperity, of justice, of holiness for the world. As I grew in my faith, I grew in understanding of who these people were, and I longed to help them heal our country."
DeLay, who resigned his House seat last year and has since started a foundation that advocates for foster children, talked with CitizenLink this week about his spiritual journey – and the demons he still struggles with.
You tell some pretty painful stories about your father's alcoholism and how it affected your family, noting that it forced you to raise yourself. How much of that, do you think, shaped your family-values positions through the years?
Oh, I think it had everything to do with shaping my family values. I lived through a dysfunctional family – and you can go one of two ways. You can get into it or you can learn from it. I obviously learned from it. And it has everything to do with who I am and with what I believe, particularly on family values.
It wasn't just being raised in a dysfunctional family, though. It also led me to Christ, which I am eternally grateful for – and Dr. Dobson had a big part to play in that. For the last 20 years I've been walking with Christ, and I think as I look back over my life, the Lord has had a major part in developing who Tom DeLay is.
You jumped ahead in the story there a little bit. It took you awhile to get there, didn't it? You write this about your time in the Texas state House: "I drank too much. I slept with women I wasn't married to. I neglected my family." How hard is it to admit that publicly, especially knowing that the liberal media is going to smack you over the head with it and call you a hypocrite?
It's very difficult. You have to have a very strong faith and understanding that those days are bygone. It's been over 20 years since that has happened, and I'm a different person.
Newt Gingrich recently made the same sort of revelation. What was your take on that?
I am glad he's doing it. I think it's an incredibly important part of your resurrection.
He did that on Dr. Dobson's radio show. As you alluded to a little while ago, Dr. Dobson's video, Where's Dad?, had a profound impact on you. Explain a little bit how watching that film, which urged fathers to put their wives and kids first, turned you back toward Christ.
Well, I will always be grateful to Congressman Frank Wolf, who's close to Dr. Dobson, who had a ministry of going to freshmen congressmen's offices and sitting down with them. His whole strategy was to invite them to come to a Christian Bible study.
And then he would, as part of his presentation, have you sit down and watch Where's Dad? And everything Dr. Dobson said in that video that was wrong about being a dad – that was me. And I recognized it; I broke down. I didn't immediately start going to Bible studies, but Frank Wolf wouldn't give up – and then I started going to the Bible studies and I was led back to Christ.
I say at that point in my own testimony, "And then everything was perfect, and I've had no problems since." It gets a laugh, but we all know, as Christians, we're works in progress. You write that one of your bad habits is talking back to the television. Who's on the receiving end of most of your harangues these days?
Probably the media more than anything. In fact, I didn't accomplish one of the things I set out to accomplish (in government work) – and that was to change the culture of the media. It's gotten worse every day. The bias of the media and the aggressiveness in pushing those biases through what you normally would think would be objective media is a constant frustration for me.
You know, they call the media the "fourth house" (of government). They have an incredible responsibility to tell the truth about what is going on so they can hold the government accountable and the people know what the truth is. Those days are long gone, and that frustrates me more than anything.
You write very openly about what you call "the dark side of Tom DeLay" that still exists even since you gave your life to Christ. You admit to being aggressive sometimes; I think you even use the word "mean." Do you think maybe that has hurt your Christian witness through the years?
Well, yes it does, and it's something I struggle with every day – because it's not who I am now. But it's certainly a person that I was, that I'm constantly trying to get rid of. I get angry when I see things happening that I think are wrong, and I struggle with that anger. And I have to be constantly reminded that I have to love my enemies, that I have to approach people and issues and my own conduct in a loving way.
And that's very difficult. It's a weakness I struggle with every day.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To read Part I of CitizenLink's interview with Tom DeLay, click here.
