Editor’s note: Gary Schneeberger, vice president of media relations for Focus on the Family, sat down recently with Tom Minnery, Citizen’s founding editor and senior vice president of government and public policy for Focus on the Family Action, to discuss the magazine’s past and future.
Schneeberger I found an old letter in our archives a few months ago. It’s dated Oct. 26, 1988, and Dr. Dobson was writing to a friend who was concerned about the ministry’s increasing involvement in public policy issues. Here’s what he wrote: “Our movement into the arena of public policy is unsettling to me. It is so easy to make a mistake in that dimension, and if I had my way, we would stay out of it. On the other hand, I feel that God has put us in a position of leadership there, and we would displease Him if we refused to accept the challenge. Thus, we proceed – with fear and trembling.” Have you or Dr. Dobson ever regretted making that move?
Minnery I never have, and he would say the same. It has been a hard road at times — but the Lord never promises His calling will be easy. In fact, it’s usually just the opposite. Our efforts have not always been successful in getting family-affirming laws passed, but they have been extremely successful in that we have helped families understand why it’s so important to stand for righteousness in government. That God saw fit to give us a role in educating and mobilizing values voters over the last two decades outweighs any unpleasantness we may have encountered along the way.
Schneeberger Citizen was one of the first tangible things the ministry did in the public policy realm – outside of the occasional radio broadcast and Dr. Dobson’s service on presidential commissions. Why was it important then, and why is it still important, to have a magazine like this to keep our friends aware of where they can have an impact on the policy process?
Minnery We started Citizen in 1987 to make sure Christians were well-informed about what was going on in Washington and their state and local governments. It had another purpose as well. I believed the Christian community needed an outlet to shine the spotlight on those “hometown heroes” who were standing for righteousness and would be an inspiration to others, if they only knew about those local victories. After 20 years, I still know of no other publication that does this so well.
Schneeberger Has the magazine’s mission changed in 20 years?
Minnery I have realized that the magazine is helpful for another purpose, beyond the one for which it was founded. Here at Focus we are primarily a radio ministry. We say things quickly, especially when we address the public policy realm. Sometimes there is a need to lay out the facts and the background for those facts in a more complete fashion. Citizen can do that, because it has the space to do it. For example, we devoted major articles in two successive issues of the magazine in order to explain how federal funds for abstinence were being badly misspent overseas. Citizen has the budget to send a reporter to Africa for a story like this, and the space to make a trip like that worthwhile.
Schneeberger When you look ahead, isn’t it difficult to deny that our nation is on a slippery moral slope downhill? Are we losing everything we’ve worked for?
Minnery Absolutely not. There are some disturbing trends — the push for gay marriage, embryonic stem-cell research, plenty of elected officials who are more interested in preserving their political skins than preserving the traditional family. But the role of faith seems to be at center stage in the current campaign for the presidency, and that is an intriguing development, because I see this in the candidates of both parties.
Furthermore, we’ve gained back some lost ground. The doctrine of equal access has opened the public schools to student-led, voluntary Bible studies and prayer sessions. Recently the Supreme Court, for the first time ever, declared that a form of abortion — partial birth abortion — can be criminalized. And more than half the states have written the definition of marriage into their constitutions. On a larger scale, the important role of the mother in the home is more appreciated now than when it was during the height of the feminist movement in the ’70s and ’80s. I credit Dr. Dobson with that.
Regardless of whether we’re winning or losing, the New Testament still applies, with its admonitions to “render unto Caesar…” and to “respect the governing authorities.” We are a government of the people, by the people and for the people. We are the people. We must be involved in our government. We can do no other, and still respect those New Testament principles.
Schneeberger What are you most proud of, in terms of bad policies stopped or good ones passed, since Focus took those tentative first steps into policy advocacy?
Minnery In late afternoon on Election Day 2004, we heard stunning results from the exit polls. More people cited “moral values” as the reason they showed up to vote than any other reason. Later that day we realized that 11 out of 11 state constitutional marriage amendments on the ballot that day alone all passed, and most of them by overwhelming proportions. And finally, it became clear later that night that a pro-life president would win re-election.
The victory that values voters handed to President Bush in 2004 led directly to two solid justices — Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito — being named to the Supreme Court. If they stick by the principles of strict constructionism they have espoused and acted on thus far, they could lead the court to reverse much of the judicial activism that has occurred over the past few decades.
We are not responsible for all of this, but we worked hard to clarify the issues in the minds of voters, and our wonderful public policy staff did its part to help pass every one of those marriage amendments. I’m grateful to our board of directors, which let us start Focus on the Family Action in 2004. That decision has given us greater ability to address the issues.
Schneeberger What’s been your biggest disappointment?
Minnery It is still legal in our supposedly civilized nation to murder a preborn baby via abortion.
Schneeberger There is an awful lot written in the secular media about Dr. Dobson being a political “kingmaker.” But this has never been about politics for him, has it? He viewed it, still views it, as part of Focus’ core mission to help keep families intact, right?
Minnery Dr. Dobson started Focus on the Family because he saw how the family was under attack in the culture. He got involved in policy issues only because he realized in the late ’80s that he could speak on the radio forever about families and still lose the battle to save them. The reason was that government was getting into matters in the moral and spiritual realm. It was overstepping its boundaries.
One of the first bills we fought was a federal childcare subsidy to entice mothers out of the home and into the workforce. Today the government, via the courts, has begun to redefine the family away from its God-given origins. That Dr. Dobson could see all this way back then was God’s blessing on him.
Schneeberger You can’t spend 20-plus years in the media spotlight, standing up for preborn babies and traditional marriage and against the scourges of gambling and pornography, without coming under fire from the secular media. Dr. Dobson, Focus on the Family, even you personally, remain some of their favorite targets to this day. How have you held up under that constant barrage of vitriol?
Minnery Some years ago, I began the habit of reading through the Bible, all the way through, every year. Seeing the sweep of Biblical history this way reminds me constantly how people are easily led astray by false gods, and into open rebellion against the one true God. I’ve come to realize that this will always be the case, until the Lord returns. Nastiness is part of that rebellion. I accept it.
Schneeberger Citizen urges its readers to take stands for righteousness in their hometowns and with their elected officials at the state and federal level. What’s your advice to them for how to weather the storm of controversy that’s likely to come their way?
Minnery Remember Jesus’ words – and don’t let yourself be intimidated. “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” Furthermore, the act of obedience in stepping into the fray is what counts, not the outcome.
Schneeberger We started this interview with a quote from Dr. Dobson. Let’s end with one. Last year, he told Larry King: “Politics is dirty. Politics is exciting. Politics is often very, very difficult and disappointing. And I really would rather the world would be a little more like it was when my dad was young, where you knew pretty much where people stood on the great moral issues. And today you’ve got to get in and fight for them, and that is not easy. I would rather not be in that world.” That’s pretty much what he said 20 years ago: “I wish I didn’t have to do it, but somebody does.” Twenty years from now, will Focus on the Family still be fighting for these issues?
Minnery The only way I can envision we wouldn’t still be in the fight is if there were nothing to fight for, if our movement succeeds on all the fronts where we’re doing battle. I know Dr. Dobson would like to see that happen in his lifetime, and I would as well – to see government restored to its God-ordained role of benefiting families, not working against them.
Until the Lord sees fit to bring that about, though, Focus on the Family will be in the mix.
