Politicking in the pulpit and Dobson’s message

Re “Tactic Uses Pulpits to Power the GOP,� Sept. 23

So All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena is under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service over a visiting minister daring to cast doubt on the validity of the Iraq war? Meanwhile, Focus on the Family founder James C. Dobson and others are openly encouraging thousands of churches to use their pulpits on behalf of the social conservative agenda. This would include voter guides, registration drives, slanted sermons and more. I wonder how many of these churches the IRS will investigate?

By the way, I too am a fervent evangelical -- and a Democrat. And I’m not alone.

BONNIE COMPTON HANSON

Santa Ana

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I wonder how many of those enraptured devotees of Dobson realize that he was directly responsible for the inhumane beatings they received as children. In his 1970s books, “Dare to Discipline� and “The Strong-Willed Child,� Dobson argues that it is a biblical obligation to “break the will� of children by beating them into submission.

We now see the results of his “psychological� ministry: hoards of human sheep with broken wills, who cannot think, who follow leaders unquestioningly and who pass the trauma to their own children and our nation.

One need only read Philip Greven’s book, “Spare the Child,� or Justin A. Frank’s “Bush on the Couch� to see how the religious roots of physical punishment, advocated by the likes of Dobson, have shaped our leaders and threaten to destroy our country.

ALITTA KULLMAN

Laguna Hills