Dobson, et al, Convince Only 9% of Their Own Followers

Feeling especially masochistic the other day, I was browsing the Focus on the Family website and came across something called The Truth Project. It's a set of 7 DVD's containing 12 lessons teaching a "biblical worldview." Dr. Dobson (he of man-on-donkey marriage fame) is enthusiastic about The Truth Project, so I wanted to send in my money. Turns out, however, I couldn't--not without first paying $119 to attend a special training conference ($149 if I brought the wife along). Also, I would have to join some sort of support group organized around The Truth Project. Sounds like an awful lot of trouble just to buy 7 DVD's.

Being cynical as well as masochistic, I became suspicious that this was really all about political organization, but something else made me even more reluctant to pull out the credit card. To stress the urgency of signing up with The Truth Project, Dr. Dobson and the boys cite a 2003 study by the Barna Group which shows that only 9% of born again Christians have a biblical worldview (compared to 4% of the total population).

9%!!?? What the hell have these guys been doing with their contributors' hard-earned money all these years? You mean to tell me that Dobson and his cohorts have had captive audiences every Sunday morning and God knows when and where else for a whole generation, and the best they can do is sell 9% of their own people on a "biblical worldview?" Something's wrong here. I'd say it's time for some serious reappraisal.

I'm putting my wallet back in my pocket.