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James Clayton "Jim" Dobson, Jr. (born April 21, 1936) is an American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder in 1977 of Focus on the Family (FOTF), which he led until 2003. In the 1980s he was ranked as one of the most influential spokesmen for conservative social positions in American public life. Although never an ordained minister, he was called "the nation's most influential evangelical leader" by ''Time'' while ''Slate'' portrayed him as a successor to evangelical leaders Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson. He is no longer affiliated with Focus on the Family. Dobson founded Family Talk as a non-profit organization in 2010 and launched a new radio broadcast, "Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson", that began on May 3, 2010 on over 300 stations nationwide. As part of his former role in the organization,〔 he produced ''Focus on the Family'', a daily radio program which according to the organization was broadcast in more than a dozen languages and on over 7,000 stations worldwide, and reportedly heard daily by more than 220 million people in 164 countries. ''Focus on the Family'' was also carried by about sixty U.S. television stations daily.〔 He founded the Family Research Council in 1981. ==Background== Dobson was born to Myrtle Georgia (née Dillingham) and James C. Dobson, Sr. in Shreveport, Louisiana.〔http://www.sanbenitohistory.com/projects/Famous_San_Benitians_8th/Dobson.html〕 From his earliest childhood, religion played a central part in his life. He once told a reporter that he learned to pray before he learned to talk, and says he gave his life to Jesus at the age of three, in response to an altar call by his father. He is the son, grandson, and great-grandson of Church of the Nazarene ministers,〔 reprinted at (SkepticTank.org )〕 although he does not speak for the denomination in any capacity. His father, James Dobson Sr. (1911–1977), never went to college. He was a traveling evangelist, chiefly in the southwest. The parents took their young son along to watch his father preach. Like most Nazarenes, they forbade dancing and going to movies. Young "Jimmie Lee" (as he was called) concentrated on his studies.〔 〕 Dobson studied academic psychology, which most evangelical Christians in the 1950s and 1960s did not look upon favorably. He came to believe that he was being called to become a Christian counselor or perhaps a Christian psychologist.〔 He attended Pasadena College (now Point Loma Nazarene University) as an undergraduate and served as captain of the school's tennis team.〔 〕〔 (【引用サイトリンク】url=http://isae.wheaton.edu/hall-of-biography/jim-dobson/ ) 〕 In 1967 Dobson received his doctorate in psychology from the University of Southern California; he served in the faculty of the university's Keck School of Medicine for 14 years.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.focusonthefamily.com/about_us/profiles/dr_james_dobson.aspx ) 〕〔 (【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.usc.edu/academe/faculty/especially_for/faculty/leaders.html ) 〕 For a time, Dobson worked as an assistant to Paul Popenoe at the Institute of Family Relations, a marriage-counseling center, in Los Angeles. 〔David Popenoe, War Over the Family, Transaction Publishers, 2005. ISBN 978-0-7658-0259-0. Chapter 14: Remembering My Father: An Intellectual Portrait of "The Man Who Saved Marriages".〕 Dobson arguably first became well-known with the publication of ''Dare to Discipline'' (1970), which encouraged parents to use corporal punishment in disciplining their children.〔 "his breakthrough book, Dare to Discipline, () challenged the permissive child-rearing techniques of Benjamin Spock. The book, published in 1970, encouraged parents to spank their children with belts or switches and to leave such items on the child's dresser to remind her of the consequences of challenging authority" 〕 Dobson's social and political opinions are widely read among many evangelical church congregations in the United States.〔 "Dobson is one of the single most important religious intellectuals and political leaders in America today, and many people take his words very seriously. When Dobson makes such a statement, it is the Evangelical equivalent of a Vatican Decree that is meant to communicate a policy position not only to church goers, but to social conservatives as a whole-specifically, the Republican Party." 〕 Dobson publishes monthly bulletins, also called ''Focus on the Family'', which are dispensed as inserts in some Sunday church-service bulletins.〔 "Like a religious version of Walt Disney, Dobson started with a small idea and built it into a multimedia empire: 10 radio shows, 11 magazines (including specialty publications for doctors, teachers and single parents), bestselling books, film strips and videos of all kinds. Then there are the basketball camps and the curriculum guides, the church bulletin fillers and suggested sermon topics, faxed weekly to thousands of pastors."〕 Dobson interviewed serial killer Ted Bundy on-camera the day before Bundy's execution on January 24, 1989. The interview became controversial because Bundy was given an opportunity to attempt to explain his actions (the rape and murder of 30 young women). Bundy claimed in the interview (in a reversal of his previous stance) that violent pornography played a significant role in molding and crystallizing his fantasies. In May 1989, during an interview with John Tanner, a Republican Florida prosecutor, Dobson called for Bundy to be forgiven. The Bundy tapes gave Focus on the Family revenues of over $1 million, $600,000 of which it donated to anti-pornography groups and to anti-abortion groups.〔 〕〔 〕 Dobson stepped down as President and CEO of Focus on the Family in 2003, and resigned from the position of chairman of the board in February 2009.〔 〕 Dobson explained his departure as a result of "significant philosophical differences" with successor Jim Daly.〔 〕 In 2010 Dobson founded Family Talk,〔 (【引用サイトリンク】title = Dr. Dobson's Ministry & History ) 〕 a non-profit organization that produces his radio program, “Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk”. Dobson frequently appears as a guest on the Fox News Channel.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「James Dobson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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