I posted this with the following question:  What do folks think of James Dobson?  Do you feel he should be our major Christain spokesman?  Should he stick to family issues and keep quiet in other places?  

Thoughts?  Does Kathleen Parker have a good perspective?  Or is she off?

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The virtuous vs. SpongeBob

by Kathleen Parker

January 27, 2005


Among the many blessings I have failed to fully appreciate is my exemption - thanks to my children's advanced years - from having to know much about SpongeBob SquarePants.

Until recently, I've been only blandly aware of the cartoon character and his underwater cohorts, but now learn that SpongeBob - an otherwise blithering sea sponge - is really a covert operative for The Homosexual Agenda.

For those otherwise distracted, SpongeBob is the protagonist in both a movie and a television series. Hugely popular among the kindergartner-second grade set, he sometimes holds hands with his starfish friend Patrick, which supposedly accounts for SpongeBob's reputed popularity among gays.

And hence the notion that his appearance in a new video, "We Are Family" - aimed at teaching schoolchildren about diversity and tolerance - is really a subterfuge for the pro-homosexual agenda.

The SpongeBob saga has gained plenty of attention - what with gay activists on one side and Heaven's gatekeepers on the other. Focus on the Family's James Dobson has said the video promotes a pro-homosexual agenda. The American Family Association's Ed Vitagliano wrote in the organization's journal that the project's subtext is celebrating homosexuality.

The video, which is scheduled to be aired next month on networks and distributed to some 61,000 schools, was conceived shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a way of teaching tolerance in a hate-filled world, say its creators. The idea was that teaching children in their tender years to respect differences would pay off in the long run, leading to a cheerier world in which, presumably, Middle Eastern religious nuts wouldn't fly planes into buildings.

Somehow, I think they've missed their target audience, but never mind. Making the video doubtless made many grownups feel better about their own sorrows and helped move them toward that utopian finale so favored by the bracelet-and ribbon-wearing population - Healing 'n' Closure.

There's now a We Are Family Foundation, a Web site (wearefamilyfoundation.org), a letter-writing campaign urging that March 11 be declared national "We Are Family Day," and, of course, ways to contribute money.

In fact, SpongeBob plays a minor role in the video and seems to have been unfairly impugned. While I vigorously favor protecting children from phase-inappropriate discussions of sexuality, I don't see it here. That said, there's still plenty to cringe about if you're more sympathetically inclined toward Randle Patrick McMurphy than Nurse Mildred Ratched.

What Dobson, Vitagliano and others really are objecting to is that kids viewing the video might be inspired to visit the "We Are Family" Web site and happen upon the Tolerance Pledge, by which one promises to respect all people, even those whose "abilities, beliefs, culture, race, sexual identity or other characteristics are different from my own."

Respecting all people is hardly a radical idea for Christians, but Dobson says on his Web site that inclusion of sexual identity in the pledge "crosses a moral line." Personally, I'm still puzzling over "other characteristics." In any case, the pledge seems unlikely to traumatize children, who probably won't find it interesting, if they find it at all. It isn't mentioned in the video and is available only on the Foundation's Web site.

If teachers decide to incorporate the Tolerance Pledge into their class curriculum, then that's a matter for closer scrutiny and Dobson is right. In the meantime, there's no coercion here. We're unlikely to witness droves of brainwashed tykes reciting diversity pledges to the annoyance of their beer-swilling parents.

And it would be annoying, let's be clear.

What the SpongeBob controversy has revealed is that pledging allegiance to diversity and tolerance is religion by any other name - just as irksome to the devout as Dobson and Vitagliano are to the secular. The purveyors of Feel Good Vibes can be just as dogmatic and unyielding as those who condemn from the pulpit. Whether defending literal scripture or advancing bumper-sticker virtue, the self-anointed protectorate are essentially cut from the same cloth.

And they're likely bound for similar rewards. For what we know about human beings is that people tend to resist that which is imposed from on high. By some natural law that we might call "SpongeBob's Ironic Rule of Reverse Effects," channelers of piety usually exact the opposite of what they intend.

There's nothing like a preacher railing against sin to whet one's appetite for iniquity. And there's nothing like force-feeding children a diet of dogma to turn the little darlings into intolerant totalitarian tyrants. Or angry renegades who will seek an outlet for their rage.

Telletubies, Barney the purple dinosaur, and now Sponge Bob.  What's next??  Is Barbie really a lesbian?  Is Ken really gay?  I think Dobson is making a mockery of christianity with his claims.  

I heard somewhere that G.I.Joe had called Ken a "girlie-man," but I don't think Brother Dobson has weighed in on that one yet.

al

P.S.-- Marcia, Your slapping penguin must be in danger of damaging its rotation cuff by now.  The "slapee" has probably suffered permanent brain damage (else why would he keep returning for more?).

Verne,

I felt that your response to Euhala did not help the discussion, as you did not lay out why you disagreed with her on her opinion of Dobson.  IMO she made a valid observation.

Marcia

Tell me this: why does no one ever talk about the fact that 50% of Christinas are divorved, and almost 80% of the divorced are re-married?  If we are going to condemn the homosexuals for their "lifestyle choice sins" then we need to condemn the Christians for theirs!  The point is: condemning a particular segment of the population isn't going to bring them to Christ!

Don't get Me started...

Luke 6:43-45
For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.  For every tree is known by his own fruit.  For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

Verne,

Would you please refrain from using foul language.  The fruit of the Spirit is ... self control.

Eulaha

If you are saying why is the Church showing a double standard in some locations I agree that is wrong.

However not all Churches see Divorce and Remarriage the same way because of the text in different passages and the context and the historical references. I struggle with this one too and currently don't agree with Divorce and Remarriage but I am open to be enlightened.

The passages on homosexuality are clear though and cannot be made to mean other things I believe.

Now God loves the sinner and goes out to us all because we all are sinners. What is the problem is when I or you do not acknowledge what God calls a sin in my or your life as sin. Then God cannot help us. The same goes for any sin. What the bible calls a sin is what is important not what I think or want to be included.

We are not to reject any homosexual who comes to us and asks about Jesus. We however must say that Jesus died for sin and will forgive anyone who repents and the bible says what you are doing is sin. Yes others have sinned in other ways you mentioned and that must not be swept under the carpet or given preferencial treatment.

God is inclusive not exclusive and loves us all and wants us to minister to all He sends our way in love.

Lord bless
Hugh

Verne,

In clear, precise and detailed terms, how would you define "colorful expression"?

What benefit do you derive from using a colorful expression?

How does it work?  How does such an expression accomplish its purpose?