The Letter from 2012 in “Obama’s America” issued by Focus on the Family Action, describing a dystopian world under an Obama Presidency, has begun to incite a backlash against Focus on the Family. 

Check out the reactions from readers at Christianity Today.  Some of the responses from fellow Christians to the 2012 letter include:

“Focus on the Family —All we have to offer is fear itself!!! Very Christlike of them. What utter insanity.”

“This kind of propaganda is ridiculous. No one thinks that any of this
is going to happen, let alone all of it. I just can’t understand how
any Christian can think that this type of false witness is acceptable.”

“Disgusting and appalling. The whole thing reeks of desperation and
perpetrates fear. Nowhere does it contain any Christian witness or any
evidence of any fruits of the spirit.”

“I am so disappointed and bewildered that FOTF could consider this a
Christ-like way to express their political opinions. Doesn’t the Bible
say ‘perfect love casts out all fear’ and ‘fear not, for I have
overcome the world!’ I’ve supported FOTF for decades but this is the
second shot of fear tactics and spreading of lies and gossip by their
Action arm of the organization and I can’t in good conscience give any
of my money or time to them again.”

This Open Letter to Focus on the Family Action was sent to us at Matthew 25 from a Christian evangelical
who works at a non-profit organization with the request that we post it for him anonymously.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

For a generation, you have courageously stood on the front lines in
support of Christian family values.  I have long admired your work to
provide common-sense education and encouragement for families.  Dr.
Dobson’s influential books, such as “The Strong-Willed Child,” have given
hope and solace to millions of parents facing the challenges of raising
children.

In John’s first epistle, he exhorts Christ followers to love as Christ
first loved us.  This love offers hope in the midst of any circumstance.
“There is no fear in love.  Perfect love casts out fear.”

My brothers and sisters, this is no time for fear.  Barack Obama is not
the bogeyman you’ve made him out to be.  To the contrary, Senator Obama is
a thoroughly Christian man who has a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ.  He is less interested in reducing abortion through fiat than
reducing abortion through smart interventions that provide education,
support, and hope for expectant mothers.

We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars fighting the same old
zero-sum game – a game that pits Christians against the same Constitution
that guarantees their civil rights and religious liberties.  Let me be
clear: overturning Roe v. Wade would decrease freedom and liberty for all
Americans, including Christians.  The same justices who supported
overturning Roe have also supported allowing torture, and have turned a
blind eye to abuses of power by state and local governments.  These same
justices also support the use of capital punishment – taking the lives of
men and women like Karla Faye Tucker – and in this way they are obviously
opposed to a culture that holds the right to life as sacred.

Being pro-life means respecting all life, not just the unborn.

Being committed to liberty means liberty for all Americans, not just those
with whom we agree.

The issues of gay marriage and abortion are issues that cannot be resolved
through political action.  They have not been resolved and they have not
gone away, in spite of a generation of Christian leaders who have
politicized these issues and played on the fears and prejudices of their
fellow believers.

Perfect love casts out fear.

Let us seek to perfect our love for Barack Obama and for all our fellow
Americans.  We have real and serious disagreements.  But fearmongering and
doomsday projections are not the way to resolve these disagreements.

God’s grace and peace be with you.

I am so relieved to see Christians reject this kind of fear-mongering out of hand.  This is a hopeful sign, not only for the political conversation in the United States, but also for the witness of the church.