With a generation
of U.S. Christian right leaders dead or aging, the
founder of the conservative evangelical group Focus on the
Family says he's concerned about the movement's future
leadership.
James Dobson told
a group of Christian broadcasters Tuesday night that
the passing of Jerry Falwell, the Reverend D. James Kennedy,
and Ruth Bell Graham represent the end of an era.
The radio
talk-show host noted that others, like Billy Graham, Chuck
Colson, Pat Robertson, and Chuck Swindoll, will also soon
pass from the scene, and questioned the impact on the
conservative Christian movement.
''It causes me to
wonder who will be left to carry the banner when this
generation of leaders is gone,'' Dobson told an audience of
nearly 1,400 at the National Religious Broadcasters
conference. ''The question is, Will the younger
generation heed the call? Who will defend the unborn
child in the years to come? Who will plead for the Terri
Schiavos of the world? Who's going to fight for the
institution of marriage, which is on the ropes
today?''
Schiavo died in
2005 after being removed from a feeding tube in a
high-profile battle between the woman's husband and her
parents and siblings.
Dobson's comments
come as national groups like the Christian Coalition
are struggling, and the organizational muscle of the
movement now rests with local pastors, not national
figures.
Former Republican
presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who stepped out
of the race last week, had won widespread support among
pastors and other evangelicals at a local level, but
not with those heading influential national
organizations and other conservative evangelical leaders.
Christian
activists and other observers of the movement say that the
next generation of leaders isn't as interested in
polarizing debates and wants to broaden the
evangelical agenda beyond divisive issues like abortion
and gay marriage.
''Who in the next
generation will be willing to take the heat, when it's
so much safer and more comfortable to avoid controversial
subjects?'' Dobson said. ''What will be the impact on
the conservative Christian church when the patriarchs
have passed?''
Dobson, 71, said
many of his comments on Tuesday were the same he made at
Kennedy's funeral last fall, when he told those in
attendance he's praying that the next generation of
Christians will answer God's call to take up the
mantle of leadership.
President Bush
spoke to convention attendees earlier Tuesday, saying he
would not let the 2008 presidential race affect how he will
run the Iraq war. He also asked the audience to send
their ''love and prayers'' to Billy Graham, who is
recovering from surgery in North Carolina. Graham's
wife, Ruth, died last year.
Graham ''led the
way for America's religious broadcasters,'' Bush said.
''He brought the Gospel to millions, and many years ago he
helped me change my life. A lot of Americans love
Billy Graham, and I'm one. So, Billy, we're thinking
about you.''
Falwell, a
television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority and
became the face of the religious right in the 1980s, and
Kennedy, a founding board member of the Moral Majority
and founder of the Center for Reclaiming America for
Christ, both died last year.
Dobson stepped
down as Focus on the Family president in 2003 but hasn't
hinted at retirement. He remains the board chairman and the
ministry's public voice on its flagship radio
broadcast. (Rose French, AP)
