James Dobson, Focus on the Family Founder, Dies at 89

The Banner has a subscription to republish articles from Religion News Service. This story by David Mark and Adelle M. Banks was published August 21, 2025 on religionnews.com. It has been edited for length and Banner style.

James C. Dobson, a psychologist who advocated “family values” Christian morality on his popular radio shows and in his bestselling books, died Thursday, Aug. 21. He was 89.

“Dr. Dobson was a pioneer—a man of deep conviction whose voice shaped the way generations view faith, family and culture,” said Gary Bauer, senior vice president of public policy at the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, in a statement announcing Dobson’s death. “His bold leadership, integrity, and compassion helped equip countless families to thrive in a world of shifting values. He was a mentor, a counselor, and a steady voice of truth in turbulent times.”

A child psychologist by training, Dobson founded Focus on the Family in 1977 to promote conservative views on parenting, defending spanking of children as a means of discipline. The nonprofit, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., became hugely influential, first among evangelical Christians and then among a broader public thanks to his internationally syndicated radio programs.

Dobson was heard on more than 4,000 North American radio stations and his show was translated into 27 languages in more than 160 countries, according to the website of the institute. His parenting precepts were further outlined in Dare to Discipline, a book published in 1992, and its many sequels. Dobson ultimately wrote more than 70 books, including “The New Strong-Willed Child”; “Bringing Up Boys”; “Bringing Up Girls”; and “When God Doesn’t Make Sense.”

As Dobson’s popularity with cultural conservatives grew, political leaders sought him out. In the 1980s Dobson was regularly invited to the White House to consult with President Ronald Reagan and his staff. In 1985, Dobson was appointed to Attorney General Edwin Meese’s Commission on Pornography.

In 1983, Dobson and Bauer started the Family Research Council in Washington to advocate for pro-family policies.

Franklin Graham, a son of evangelist Billy Graham who heads the evangelical relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, hailed Dobson’s almost five decades of ministry. “Dr. Dobson was a staunch defender of the family and stood for morality and Biblical values as much as any person in our country’s history,” Graham wrote in a Facebook post. “His legacy and impact for Jesus Christ will continue on for generations.”

In 1994, Dobson was one of the co-founders of the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal organization now known as Alliance Defending Freedom, a key proponent of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, which resulted in the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

“The world has lost a mighty voice for truth and an incredibly influential servant of Christ today,” said Kristen Waggoner, ADF CEO, president and chief counsel, in a statement. “Dobson’s bold leadership and commitment to the Gospel shaped the lives of so many and will continue to do so many years after his passing.”

A Shreveport, La., native, Dobson grew up in Texas and Oklahoma, the son of an evangelist and pastor in the Church of the Nazarene. After graduating from a Nazarene college in California, Dobson earned a doctorate in child development from the University of Southern California. He then joined the pediatric faculty of USC’s medical school, where he taught for 14 years.

Dobson left academia in 1976, and the next year he launched Focus on the Family, beginning from a two-room suite in Arcadia, Calif. As Dobson’s radio show and the organization swelled in popularity, he increasingly became a force among conservative opinion-makers.

Dobson eventually moved the organization to Colorado Springs, where he built an international organization with a staff of more than 1,300 employees.

On his radio show, whose listening audience at one time swelled to an estimated 200 million in 95 countries, Dobson easily switched from political topics to cultural and religious-based ones, always centering his concern on how Americans were raising their children.

“There is nothing more important to most Christian parents than the salvation of their children,” he once said. “Every other goal and achievement in life is anemic and insignificant compared to this transmission of faith to their offspring.”

Many of Dobson’s teachings about child rearing, on spanking in particular, were questioned at the time, and younger evangelicals have pushed back on his thinking in recent decades.

“Dobson taught people, spank your kid, but sit them down and put them on your lap and hug them,” therapist Krispin Mayfield said in 2024 about Dobson. This combination of pain and affection, Mayfield told Religion News Service, can shape how children view parents and authority figures and can impact their view of God.

Related: The Forces That Shaped Today’s White Evangelicalism (Dec. 14, 2020)

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which countered Dobson’s statements and actions for decades, criticized his stance on spanking when he was appointed in the 1990s to a federal child welfare commission: “James Dobson deserves a ‘Time Out,’ not political favors.”

The foundation characterized Dobson’s views as intolerance and in a post commenting on his death on X vowed to “keep fighting the Christian nationalism he championed.”

Dobson left Focus on the Family in 2009—some reports at the time said he was pushed out—and launched the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute and “Family Talk,” a new nationally syndicated radio broadcast.

“One of the common errors of founder-presidents is to hold to the reins of leadership too long, thereby preventing the next generation from being prepared for executive authority,” Dobson said in a statement when his resignation was announced.

Dobson last recorded a broadcast in March and it aired in April, according to the public relations agency representing his family and the institute.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Shirley Dobson.

c. 2025 Religion News Service