D.L. Mayfield

Well, honestly, I think the most interesting thing about Focus on the Family is how ubiquitous it is. It was like one of the things that's so hard is when you talk about evangelicals in America, right, there's so many qualifiers you need to have.

Well, honestly, I think the most interesting thing about Focus on the Family is how ubiquitous it is. It was like one of the things that's so hard is when you talk about evangelicals in America, right, there's so many qualifiers you need to have.

And right now we're in a time in America, right, where I guess Christian nationalist is now the phrase we're using, right, for people who are marrying their religious identity with their political identity. And they seem to have won, you know, politically right now.

And right now we're in a time in America, right, where I guess Christian nationalist is now the phrase we're using, right, for people who are marrying their religious identity with their political identity. And they seem to have won, you know, politically right now.

And all of that ideology is directly tied to focus on the family's aims and their aims in the beginning, because it was founded by James Dobson. He wrote multiple books about this. So we know exactly what his aims were. His aim was, was to teach parents how to discipline their kids in a way where they would learn to immediately comply to authority. And he was coming from this deep...

And all of that ideology is directly tied to focus on the family's aims and their aims in the beginning, because it was founded by James Dobson. He wrote multiple books about this. So we know exactly what his aims were. His aim was, was to teach parents how to discipline their kids in a way where they would learn to immediately comply to authority. And he was coming from this deep...

patriarchal panic right uh growing up who he was in the 1950s the 1960s like shook him to his core in particular he wrote a lot about watching white christian kids protest vietnam right in the streets to start protesting the great nation of america right he was like what has happened Oh, it's people like Fred Rogers happened. Permissive parenting happened, right?

patriarchal panic right uh growing up who he was in the 1950s the 1960s like shook him to his core in particular he wrote a lot about watching white christian kids protest vietnam right in the streets to start protesting the great nation of america right he was like what has happened Oh, it's people like Fred Rogers happened. Permissive parenting happened, right?

People stopped beating their children to get them to obey in early childhood and beyond. Now everybody's rebelling. He also equated feminism, the civil rights movement, all this stuff. He was like, this is ruining our Christian country. The way to get it back is we must start to control our children. And so he had this whole thing of, parenting in a godly way is about controlling with love.

People stopped beating their children to get them to obey in early childhood and beyond. Now everybody's rebelling. He also equated feminism, the civil rights movement, all this stuff. He was like, this is ruining our Christian country. The way to get it back is we must start to control our children. And so he had this whole thing of, parenting in a godly way is about controlling with love.

And that was his whole thing. And that was the basis of Focus on the Family. So if you look at a bunch of disparate churches around America, they're going to disagree on a lot of things.

And that was his whole thing. And that was the basis of Focus on the Family. So if you look at a bunch of disparate churches around America, they're going to disagree on a lot of things.

They probably all parent their kids in the same way, and they probably pressure the people in their congregations to parent their kids in this specific way, which marries corporal punishment early and often with the explicit aim of what Dobson called breaking the will of a child.

They probably all parent their kids in the same way, and they probably pressure the people in their congregations to parent their kids in this specific way, which marries corporal punishment early and often with the explicit aim of what Dobson called breaking the will of a child.

He had a talk he called Dare to Discipline. He had a talk he called The Strong-Willed Child. He videotaped those messages and they were sent out to schools. They were sent out to prisons. They were sent out everywhere. And according to his own organization, so take this with a grain of salt,

He had a talk he called Dare to Discipline. He had a talk he called The Strong-Willed Child. He videotaped those messages and they were sent out to schools. They were sent out to prisons. They were sent out everywhere. And according to his own organization, so take this with a grain of salt,

He says in the 1980s, one third of America watched these videos or at least had access to watching these videos on discipline and how don't listen to Mr. Rogers, right? Don't listen to any of these people that are actually doing the studies about how harmful it is to parent your kids in these way. Do it. And it really worked.

He says in the 1980s, one third of America watched these videos or at least had access to watching these videos on discipline and how don't listen to Mr. Rogers, right? Don't listen to any of these people that are actually doing the studies about how harmful it is to parent your kids in these way. Do it. And it really worked.

His books sold so well, they kind of helped start Christian publishing, if I'm being perfectly honest. And Christian publishing became this way to spread information to a network of churches that, again, while they might not agree on everything theologically, they'll all buy the same books and they'll all parent their kids the same way because this is the only God-ordained way to parent a kid.

His books sold so well, they kind of helped start Christian publishing, if I'm being perfectly honest. And Christian publishing became this way to spread information to a network of churches that, again, while they might not agree on everything theologically, they'll all buy the same books and they'll all parent their kids the same way because this is the only God-ordained way to parent a kid.