Focus on the Family Canada has opened an Ottawa think tank - Institute of Marriage and Family Canada. (lobby group?) Are we going to see Canadian equivlalents of Justice Sundays?
According to ChristianWeek this group will not be lobbying. I wonder why I don’t believe this.
Rogusky concedes “it’s going to take some work” for the IMFC to overcome the perception fostered by critics of Focus on the Family that it is merely a front for the “religious right.” But he is confident that will happen.
“We’re not going to be bullied or intimidated by anyone,” says Rogusky. “And over time, with a real emphasis on consistently putting out good quality research and defending that research, you may not always agree with us, but eventually you’re going to have to respect us.”
One of the speakers at the launch was John Robson of The Ottawa Sun.
He holds a Ph.D in American history from the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in foreign and economic policy. In addition to being the author of the parable The Grasshopper, the Ant and the Beaver, he has written regularly for publications including Fraser Forum, Western Standard, and Gravitas on economics, political philosophy, international relations and cultural and moral affairs. He was a contributing editor to Gravitas magazine.
I understand The University of Texas is an elite university where journalism professor Marvin Olasky teaches a course from the Austin campus on Journalism and Religion. Olasky is editor in chief of the Texas Republican religious right World Magazine, and recently put out this proposal in a US conservative magazine:
…a counter-standard, biblical objectivity: Since God knows the real nature of things and we do not, we should as much as possible — given our position as fallen sinners — to try to see everything through the lens of the Bible.
I would really like to see a media expert dissect the above article and Olasky’s proposal. Biblical objectivity?
via: The Revealer
And as for the Ottawa office think tank, (lobby group?) they plan to continue to work with groups of like mind. (lobby groups?)
An Ottawa office makes sense, it’s where the action is. It would be interesting to know the difference between think tanks and lobby groups in Canada, where the line is and what funding rules are.
It would be interesting to hear what Canadian academics have to say such as John Stackhouse Jr. or Dr. Brian Stiller.
Any thoughts?
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Actually, Focus has been in Canada for a number of years now– a family friend worked for them in Toronto for at least three. Although they are a Protestant group, I used to use some of their materials in my Catholic school classroom—great little cartoons that taught children about values such as honesty and kindness to others, and did it in an interesting and amusing fashion. The children loved them. It’s so sad that Christian groups get so quickly demonized in the media. People tear their hair out about all the ills of society –violence and drugs and so on–and yet mock the very people who try to do a little something to change things. To me it’s almost as if western society has a death wish.
I’m not disagreeing the original intent of Focus on the Family had value.
I don’t think their foray into politics, their tactics on using their mailing lists to encourage supporters to pressure politicans are what they need to be doing. The Family Research Council in the US is a classic example. Their Justice Sundays pathetic.
They make enough money from their original work it’s a shame they didn’t stick to it.