Layoffs at Focus on the Family

Perhaps there is a God after all. The Colorado Independent is reporting that due to declining revenues - even after vigorously using the bogeyman of the "gay menace" to scare donors - Daddy Dobson's hate factory, Focus on the Family, is poised to announce major layoffs just two months after the organization’s last round of dismissals. Obviously, I have little sympathy for Focus on the Family and those who chose to work for - in my opinion - such a vile organization. Hopefully, more and more people will come to recognize that Daddy D and those like him are in nowise Christian and that all they do is pervert the true Christian message and FOF's revenue declines intensify. Here are some story highlights:

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Focus on the Family is poised to announce major layoffs to its Colorado Springs-based ministry and media empire today. The cutbacks come just weeks after the group pumped more than half a million dollars into the successful effort to pass a gay-marriage ban in California. Critics are holding up the layoffs, which come just two months after the organization’s last round of dismissals, as a sad commentary on the true priorities of ministry.

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In all, Focus pumped $539,000 in cash and another $83,000 worth of non-monetary support into the measure to overturn a California Supreme Court ruling that allowed gays and lesbians to marry in that state. The group was the seventh-largest donor to the effort in the country. The cash contributions are equal to the salaries of 19 Coloradans earning the 2008 per capita income of $29,133.

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Two months ago, citing Wal-Mart and online retailers as having cut into its product market, Focus announced that 46 employees would be laid off from its distribution department. Late Friday, Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger confirmed that more layoffs are in store, but said the ministry will not release details until Monday afternoon. Schneeberger hinted that some programs may be eliminated entirely, but declined to elaborate. . . . . This is the third year that Focus has laid off employees due to budget cuts.
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But Lewis, the Colorado Springs activist, wonders whether the families who donate to the nonprofit ministry, realize where their funds really end up. “Seriously, I would imagine their supporters have got to be asking the question about whether their church is really practicing their theology.” For Lewis, who is straight, the issue boils down to the significance of targeting a class of citizens for exclusion, at the expense of the families that the ministry could be helping — in this case their own employees.