This will be a fairly short diary, but one which most people here will celebrate:
Focus on the Family has cut its workforce by nearly half since 2002.
Friday’s layoff of 110 workers reduced its staff to 750. Over the past two years, Focus has let go 385 employees. Eight years ago it had 1,400 on the payroll.
"The economy continues to be in recession," said Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger, explaining the latest cuts. "And people who have given in the past are having financial difficulties of their own."
You can find the whole article at The Colorado Springs Gazette.
Of course, it's always bad to see layoffs, especially with jobs being so scarce, but Focus on the Family has done much harm for women and GLBT people across the country, and it's good to see their power steadily weaken. So, let's offer good wishes for those who suddenly need to find employment, but gloat a bit that one conservative force is struggling to maintain its former clout.
For a serious rebuttal of Focus on the Family, I strongly recommend the book, Christianity and the Making of the Modern Family by Rosemary Radford Ruether, a prominent feminist theologian. Her book details the variety of Christian attitudes toward family throughout history and goes on to propose new ways to imagine family as a part of world of equality, rather than domination.
She opens her book with two quotes:
"[Focus on the Family] attempts to 'turn hearts toward home' by reasonable, biblical and empirical insights so people will be able to discover the founder of homes and the creator of families - Jesus Christ"
- Focus on the Family
"If anyone comes to me and can not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brother and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple"
- Jesus of Nazareth, according to Luke 14:25-26