Dobson Seeks Allies Among Southern Baptists And Roman Catholics.

Focus on the Family President James C. Dobson is expanding his efforts to draft new allies in his increasingly high profile religio-political crusade.

Dobson, a Colorado Springs-based radio counselor with a large following among evangelical Christians, has dramatically increased his political activity recently. Last May, Republican congressional leaders, in response to Dobson's public threats to leave the GOP, promised to start acting on his agenda.

Lately Dobson has been working to bring other religious groups into his movement. In June Dobson, a member of the Church of the Nazarene, spoke at the Southern Baptist Convention's meeting in Salt Lake City. He urged members of that denomination, which is already closely aligned with the Religious Right, to become even more political.

Christians "have hidden for far too long behind the phrase, `We don't deal with those issues because we're not political,'" Dobson said. "Folks, it is not political to kill babies. It is immoral to kill babies."

Charging that America is locked in a "civil war of values," Dobson praised the Southern Baptists for adding a family values section to their faith statement calling on women to submit to their husbands and condemning homosexuality.

"We simply must take a stand, and on that issue we will be vilified and we will be marginalized and we will be insulted," said Dobson. "But we answer to a higher authority. We have a responsibility."

Dobson charged that America is a "sick nation" plagued by "creeping moral relativism" that has "turned our value system upside down."

Meanwhile in New England, the Massachusetts Family Institute, a state affiliate of Focus on the Family, is teaming up with the Massachusetts Catholic Conference to pursue shared political goals. The National Catholic Register reported in June that the two groups have joined forces to oppose legal abortion, discourage divorce, promote abstinence-based sex education and work on other issues.

Similar cooperative political ventures between Dobson state groups and Catholic organizations are under way in Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Observed Pennsylvania Catholic Conference Education Director Frederick Cabell Jr., "When it comes to education, I see very little, if any, difference between our agenda and theirs."

In other news about Dobson:

* Last April, Dobson issued a letter endorsing Proposition 226, a California ballot measure designed to gut the political influence of unions. The measure was spearheaded and bankrolled by pro-voucher advocates who were angry that teacher unions contributed money to defeat a "school choice" initiative in 1993. Despite the Dobson backing, Prop. 226 lost at the polls by a vote of 53 percent to 47 percent June 2.

* A Colorado proposal to add privacy to the state constitution as an inalienable right has died after Focus on the Family sent a letter to lawmakers opposing it. The measure's sponsor, Sen. Ken Chlouber, a Republican, agreed to table it after FOF sent an opposition letter to every member of the Senate. FOF argued that the measure could lead to state sponsorship of euthanasia, abortion and gay rights.

* Leaders of the business community, who are traditional allies of the Republican Party, are getting increasingly angry over the party's kowtowing to Dobson and other Religious Right figures. The Washington Post reported last month that some business leaders are fed up.

"Everything went south in a big way after Newt [Gingrich] and the rest of the leadership tried to make up with James Dobson and the other Religious Right guys," said a representative for one Fortune 500 company that has contributed heavily to the GOP in the past. "They gave away the store, and we were on the shelves." The Post said the growing dispute has caused a firestorm on Capitol Hill.