No One Should Be Surprised by James Dobson's Appearance in the Epstein Files

The recent release of millions of pages from the Jeffrey Epstein files revealed a disturbing yet unsurprising connection: evangelical author James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, appears in the documents. While Dobson himself was not implicated in Epstein’s crimes, his influence on evangelical parenting and family culture has long provided fertile ground for abuse to flourish unchecked.

According to the Roys Report, Epstein sent one of the young girls he was grooming an article written by Dobson. The girl was seeking guidance on her troubled relationship with her father. Dobson’s advice? Accept your emotionally damaged father but “expect nothing.” This cold counsel echoes the authoritarian and unyielding doctrines Dobson championed for decades.

We spoke with former evangelicals D.L. Mayfield and Krispin Mayfield, who have extensively analyzed Dobson’s legacy on their Strongwilled podcast. Raised under Dobson’s teachings, they describe how his emphasis on strict obedience, corporal punishment, and suppression of children’s autonomy creates an environment where abuse can be excused or hidden.

Dobson’s bestselling 1970s book, Dare to Discipline, explicitly endorses physical pain as a “marvelous purifier” and advocates spanking children to the point of genuine crying. This approach flies in the face of research dating back to the 1960s, which linked corporal punishment to cognitive harm and called for mandatory reporting of child abuse. Yet Dobson doubled down, urging parents to use physical discipline to instill submission not only to family but to all authority figures.

His teachings also extended to controlling children’s emerging sexuality, with disturbing advice such as fathers showering with their sons and “Daddy-Daughter Dating” to mold heterosexuality from a young age. These practices violate modern understandings of consent and child safety, further enabling predators to exploit religious authority.

Dobson’s role in shaping evangelical family culture is a critical piece of the broader puzzle of how abuse thrives in closed, authoritarian communities. The Epstein files remind us that accountability must extend beyond direct perpetrators to those whose ideologies create the conditions for exploitation.

As we continue to unearth the networks and enablers surrounding Epstein’s crimes, Dobson’s appearance in the files is a stark warning. The toxic mix of religious authoritarianism, silence around abuse, and rigid control over children’s bodies and voices demands urgent scrutiny and reckoning. We owe survivors nothing less.