March (Web-only) 2002

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Dobson, Moody Broadcasting leader attack each other over NRB battle
Wayne Pederson was forced to resign his position as president of the National Religious Broadcasters, but the battle over his ousting continues—and is getting hotter. Conservative online news site WorldNetDaily reported yesterday that Moody Broadcasting Network vice president Robert Neff is demanding Pederson's reinstatement. "I do not take any pleasure in having to write a letter like this," Neff wrote to the NRB executive board. "However, I cannot be silent for fear that silence could be perceived as an endorsement of what took place. I do not, and have serious reservations over the process and feel disgust over how certain individuals conducted themselves." WorldNetDaily reports that the in the letter, dated February 21, "Neff targets for criticism certain 'power boys' and '600-pound gorillas' in the organization, who, he says, are quick to pick up their marbles and leave when things don't go their way." Neff (no relation to Christianity Today Editor David Neff) didn't explicitly name any names, but in the evangelical media world, "600-pound gorilla" (or alternatively "800-pound gorilla") has in the past been code for Focus on the Family head James Dobson. And he reportedly hates the nickname.

He also hates Neff's letter, and has fired back, calling it "vicious and entirely uncalled for." Neff's letter, said the radio psychologist, is "a tragic escalation of what began as a policy issue and has deteriorated into a full-scale split in evangelicalism."

Dobson's March 1 letter's version of events (as reported by WorldNetDaily) varies somewhat from Christianity Today reports and others, but here it is, with a few annotations:

Obviously, he was talking about ...