Christian Broadcaster Will Focus on Families--in Russia : Media: James Dobson will visit the Soviet Union in August and try to influence policy there with books and videos.

Christian author, broadcaster and psychologist James Dobson is headed to Russia with love--and videos.

Not to mention books, radio tapes and glossy magazines produced by his Pomona-based organization, Focus on the Family.

In August, accompanied by a U.S. senator and two congressmen, Dobson will lead a Focus on the Family delegation to Moscow to meet with government officials, sociologists, psychologists, religious leaders and journalists.

His aim, Dobson said, will be to encourage the Soviets to give family a high priority in public policy, recognize the importance of a lifelong commitment to marriage and acknowledge the value of rearing children.

In preparation for the trip, Focus on the Family has produced a Russian-dialogue video version of its film series on parenting. It also hired actors to portray Dobson and his announcer in a taped, Russian-language version of the Focus on the Family radio show.

In addition, the nonprofit organization has arranged for publication of an “Ask Dr. Dobson” column in two Russian newspapers and translated three of Dobson’s best-selling books into Russian.

Dobson said Soviet couples are having even more trouble raising families than Americans because of economic problems, housing shortages and a government that for years was hostile to traditional family life.

“Alcoholism is much worse than here,” Dobson said. “The average number of abortions women have in the Soviet Union is eight. . . . There is very little communication between men and women.”

Dobson quickly added that he does not pretend to understand Soviet life and culture. “I’m speaking like some big expert on the subject, but I’m going there to learn,” he said.

In fact, he said, he would much rather visit the country and simply hear the thoughts of the people there, “but I don’t have that luxury. They’re asking us to take a leadership role.”

The Soviet connection began with a visit by the head of the young family research department of the Institute of Sociology at the Soviet Academy of Sciences to the Focus headquarters a year and a half ago. That led to further contacts, and a decision to make Focus on the Family materials available in Russian.

Focus, which Dobson started in 1977, has developed into a massive evangelical enterprise that takes in more than $60 million a year, employs 750 people and reaches a worldwide audience through radio and video programs and publications. The Focus on the Family broadcasts, aired on 1,500 radio outlets in this country, are also heard in Spanish on 110 U.S. stations and 190 outlets in Latin America.

The trip to the Soviet Union comes as the organization prepares to move to Colorado Springs, Colo. Dobson said the timing is inconvenient, but said he wants to take advantage of glasnost while it lasts.

Andy Melilli, Focus director of international relations, has made six trips to the Soviet Union to lay the groundwork for the August visit and to arrange distribution of Focus materials.

“We’ve been greeted by open arms,” Melilli said. “Basically, they’re looking for anything that would help instruct their people about how to have strong, healthy families.”

Melilli said the Soviets are rediscovering the importance of family life. “For many years people were taught that the government would be their family, so there was actually an attempt to discredit the family and place the emphasis on government and Mother Russia,” Melilli said. “Obviously that has not worked very well.”

To introduce Soviet citizens to Focus on the Family, the organization has produced a Russian edition of its monthly magazine containing excerpts from Dobson’s writings.

Melilli said religious leaders in the Soviet Union have asked for 500,000 copies of the introductory magazine, and Focus officials are trying to figure out how many they can afford to supply.

About 35 to 40 people, including Sen. Dan Coats (R-Indiana) and Reps. Bob McEwen (R-Ohio) and Frank Wolf (R-Va.) will be in the delegation to Moscow. Dobson and the congressmen will appear on a Russian television show called “Good Evening Moscow” and host a banquet for 200 Russian leaders. Susan Baker, the wife of Secretary of State James Baker, is a member of the Focus board and has been reviewing the guest list for the dinner, but will not make the trip.

Other events scheduled for the trip, which runs from Aug. 25 to Sept. 5, include meetings with religious leaders, psychologists and sociologists at the Soviet Academy of Sciences and visits to private homes.

A weekly radio program in Russian using scripts from Dobson’s daily Focus on the Family radio broadcasts will be aired nationally in the Soviet Union starting in August. A Russian newspaper with 4 million circulation-- Semya (Family)--has begun serializing one of Dobson’s books. Semya and Moskovsky Konsomolets (Moscow Young Communist) will publish question-and-answer columns compiled from Dobson’s writings, Melilli said.

By translating his own books and making them available in the Soviet Union, Dobson said he will reduce the risk of pirated editions that have turned up elsewhere in shoddy translations. An unauthorized version of his book, “The Strong-Willed Child,” he said, was issued in German as “My Kid Is Awful.”

The Moscow trip is purely altruistic, Dobson said. “We’re not going to try to raise any money over there. We’re not going to build an empire, start an organization or anything of that nature. We’re simply going because they’ve expressed a need for the kind of things we believe in.”

Rep. McEwen said Dobson offers “the answers that people are looking for in their marriage and home.” His advice is just as applicable to Soviet families as to Americans, he said.

Dobson said: “I’m not naive enough to think I’m going to go over there and even make a dent in their family problems. But you do what you can. They want what we have in the way of printed materials, and we want to share. Some will be helped by that. And we’ll just leave the rest to God.”